Through the subsidiary, UCC Ueshima Coffee (Thailand) Co Ltd, UCC will import and sell coffee products and operate coffee shops and cafés in Thailand for over 30 years.

Capital participation in K2, which has a coffee-roasting facility and expertise and know-how about coffee machines, fits well into UCC’s strategy to improve business diversification and quality of services, the company said. With the expertise of K2’s management team and the knowledge and experience of UCC, this joint venture could bring about mutual benefit to both parties and also would be able to expand to all coffee market segments even faster and smoother, the company said.

BIW refers to the stage in automotive design or automobile manufacturing when the sheet metal components of a car body are welded together.

AAPICO said it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Vinfast Trading and Production Llc, a member of Vingroup (Vietnam), to set up a press shop and assembly operations in Vinfast’s Supplier Park in Haiphong, Vietnam.

The purpose of the joint venture is to supply BIW parts for the first two models of Vinfast vehicles – a Sedan and an SUV – to be manufactured by the third quarter of 2019.

The total investment for this project would be Bt1.8 billion with AAPICO and Vinfast holding 51 per cent and 49 per cent equity, respectively. The plant will be built on a total area of 9.1 hectares.

“With this partnership, we believe that there will be more domestic and foreign companies joining Vietnam’s automotive supplier industry. This is an important step in creating a synchronous ecosystem for the Vietnamese automobile manufacturing industry”, said Nguyen Viet Quang, vice president and chief executive officer of Vingroup.

While Vinfast will provide the premises, invest US$20 million (Bt640 million) to build the plant and create the best possible conditions for the factory operations, AAPICO will be responsible for the overall management of the project including total technology and know-how, plant design layout, and equipment sizing.

In addition, AAPICO will also produce and provide all the jigs and dies for the Vinfast vehicles, which will have a total estimated value of Bt2.5 billion. Vinfast would then supply the jigs and dies to the joint venture company to produce the BIW parts for the Vinfast vehicles.

This joint venture is the largest project ever undertaken by AAPICO Group in terms of scale and would also be the group’s second largest overseas investment after the $100 million into Sakthi Automotive Group to acquire 25.1 per cent of its global operations in June 2017. AAPICO presently has manufacturing operations globally, including India, Europe, USA, Mexico, China and now Vietnam.

“AAPICO feels privileged that Vingroup has entrusted us with this project, which will be a historic milestone for Vietnam when the first two vehicle models are launched in 2019,” said Yeap Swee Chuan, president and chief executive officer of AAPICO Hitech Plc.

Chalermpong is responsible for strategy and management of the Thai unit’s CE operations, including visual displays and digital appliances.

He will help contribute to Samsung’s leading position and business growth in the industry, the company said on Monday.

Chalermpong has over 20 years of experience in CE business, particularly in the lighting industry.

In 2016 and 2017, he was managing director of Philips Electronics (Thailand), overseeing the entire lighting business for Philips in Thailand and Laos.

With his experience in the commercial field, he received the trust of Philips’s top management to manage various functions in commercial organisation, including sales, marketing, product management, and customer/channel management.

He was one of the few Thai talents within Philips who was assigned to look after the business overseas, including Asia-Pacific as well as Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

His leadership was instrumental in driving the growth of Philips’s lighting business unit and establishing a strong presence of Philips as the No-1 lighting brand in the Thai market.

Following Chalermpong’s recent appointment at Thai Samsung Electronics, his core mission is to strengthen Samsung’s presence in the Thai market while leading the development and execution of its strategy across CE business, including visual displays and digital appliances.

Kematat Paladesh, president and vice chairman of the risk management committee, said that the launch of the digital platforms is aimed at diversifying business risk amid a decline in advertising budgets spent on TV and a rising trend for other media platforms, especially online.

“We (MCOT) have set up a digital department, which will work hand in hand with outsourced partners for enhancing such digital activities, such as cloud-based storage and info-graphic data. We have also recruited digital programmers to develop infrastructure works, such as cloud-based video footage and data analytics,” said Kematat.

He said that MCOT has three major sources of revenue, comprising advertising income earned from its television and radio stations, as well as from media concessions.

