Bangkok--3 Feb--Master Mind Communications
Playboy Thailand (PBTH), the luxurious lifestyle icon for men that exemplifies “The Very Best in Life”, has aggressively expanded its outreach on Thailand’s booming social-media platforms in order to capture a fair share of the fast-growing online advertising revenue.
As a clear measure of its successful online achievements, the number of PBTH’s followers on Facebook, the dominant social-media platform here, has nearly doubled from about 1.7 million in mid-2014 to more than 3.2 million in early 2015. In just two years, PBTH has managed to generate the second largest number of Facebook followers in the media sector, second only to the traditional Thai television icon Channel 7 which has roughly 4 million followers.
If the additional numbers of both Facebook and Instagram followers of the 15 Playboy Bunnies who are serving as their Brand Ambassadors are taken into account, the group’s aggregate social media outreach in Thailand would top 9 million, making Playboy an outstanding brand on the country’s booming social media landscape.
“Our extensive social media outreach constitutes an excellent medium of advertising for products and services catering to the young and affluent, who represent the cores of social media traffic, especially the sophisticated and classy male audiences who comprise the bulk of the Playboy fans,” stated PBTH Chairman Chatmongkol Khemapirat.
In the Men’s Magazines segment, Playboy’s Facebook followers have also far outstripped those of other competitors such as FHM and MAXIM.
PBTH’s leadership position in Thailand mirrored similar success of its parent publication’s same iconic brand in the US where the readers of ADweek, the leading advertising industry magazine in the US, voted Playboy as the “Best Men’s Magazine of 2014” with a 42.5% lead over GQ (28.7%) and Esquire (17.6%).
“This is yet another clear indication that the Playboy brand is dedicated to providing the top-quality contents and the hottest products in the marketplace for the young, successful and affluent males,” stated PBTH CEO & Editor-in-Chief Valent D. Soisuvarn.
Both Mr. Chatmongkol and Mr. Valent said PBTH’s extensive reach on Thailand’s social media platforms will enable it to capture a larger slice of the fast growing, internet-based advertising revenue.
Against the country’s economic slowdown last year which resulted in a 10% contraction of total advertising spending, online advertising was only one of the two segments budging the trend and registering growth – the other segment being the “transit” segment. According to AC Nielsen, Internet advertising last year amounted to 950 million baht, up 8.32% from the year before.
PBTH under the stewardship of Mr. Chatmongkol and Mr. Valent has set out to build the iconic bunny as a luxurious lifestyle brand that exemplifies not just the traditional image of sexy girls but also a premium icon of luxury encompassing “The Very Best in Life”.
To propel this new positioning, PBTH is focusing more on events that highlight the glamorous lifestyles as well as the social side of things. The group last July organized the first Billionaires for Charity dinner party, with proceeds donated to the Phra Mongkul Hospital as scholarships for the poor and needy medical students. It has set February 12 for another grand black-tie affair: Playboy Symphony Evening with the renown Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, the proceeds from which will also be donated as scholarships for music students at Silpakorn University.
On Playboy’s social and human touch, Mr. Chatmongkol said: “We are not just a bunch of fun-loving men. We’re born and grew up here and we genuinely care for the well-being of our society. Therefore, we’re sincerely doing what we can to contribute to the betterment of the Thai society.”