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Published on April 14, 2008

Since 1990, when local event organiser Index Event Agency was established, the company has made it into the front rank among major event organisers. It has had an event recorded in the Guinness Book of Records and built its reputation in the international arena.

The goal now is to be ranked among the world's top 10 event organisers by revenue and to stay at the forefront. And by the end of this year, it should meet its target of Bt1.2 billion in revenue.

Last year, Index was ranked by Special Event Magazine from the US as the world's 13th largest event organiser, with Bt1.04 billion in revenue, up 43 per cent from 2006.

Its events in the international arena include the royal wedding of the sheikh of the United Arab Emirates in 1998, which it won in bidding with rivals from the US and Europe.

Its two other international-scale events were arranged in Thailand. One was the "Lux Super Rich, The World's Longest Catwalk" campaign, which was officially recognised by the Guinness Book of Records.

And the other was the "Miracle Sky Challenge with Breeze Power" event in 2002, featuring a diver plunging 54 meters from the Rama IX Bridge to set a new world height record.

"In the event organising business, having creative ideas and advanced technology are the keys to success," co-chief executive officer Kriengkarn Kanjanapokin said last week.

He played a major role in building the company along with his twin brother and co-CEO Kriengkrai.

"It's very important to deliver what we have promised to our corporate clients," he said.

The company always focuses on two things - developing its human resources to increase their creative potential, and searching for the latest techniques from abroad.

It constantly has its staff as well as the twin chief executives travelling abroad to observe events such as entertainment performances and exhibitions as well as places such as museums to see how they organise events and present ideas, what their creative ideas are and what technology they use.

"Having technology is not enough to create good work. One technique can be exploited for many impressive works if we have good ideas," Kriengkrai said.

"Many people in the international event organising business have come to us and seen the events we have arranged. They are always surprised at our work. Some of them also showed interest in joining our business," Kriengkarn said with a grin.

The firm tried starting an event organising business with foreign partners in Dubai a few years ago after noticing the economy there was on the rise. However, Index found the going rough because of the shortage of Thai staff to go there, and eventually withdrew from the joint venture.

Now it's focusing on going global as a proven Thai event organiser with strong business in Thailand. It regularly bids for major international events abroad.

International competitors it has run into so far include those from Germany, the US and the United Kingdom.

"Competing with international counterparts allows us to learn how they work and to measure our current capability as well as know what we should do to improve ourselves to meet international standards. If we just stay in Thailand, we will never know all those things and we will never develop," Kriengkarn said.

What they learned from going global so far is that Thailand is No 1 in Asia, excluding Japan, which is far ahead, particularly with creative ideas, Kriengkrai said.

The ability to design events following changes in consumer behaviour is also a must. Index repositioned itself as an integrated interactive agency last year to follow consumer trends toward interactive media and getting the chance to gain personal experience.

In February, it held the "Index Group House Warming" to showcase eight imported communications tools - which it called motion sensor, floating display, magic planet, dyna-screen slim, 3D video presentation, multi-screen and interactive screen.

The event drew 600 visitors, many of them prospective clients.

Several of those who attended wanted to acquire some of the solutions for their offices, Kriengkarn said.

The company has formed nine affiliates with partners to serve its core business of organising events.

It will spend Bt100 million to bring in new applications.

It is attracting more corporate customers to sign longer contracts, of at least one year.

Its ultimate goal for this year is not just continuing to strengthen its solid reputation, but also getting recorded as breaking into the ranks of the world's top 10 event organisers.

Nitida Asawanipont

The Nation