Cartoons to drive US Summit market push

Kenneth Wang, president of parent US Summit, said many companies produced baby-care products in Thailand and had been for a long time. They are very strong in this area, but market value in the Kingdom is growing consistently, and US Summit wants to increase its share in it.

He is not targeting operating results for this year in term of sales revenue, but rather expects to build greater brand awareness among Thai consumers.

Wichai Laocharoenpornkul, general manager of US Summit (Overseas), said the company would use cartoon characters to win the hearts of mothers and young consumers. The company recently concluded a deal with Kantana Animation to secure the rights to promote Pureen baby-care products with graphics from Kantana's latest animated film, "Khan Kluay 2".

"We were Kantana's licensee for two baby-care products, using 'Khan Kluay' characters when the first 'Khan Kluay' was made in 2006. That proved very successful, and sales of the products increased. For the 'Khan Kluay 2' Pureen collection, we've secured the rights for 16 products, including feeding bottles, nipples, baby wipes, aprons and fluoride-free toothpaste," Wichai said.

He expects this marketing strategy to help boost sales revenue, starting from the second quarter. The company will organise promotional roadshow activities nationwide and has allocated nearly Bt10 million this year to promote Pureen's "Khan Kluay 2" collection, which features Khan Kluay's family, especially his children Ton-or and Korkaew.

Wichai said the parent firm wanted to focus more on the Thai market this year after the success of Pureen in many Asia-Pacific countries, especially Malaysia, where the brand is a leader in baby-care products.

Most Pureen products distributed in Thailand are imported from the US.

"Our goal is to become a market leader in the future. The baby-care market is very large. If we can share 3-5 per cent of its value, we'll be happy," he said.

See the video of this story at www.nationmultimedia.com.