“Today, between 70 per cent and 80 per cent of MCOT revenue is from TV advertising. In the next two to three years, we expect half of our revenue will remain from TV advertising, and another 30 per cent will from radio. Meanwhile, 20 per cent of our revenue will be from new digital platforms in the next two to three years, up from only 1 per cent today,” said Kematat, adding that revenue from media concessions will decline gradually to none in the next few years.

MCOT operates 62 radio stations, of which six are under FM signals.

“This will be the new era of MCOT,” he said. “We (MCOT) want to be in the new media business, reshaping by the launch of new digital platforms. The new portfolio is to replace declining revenue in concessions and to diversify any risk raised by the declining revenue from TV advertising to be shared by other media platforms.”

Kematat said that the key problem at MCOT is that the media firm is stuck with the structural hierarchy and mindset of staff that are used to working for a state-owned organisation running traditional media.

“We are trying to communicate with a group of personnel at MCOT who have such conservative ideas. We try to recruit new, younger staff to move the business forward, especially with the adding of the new digital-based platforms,” he said, adding that the new artificial intelligence technology can be used to transform recorded voice clips, for example, into other forms of information, such as text and visuals.

MCOT recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with China International Broadcasting Network (CIBN)’s OCTV Asia Terminal for strategic cooperation, especially for the exchange of content and technologies.

MCOT also joined with INET to launch the M Wink project, which is set to offer a digital interactive experience to audiences by integrating communication and broadcast technologies.

Kematat was speaking on Sunday in a speech on the “survival alternatives for local media: the new paradigm of management”, during the orientation for new students in a master’s degree programme held by the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication at Thammasat University. He said that local media industry, especially digital television and print media, is facing critical challenges raised by both controlled and uncontrolled factors.

For uncontrolled factors, they are the emergence of media laws and regulations, as well as technologies, including the establishment of two national councils, respectively, for journalism and consumer protection.

He said that as the regulators, members of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) are not persons involved in the media industry and they do not actually understand the local media industry.

However, local media firms need to adjust their organisations and strategies to cope with those controlled factors, which take in the human, money and content dimensions.

“Today media personnel should have multi-skilling capabilities. Media organisations should select to do the area of activities they are expert on, and avoid doing those in which they don’t have expertise, ” said Kematat.

He said that media organisations should reshuffle their management structures to be in line with the new technologies. They should find new strategic partners to adopt new digital technologies and creative content, as well as recruiting new customers to diversify business risks. Media organisations should know more, including in-depth knowledge of consumers, especially younger and elderly people.

The building up of Big Data is significant for the new era of digitalisation. The media companies should also focus on building up their own position and brand awareness to accumulate credibility in long term, Kematat said.

“Digital TV is quite similar to department store operators, who do have their own house-brand products but rely on outside manufacturers,” he said. “We, as a digital TV operator, also do not have our own content but rely heavily on outside content providers. What has already happened today is that major content providers have set up their own digital TV stations to run their own contents. So, to survive in the business, we need to create our own quality content, as well as a clear positioning and character on what we would like ourselves to be.”

Continuing their “Next Chapter” transformation journey, the company introduced a new organisational structure and brand identity.

“This has been an 18-month journey for our brand and the largest transformation in the history of our agency,” said John Seifert, CEO, The Ogilvy Group. “To meet the changing needs of our clients, we’re taking a bold step to redefine our company and build a new model for our industry, which we helped to create over 70 years ago.”

He said the digital revolution had fundamentally disrupted the marketing industry, impacting consumer behaviour, the media landscape and competition.

Ogilvy’s plans to respond to these changing dynamics will reinject the vision, values and ways of thinking about brands that David Ogilvy built the agency on, reaffirming what Ogilvy stands for and believes in – that brands matter now more than ever, according to a press release from the company.

The new integrated Ogilvy brand will bring together the three distinct units of OgilvyOne, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising and Ogilvy Public Relations along with various company sub-brands and specialty brands under a single, unified group with a common identity, positioning, client service model and P&L.

