Bangkok--9 Dec--Mindshare Agency
Mr. Paul Gibbins — Leader, Mindshare Thailand said “Overall, 2008 was a year of highs & lows. The year started out positive with a newly elected government & Thailand having strong economic fundamentals. The Beijing Olympics, were also a positive force, however since then the advertising industry spending has been declining each month with Oct being -1.4% yr on yr. While we were expecting 2009 to be a slow year, the recent “events” in terms of a business & economic impact will have the effect of “speeding up” the anticipated economic downturn.
Despite a flat 2008 for the industry, Mindshare continued to bring new initiatives and products to the marketplace. A Cable & Satellite conference (“Now & Next in Cable & Satellite”) was organized, bringing together all the key members of this industry. New products were introduced in Mobile with partnerships developed with companies such as Affle and Gigaphone. The Thailand office also had one of its most successful years in terms of awards, at local, regional and a global level. Mindshare also launched its new branding, the first in over a decade.
Mr. Paul Gibbins said “As part of Mindshare’s drive to constantly reinvent itself and offer the best and most relevant service to our clients and as part of the ongoing network wide restructure we took this opportunity to reinvigorate our company identity both internally and externally.
“This new identity heralds our next stage of growth as a new model agency, one that acts as a marketing spine to our client’s business, focusing on partnerships, consumer exchanges and collaborations.”
What will happen “NEXT” in 2009 is summarized as follows.
MS. Stephanie Bell — Leader, Mindshare Indochina & Philippine said “2009 will be a tougher year. While Asia is expected to have less of an effect from the global economic downturn, Thailand will still find it tough and we will most certainly feel the global impact.
The effect from this year’s slow down will make it a difficult year in 2009. In many categories market spending will decline, or at very best, be flat. Clients will be implementing more short term tactics to drive sales and budgets will be reviewed quarterly and revised based on performance. Price off or buy one get one free tactics are sure to be implemented but they will not be the preferred choice for marketers as profits will suffer too much. They will be looking for ways to build loyalty with their customers so that their product will be chosen above all other brands. The equity they have built up over the past years will hold many of them in good stead for the next 12 months of uncertain times.
China and Asia Pacific will still be the fastest-growing geographic regions when compared to the US and Europe.
New media will continue to grow, especially “search” & “mobile” and the quest for tapping into social networks will get stronger.
To help our clients deliver their business objectives in 2009 and for Mindshare to be their ‘lead business partner, we will continue to launch new products and services in 2009. Services such as new innovative digital products, retail, consumer insights & tools, media exchange and business planning services in the year 2009. We will focus heavily on ROI and how our client money is invested” said Ms. Stephanie Bell. “We will of course also use the scale and intelligence of our groupm negotiation position to drive the best possible deals and new opportunities for our clients”
Mindshare will also continue to organize the second M!dea in Thailand. “A record 46 entries were submitted in November for 10 categories this year. Judging will take place in December, with winners announced in January 2009.” The award presentation night will be held on Thursday, January 29, 2008. M!dea awards recognize employee’s capability in creativity, developing great ideas, integration and bravery.
Notes to the Editor
Mindshare is a global marketing and media services network with billings in excess of $23 billion (source: RECMA).
The network consists of 97 offices in 67 countries throughout the USA, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific; each dedicated to forging competitive marketing advantage for businesses and their brands.
Mindshare is a member of WPP, the world’s leading communications service group with $63.5bn in billings (source: RECMA).
For more information, please visit: www.mindshareworld.com.
GroupM, the world’s leading full service media investment management operation, was created by WPP Group to oversee its assets in this sector. These assets include Mindshare, Mediaedge:cia, MediaCom and MAXUS. The focus of GroupM is the intelligent application of volume and scale in trading, innovation and quality of services, in order to bring benefit to clients and the companies it operates.
For more information, please visit: www.groupm.com.
For further information, please contact:
Thitiporn Unchurit
Mindshare
+662 629 6327
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