More than Bt200 million has already been spent this year on the airport's communications campaign.

For more than 40 years frequent changes of government meant plans for a new airport for the country were repeatedly stalled. Despite this, the Thaksin government had made building a new airport a priority and the 'Golden Land' airport - 25 kilometres east of Bangkok - was finally officially opened on September 28.

Suvarnabhumi is already facing complaints from members of the airline and travel industries who claim former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra forced the new airport to open before it was completely tested, and that certain technical and IT problems have yet to be ironed out.

"We have set up a strategic plan and processes for the branding of the new Suvarnabhumi Airport to create a good understanding of its readiness to our target audiences, both local and abroad," said Rawewan Netrakavesna, vice president of AOT's public relations department.

"Building a brand is going beyond just creating a logo or a good perception among audiences," she said. "It is a holistic strategy set to manage the good reputation of the new Suvarnabhumi Airport, and all types of strategic communications programme will be involved."

Rawewan said the first step was to identify all the problems that could ad-versely affect the image of Suvarnabhumi.

"Both local and international media have little information about Suvarnab-humi Airport. Many stakeholders and influential groups, including the general public, state officials, politicians, academics and have yet to have a clear understanding of the new aiport," she said.

This is partly because AOT had previously been quite conservative about opening up to the public, she said. But it is now concerned that people are not confident that the airport is ready to operate.

"Our new strategy is to open ourselves to the general public to build positive awareness and prove the airport is ready. We also want to show everybody how capable Thailand is in building and running this hi-tech and sophisticated airport," Rawewan said. "Suvarnabhumi in the future will not be only an international airport but a new mega-mall and community with lives and activities within."

Rawewan said the character of Suvarnabhumi Airport was similar to a man age about 28: strong, open, trendy and friendly with no attachments.

She said under the new strategy, all facts and information would be given to all target audiences in order to build their trust and show Suvarnabhumi is one of the world's best aviation hubs.

"We have set a tactical plan to manage our news direction by becoming partners with media and news agencies around the world as we are willing to have their comments, both positive and negative. We also would like all airlines and the travel industry to recognise Suvarnabhumi as their strategic partner," she said.

Communications agency 124 Communications has been hired by AOT to advise the company on public relations activities, including the brand-building campaign.

She said that under the holistic communication strategy, all media - both local and international - were being used.

For the local media, a short documentary has been broadcast through all free-television channels to introduce and educate local viewers about the new airport. Other media have been used to deliver the right message about the new airport to target audiences using cinema ads and other out-of-home media, such as billboards and in-flight videos.

"We have also produced six episodes of a short documentary series about the new Suvarnabhumi Airport to be broadcast on CNBC channel throughout the year," said Rawewan, adding that advertisements for the new airport had been placed in major business magazines such as Newsweek and The Economist.

"Over the past two years, we have organised road shows to many countries and cities such as Germany, Osaka, London, Berlin, Dubai and Denmark to introduce our new international airport. A short documentary about the new Suvarnabhumi Airport has been also broadcast through the CNN network," Rawewan said.

She said more than 1,700 journalists from around the world had watched the first technical flight on September 29. A photo contest has also been launched, drawing entries from more than 3,000 contestants.

AOT has also selected five university students to become ambassadors of the airport to welcome visitors from all over the world.

More than 3,000 visitors from many regions in Thailand and abroad visited the airport each day in the run-up to the September 28 opening. A series of television programmes about Suvarnabhumi, including a short documentary and a news and interview session, were broadcast at UBC 9 channel in the 45-day run-up to the big day.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation