Osotspa, the manufacturing conglomerate, plans to hire a Web creative to produce interactive marketing activities and content for its home page.

Prantalay Marketing launched its online presence last week and expects to unleash many marketing campaigns with it.

This new marketing trend has become more obvious over the last two years.

"Search engines have changed consumer behaviour tremendously. When they search for a topic, it means they are really interested in the issue. This is a great opportunity for marketers to promote their brands by ensuring their brand has an icon linking to their shop up on the pages. Otherwise, they will loose brand exposure," Mahithorn Tongsarat, CEO of Digithais Network (Isobar Thailand), said last week.

Instead of just simply having an icon, marketers take the opportunity to link to their websites. Then they create contents containing various marketing activities with attractive prizes.

"Building awareness among targeted consumers and bonding with them are prime objectives," Mahithorn said.

The channel also allows marketers to study consumer behaviour precisely. Prantalay is an example. It installed a program that allows every customer to keep their purchasing record up-to-date so points can be collected and redeemed for prizes.

Prantalay has a long-term plan to develop the website into its e-commerce channel.

The ability to accurately track feedback and the guaranteed audience of targeted consumers are attractive points of e-marketing.

For example, Osotspa knows exactly why its www.my12plus.com gets viewers in the low thousands per day, marketing director Vichien Santimahakullert said.

Meanwhile, Green Spot got a report from Sanook that its e-marketing icon was clicked on 100,000 times per day and 300 consumers posted entries for the photo contest in the first 10 days of the campaign.

"The campaign not only forges a strong bond between our soybean beverage Vitamilk and targeted consumers who have a niche lifestyle but also creates a word-of-mouth strategy. Those who post their photos here will tell their friends to have a look at our Vitamilk link. This will significantly expand brand awareness," said Chanit Suwanparin, Green Spot's general manager for marketing.

Nitida Asawanipont

The Nation