Bangkok--23 Jan--Bangkok Public Relations
Thailand’s Siam Center just completed a US$60 million rejuvenation programme and recently re-opened its doors by spending a further US$20 million on a launch fanfare that included Oscar-winning Hollywood stars Adrien Brody of 'The Pianist' fame, Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick of hit TV series ‘Gossip Girl’, Korean heart-throb Kim Bum, as well as British singer Taio Cruz of chart-topping hit ‘Dynamite’, together with Keri Hilson and Taboo of Black Eyed Peas.
Siam Center aims to boost Bangkok’s position as a top, global shopping destination by introducing a novel retailing concept where the venue acts as a marketplace for new ideas. It is also one of the first venues in the world where the retail developer has worked collaboratively with all stores to have their store fronts designed to be consistent with a single overall design theme, and where each store agrees to have a selection of products that are only available at Siam Center.
“With 40% of our visitors from overseas, it has become a global game now, and the ASEAN Economic Community that will be created in 2015 is going to accelerate that competitive process because of increased shopper mobility,” said Mrs. Chadatip Chutrakul, CEO of Siam Piwat Co., Ltd., which owns and operates Siam Center as well as other properties including Bangkok’s iconic Siam Paragon shopping mall.
“It’s why we have turned to using the best resources available globally,” she said.
Among the top talents enlisted to help Siam Center with its brand strategy is New York-based branding expert Michael Rock of 2x4 Inc., who counts among his clients Chanel, Prada, P&G, Tiffany, Nike and the Museum of Modern Art, and who is also a U.S. National Design Award winner.“Our mission was to embody the spirit of Chadatip’s ideas and match words and pictures to them,” says Rock. “Her vision for Siam Center is a place where you come to be inspired and excited by new ideas and concepts. Shopping is just one part of that total experience.”
“It’s a great luxury to work with a client with such a clear vision. We began seven months ago and ran through perhaps a 1,000 sketches together to articulate her strategy through graphic identity and advertising. For the logo, we all wanted something timeless, not a passing fashion. The new logo is pure and essential. It is designed to be strong and current, so that even ten years from now it will embody the qualities of the new Siam Center,” he said.
According to Rock, among the most difficult parts of the work was to represent exuberance and fashion and still also avoid being pretentious.
“Our branding strategy also had to have room to let a vibrant venue such as Siam Center evolve and still be represented by the same graphic identity and other visual and verbal elements that we developed. This is the big challenge for the best brands - to make a strong enough statement while leaving enough room for the evolutionary development of the idea represented by that visual or verbal signature,” he said.
“Siam Center has lots of gallery spaces, video screens and other places waiting to be filled and refreshed with ideas. Curating those spaces well will ensure Siam Center is a place where visitors can expect to be surprised and excited with every new visit, and, at the same time, allow Siam Center to evolve,” Rock said.
“I’m looking forward to being back in two years and seeing how the constant of our brand signatures continue to reflect what’s essential about a place that’s actually supposed to just keep changing,” he said.