Pornchai Theerawetch, deputy director-general of the Fiscal Policy Office, said Thailand needed to leave the middle-income trap by focusing more on new growth engines such as high-value service, the Pracha Rath grass-roots economic policy, and a national e-payment system to support smart entrepreneurs and start-ups.

He delivered his speech at an annual seminar called “Marketing Day 2016: Excellence Marketing for Thailand 4.0”, organised by the Marketing Association of Thailand (MAT) at a Bangkok venue.

He took the national e-payment scheme as an example of the government’s effort to facilitate and support the adoption of financial technology. Under this initiative, the PromptPay cashless payment system will be launched next year. The government aims to deploy 500,000 electronic data capture machines before the end of 2017 to support this new payment method.

“With this new platform, its users will learn how to use and generate data in the e-payment system,” he said.

MAT president Supattra Paopiamsap said the “Thailand 4.0” policy would present a huge opportunity for brands and marketers in light of changes in consumer behaviour mainly driven by social media.

“Today’s communication technology is playing a key role [linking] brands and consumers, particularly via real-time mobile platforms,” she said.

Brand building remains key for all products and services. But she said this process must get heavily involved with consumer insight, along with big-data analytics and utilisation, to gain more understanding about the customer’s purchasing journey.

Dangjaithawin Anantachai, chief operating officer and managing director of Intage Thailand, said marketers should understand the role of social media. She noted that apart from being just another communication or information channel, social media had affected social values.

“Post-truth is one good example in this regard,” she said.

However, despite facing such challenges, she suggested that marketers should think out of the box, as today’s consumers needed contextual omnipresence. “Thus products should be available at the right time and right place. Brands should not think just about conventional channels.”

She pointed to a successful case involving Maserati high-end cars. The carmaker decided to use Alibaba’s online network as an online showroom. This new strategy helped it sell 100 cars in the first 18 seconds.

By using big data, other retailers are able to understand purchasing patterns of customers.

Teeradet Dumrongbhalasitr, head of retail media at Dunnhumby Thailand, said the utilisation of big data could help brands measure the real value of marketing campaigns in accordance with planned key performance indicators. Meanwhile, the brands would be able to get more details on purchasing behaviour.

Besides benefiting from new advanced technology, Bandit Najathaworn, president and chief executive officer of the Thai Institute of Directors, suggested that Thai corporates should be driving success through corporate governance.

“When customers are migrating to online or e-commerce [channels], marketing with trust is key,” he said.

He added that trust could create business sustainability.