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Published on March 25, 2008

Public-relations activities are also expecting dramatic growth of 10-15 per cent this year, because of the popularity of campaigns for corporate social responsibility (CSR) and digital marketing.

Nielsen Media Research said ad spending in all conventional media, including television, radio, newspapers, magazines, cinemas, outdoor displays, transit and in-store media, fell an average of 7.69 per cent year on year in January, or from Bt6.5 billion to Bt6 billion. Magazine advertising suffered the biggest drop of 31.74 per cent in January, followed by advertising on television and in newspapers, which fell 10.13 per cent and 2.34 per cent, respectively.

Paul Gibbins, managing partner for strategy and insights at Mindshare, said advertising spending on conventional media suffered a big slowdown to only 3-per-cent growth last year, or a total of Bt91.7 billion. This was down from 6-per-cent growth in 2005 and 2006 and followed vital, double-digit growth in 2002, 2003 and 2004, when spending increased 17 per cent, 17 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively, year on year.

"Total ad spending on conventional media was flat or minus 1 per cent in the first couple of months of this year," Gibbins said, adding that negative growth had occurred in television and newspapers, which relied heavily on advertising sponsored by real-estate and automobile customers.

"Business confidence has grown a little bit. However, a lot of business people are not doing much. They are waiting to see whether the economic situation will improve," he said.

The behaviour of Thai consumers has changed, and they are leaning towards digital-media content through online media and mobile phones, he said. Advertisers have also changed their media plans towards those new media channels, and business clients are additionally concerned that media channels they use to advertise will effectively reach their target customers.

mInteraction managing director Siwat Chawareewong said the digital arm of GroupM, one of the world's leading brand-communications agencies, said spending on online advertising was expected to increase dramatically from between Bt1 billion and Bt1.3 billion last year to about Bt1.8 billion this year.

Mobile-phone-based advertising remains small, with an estimated market value of about Bt40 million to Bt50 million. However, it is expected to enjoy high growth of about 50 per cent this year.

Danai Chanchaochai, CEO of DC Consultants and Marketing Communications, a local public-relations (PR) agency, said the popular trends of CSR and digital marketing had boosted the growth of PR agencies, which were being appointed by business clients to handle the communications side of CSR and digital-marketing campaigns.

"PR work is not limited to traditional media," he said. "New PR agencies have used digital media as a significant tool to create word-of-mouth advertising. The advantage of PR is its high level of trust and reliability."

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation