Thompson includes agencies involved in branding (J Walter Thompson), digital (Mirum), design (Degree), public relations (Verve), automotive communications (GTB) and digital content and production (Chameleon).

They closely collaborate to analyse clients’ businesses and needs and then put together their resources and expertise to create campaigns and deliverables out of fresh ideas that will turn the target audiences on.

“Agency leaders within our group are aware of our distinctive advantage as a multi-agency company, concurring that cross-agency collaboration in the group will create even better results for brands and greater satisfaction of clients,” said chief executive Maureen Tan.

“By combining art and science, skill sets, insights and technologies of different agencies, we have implemented experimental collaboration in some of our campaigns with very positive feedback from the clients – a clear signal that we are playing our cards right and we must step up our group-wide collaboration.

“Clients and consumers can now look forward to many more inspiring works that will breathe new life into marketing communications. And besides clients as the winners, our talents will be the gainers, too, because such collaboration is a superb platform for them to learn new skills and processes from affiliated agencies and be better equipped as versatile professionals.

“J Walter Thompson Co Bangkok aspires to a top-three agency group by 2019,” Tan continued. “To achieve that goal, our talents are instrumental. We have launched our 2018 Talent Development Programme to groom them in many respects in support of their development and contribution. Its Local Training Programme educates them in areas of business and marketing, digital transformation, design, presentation and negotiation.

“Meanwhile, the Network Training Programme broadens their work experiences through ‘In Your Shoes’, an exchange programme in which an interested talent can swap his or her job with a counterpart from another office within the global network of J Walter Thompson. And not to mention Young Tigers and HiP (High Potential) programmes.

“There is also a Self-Training Programme through which they can, for example, enrol in courses at Lynda.com to attend chosen online classes and live workshops whenever or wherever they are convenient.

“We hold Knowledge & Inspiring Talk sessions by inviting renowned speakers to share their knowledge and inspirations, which keep our talents filled with positive mindset. Basic information and news of each agency are also shared among all our agencies to keep each other updated about all the member agencies.

“The last to kick off in Q3 this year is our Rising Star Recognition Programme that honours talents who shine in cross-agency collaboration. All these programmes will fill J Walter Thompson offices with greater happiness across Asia-Pacific and drive J Walter Thompson Co Bangkok towards its goal of being the agency network with the most creative talents in Thailand by 2020.”

It revives the brand icon “Big Daddy” and adopts an entertaining storytelling approach in the form of music video.

“In the past few years, consumers’ preference for directly selling and buying used cars, also known as rod baan, has consistently increased due to the convenience from a wide range of available online platforms,” noted senior vice president Pornthep Tirasuntrakul.

“However, the awareness of personal car finance services has been relatively low and there have been very few finance providers in this segment. Krungsri Auto recognises that there are many opportunities within this market because interest in applications at krungsrimarket.com and Krungsri Rod Baan’s lending volume have been steadily growing in recent years.

“Due to the availability of various car models at affordable prices, the personal car segment sees interesting movements this year. After teaming up with a partner to enhance our online service late last year, Krungsri Auto finds it the right timing to further communicate with consumers about the Krungsri Rod Baan product.

“According to our consumer survey, the main feature that both buyers and sellers look for in personal car finance is fast service. The insight becomes the campaign concept of ‘Fast Approval, Fast Disbursement’, highlighting the unique selling point of one-day loan approval after buyers provide the required documents and one-day disbursement after sellers transfer vehicle registrations,” said Pornthep.

Major and RapidzPay will integrate cryptocurrency payments into established payment gateways to make payment for Major products and services more seamless, secure and efficient.

RapidzPay provides corporate and personal payment solutions by using a decentralised blockchain platform. Cryptocurrency holders can send their payments to the RapidzPay digital wallet via a mobile app.

Similarly, merchants can use RapidzPOS to collect both cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies.

“With RapidzPOS and the RapidzPay mobile app, you’ll be able to buy any services and products from us, such as movie tickets, popcorn and other different products with cryptocurrency,” said Chanya Tamrongweenichai, director of marketing at Major Cineplex Group.

“Also, we believe that RapidzPay will expand to our other businesses and lead the change for Thailand’s financial ecosystem to be cashless.”

Putting the true growth potential of the entire cryptocurrency market into perspective becomes more obvious when looking at relative numbers.

According to a study by the University of Cambridge, “The current number of unique active users of cryptocurrency wallets is estimated to be between 2.9 million and 5.8 million”, representing less than 1 per cent of the world’s population.

The growth potential of cryptocurrency markets remains largely untapped, despite the total market capitalisation of all cryptocurrencies of around US$300 billion as of July, according to Coinmarketcap.

With increasing user community support, growing market share and favourable user experience, RapidzPay is targeting a million active users in Thailand within its first year by attracting both existing and new crypto-enthusiasts who are looking for a simple and convenient platform to convert between fiat and cryptocurrency.

“All I can say is that I’m really excited to help customers of Major Group and beyond to make their lives a little bit better and easier,” said RapidzPay president and founder Eddie Trent.

Mobile application development paired with blockchain technology continues to grow by the second and gain more traction between users and developers.

RapidzPay expects to see a proliferation of mobile and web apps begin to accept and integrate blockchain technology as it proves to be more secure, inexpensive and efficient, especially in maintaining a real-time irrefutable ledger of user data and transaction on an extremely large scale.

Some applicable fields include mobile in-app revenue model such as games accepting cryptocurrencies, apps securing their data using blockchain ledgers, apps marketplaces, micropayments, subscription model and e-commerce websites, all utilising blockchain technology.

Toyota Motor Thailand Co Ltd (TMT) president Michinobu Sugata told media at Toyota’s mid-year press conference that Thai auto sales could reach 980,000 units this year due to an improving economy, tourism growth and intense market competition among auto makers. In 2017, 871,647 vehicles were sold in the country.

Earlier this year, Toyota forecast sales of 900,000 units for 2018.

“The economic outlook has become more favourable with GDP growth that has been raised to 4.4 per cent, driven by exports, tourism, government investment in infrastructure projects, and improving customer confidence,” Sugata said, adding that the 19 per cent market growth for the first half was beyond Toyota’s expectations.

He said from January to June, 489,118 vehicles were sold in Thailand, consisting of 190,310 passenger cars for a 17.9 per cent increase, while commercial vehicles sales amounted to 298,808 units for a 20.2 per cent rise.

The top three brands in the auto market for the first half were Toyota with 141,989 units (26.2 per cent increase), Isuzu with 86,363 units (12 per cent rise) and Honda with 59,838 units (2.6 per cent decrease).

In the passenger car market, Toyota leads with sales of 53,512 units for an 18.5 per cent increase, thanks to the increased popularity of the facelifted Revo pickup truck and new models like the C-HR and Yaris Ativ.

Honda is in second position with 46,287 units (0.7 per cent increase) followed by Mazda, highly successful with minor change models of its line-up in Thailand, with 24,378 units (43.6 per cent increase).

Meanwhile, Toyota is hoping to reclaim its leadership in the pickup truck market as well, after being overtaken by arch-rival Isuzu in recent years. Isuzu led the pickup truck market for the first six months with an aggregate of 78,997 units (12.2 per cent increase) but Toyota is narrowing the gap with the facelifted Revo, with six-month sales of 76,758 units (21.6 per cent increase). American auto maker Ford has overtaken Japanese counterparts such as Nissan and Isuzu to claim third place with 31,910 units (33.6 per cent increase).

Vudhigorn Suriyachanta-nanont, executive vice president of TMT, said Toyota plans to maintain its lead in the passenger car market until the end of the year, and has a good chance in the commercial market.

“Although we are still in the No.2 position in the pickup market, after launching the 2018 Hilux Revo two months ago, our pickup sales have improved dramatically,” he said. “We can’t predict the results, but we are trying our best to continuously offer customers better products as well sales offers.”

Toyota hopes to achieve 31.2-per cent growth this year, and announced a 315,000-unit sales target for 2018 (32.1 per cent increase). Toyota sales projections are: passenger cars (116,000 units), commercial vehicles (199,000 units).

For exports, Toyota has a target of 300,000 units, the same level as last year despite 7 per cent growth during the first half of 2018 (145,080 units) worth Bt74.25 billion.

Toyota started Revo pickup exports to Japan this year and in addition to Australia, helping to grow exports during the first six months of the year.

But Sugata said that a downward trend in the Middle Eastern market has prevented the company from raising projections.

Up to Bt20 billion of the total investment budget for next year will go towards construction of a petrochemical plant in Vietnam, with the remainder earmarked for mergers and acquisitions and the maintenance of its manufacturing plants in Thailand and other Asean countries, Chaovalit said on the sidelines of a company press conference.

He said that in the first half of this year, the group spent Bt18 billion of its investment budget on mergers and acquisitions and plant maintenance. Some Bt32 billion of its total investment budget of up to Bt50 billion for this year will be spent in the second half of this year. As with the first half, the funds will be spent on the maintenance of production plants and mergers and acquisitions with a focus on three categories: petrochemicals, construction raw materials, and packaging in the domestic and Asean markets.

The investments in the first half of this year included an increase in production capacity at the Map Ta Phut Olefins Plant from 1.7 million tonnes a year to 2.05 million tonnes. The group also acquired a 29 per cent stake in PT Catur Sentosa Adiprana Tbk (CSA), a leading retail firm in Indonesia. Its joint venture firm, Global House International, acquired a 30 per cent stake in PRO 1 Global Co Ltd, which is a distributor of building materials and home decoration items in Myanmar. Elsewhere, the group entered into a joint venture with Jasda Supply Chain Management International to establish an integrated logistics and supply chain management company focussing on China and Asean markets, Chaovalit said.

The investment budget will come from both its initial cash flows and borrowings from commercial banks; the group would maintain its net debt to equity ratio at no more than 2.5:1, Chaovalit said.

He said the group is scheduled to sign a US$3.2 billion (Bt102.4 billion) loan package with domestic and international financial institutions in August. The loan will be used to develop the petrochemical plant in Vietnam from 2019 to 2023.

The group yesterday announced its financial results for the second quarter of this year, booking total revenue from sales of Bt120.44 billion, an increase of 11 per cent from the same period of last year. Net profit was Bt12.4 billion, a decrease of 6 per cent from the year-earlier period.

With the total revenue and net profit contributions for the second quarter, the company announced total revenue from sales of Bt238.69 billion for the first half of this year, marking an increase of 6 per cent from the same period of last year. Net profit for the six months was Bt24.8 billion, down 19 per cent from the year-earlier period.

“Our total revenue from sales showed strong growth in the second quarter and first half of this year, coming from strong growth in the petrochemical, construction raw materials and packaging operations in both the domestic and overseas markets,” the group’s president and CEO, Roongrote Rangsiyopash, said at the press conference.

“However, our net profit dropped for both the second quarter and the first half of this year. That came from the lower performance of the chemicals business, lower dividend income from the investment business, and some currency losses resulting from the strong baht when the group had export income of Bt64.99 billion, or about 27 per cent of our revenue from sales.”

However, Roongrote said the group is confident that total revenue in the second half of this year will remain strong at above 6 per cent. He said the group would benefit from the country’s sustained economic growth as the government kicks off its investments to develop the country’s infrastructure. This spending would boost demand for cement by almost 2 per cent in the second half, he said, noting that demand for cement grew just 1 per cent in the first half.

Roongrote said demand for petrochemicals would also grow in the second half of this year, thanks to strong demand from the global market amid robust expansion in the global economy. China’s new policies on plastic waste would encourage the use of new plastic, increasing demand for it in the global market, he said.

As a result, the group maintains its projection for business growth of more than 6 per cent in the second half of 2018.

However, the group would continued to monitor whether the unfolding trade war between the US and China will impact its business. For now, he said the tensions between the two countries had not affected business.

Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, president of Bangkok Airways, said that as part of the network expansion it will increase the number of flights on its new Phuket to Yangon route to three times a week, from mid-November. The airline also aims to link with one or two airline partners for code-share agreements to meet growth in demand.

As part of an effort to expand its business base, the airline would set up a duty-free business unit, said Puttipong, adding that the company was aiming for revenue growth of up to 10 per cent this year.

Regarding the new aircraft, he said: “They will replace the existing two ATR 72-500 aircraft that will be discharged from service in the near future. We will provide two new Airbus 319 rental aircraft in November in order to support our new and existing routes and support our business growth. The firm expects that it will have 40 aircraft in total by the end of this year.”

For the duty-free business unit, it will mange duty free areas and duty free shops in Samui, Sukhothai, Udon Thani and Trat airports. Later, the company will open its duty-free flagship store at Samui airport, with an official announcement next year, Puttipong said.

“I think that the new duty-free business unit will diversify our existing business,” he said. “We are under negotiations with three business partners to set up this business and expect that the new duty free business areas will create revenue of around 5 per cent of total revenue in the next three years.”

The company also plans to set up an aircraft repair centre in Sukhothai province on a site of around 10,000 square meters with investment of more than Bt1 billion. Maintenance and repair services at the centre are expected to start in 2020. The company has also prepared a budget of around Bt1 billion to set up another aircraft repair centre at Suvanabhumi Airport at a later stage.

Next year, the company plans to invest more than Bt100 million on the design of a new reservation system and to apply to use the Amadeus reservation system and sales platform. This system has features such as self-service check-in and Web check-in The new system will be available in the third quarter of 2019.

Puttipong said that by the end of this year the airline expects to achieve passenger growth of around 7 per cent from last year, when it had 5.94 million passengers. It also has growth in advance booking of around 2 per cent from last year. The firm last year generated revenue of Bt29 billion. The firm expects to reach revenue growth 7-10 per cent by the end of this year. It expects to have a load factor of 70.5 per cent by that time.

“We try to provide best services with a unique and good service mindset to support our premium customers,” Puttipong said. “We have created a promotional campaign to support the expected growth in the market. We also have created partnerships, so that we will able to create an ecosystem within the airline industry, which is experiencing high competition.”