This single, unified group (Ogilvy) will be built on five key pillars, said the release:

1. A new organisational design: The transformation from a matrix-managed holding company of sub-brands to one brand represented by 12 crafts and six core capabilities along with a new operating system. The crafts are: creative, strategy, delivery, client service, data, finance, technology, talent, business development, marketing and communications, administration, and production

The core capabilities are: brand strategy, advertising, customer engagement and commerce, PR and influence, digital transformation, and partnerships.

2. A new consulting offering: Building on the success of OgilvyRED, an enterprise offering called Ogilvy Consulting, focused on the areas of digital transformation consulting, growth, business design and innovation, will work horizontally across all of Ogilvy.

3. A new brand identity and design system, including a redesigned company website reflecting the “One Ogilvy” brand.

4. A new partnership model: To lead and manage a truly integrated network business model, Ogilvy will establish a formalised global partnership structure. They said it would ensure that the diversity of the company’s leadership – across markets, capabilities, and generations – better represents the brand for the greater good of the company.

5. A new global digital platform: The creation of a knowledge-sharing, professional development and customised community-networking tool called “Connect” – to train their staff and bring teams together to best serve their clients.

“Our creativity is the foundation of Ogilvy’s global network and the most powerful competitive advantage that we have,” said Tham Khai Meng, chief creative officer, The Ogilvy Group. “We are building on the creative heritage of David Ogilvy to fuel our future.”

Using the common language of ligature, the new Ogilvy logo represents the agility, collaboration and connectedness that reflects the brand’s strong reputation, said the release.

The iconic Ogilvy red has been reintroduced in a brighter Pantone and a secondary palette of grey, pink, blue and yellow has been added to emphasise the company’s desire to modernise, while maintaining, its strong heritage, according to the release.

The Ogilvy fonts have also been recut and customised as “Ogilvy serif and Ogilvy sans”. In addition, the company’s website ogilvy.com has been redesigned, and aims to be a dynamic destination showcasing the breadth and depth of the agency’s creative work, talent and thought leadership. Ogilvy collaborated with Collins, an award-winning branding and design agency, on the rebrand and launch.

“Today, there are more opportunities than ever before to shape every aspect of a brand’s needs,” said Seifert. “The scale and diversity of our global network is the source of our strength.

“At Ogilvy, we design the components of a brand, create experiences around a brand, and communicate about a brand. Our new organisational design will empower our people to put clients at the centre and create sustained brand value on behalf of our clients for years to come.”

Ogilvy has been producing iconic, culture-changing marketing campaigns since its founder David Ogilvy opened up shop in 1948. The award-winning integrated creative network counts many Fortune Global 500 companies among its clients, as well as local businesses across more than 120 offices in 83 countries.

Pichai Limprapaipong, president of SCG Group’s TPC Vina Plastic & Chemical Corp Ltd, which has made petrochemical investments in Vietnam, said that SCG Group has raised its stake in Long Son Petrochemicals Co Ltd (LSP), Vietnam’s first integrated petrochemical project, from 71 per cent to 100 per cent.

The project has had investment of Bt173 billion, the highest in Vietnam, with annual olefin production capacity of 1.6 million tonnes for production of high-density polyethylene (HDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and polypropylene (PP) to cope with annual demand of 2.3 million tonnes in Vietnam.

“The project is the second-largest petrochemical project of SCG Group after that in Thailand. There have been 10 years of negotiations,” Pichai said.

The LSP project is in Ba Ria-Vung Tau, about 100 kilometres from Ho Chi Minh City.

Pichai said that the company had rushed to prepare the area for the project’s construction and this process is expected to take about six months.

The first globally integrated petrochemical project in Vietnam will be highly competitive with advanced technology and flexibility for raw-material selection.

About 70 per cent of the raw materials will be gas, which will enable lower raw material costs than seen in most petrochemical plants in the region.

“Vietnam is a major market for SCG Group and its asset value accounts for a third of the total asset value of Bt170 billion in Thailand,” Pichai said.

The petrochemical business in Vietnam has been expanding continuously, reflecting growth in premature ventricular contractions (PVC) business of more than 9 per cent a year in the country. Thailand’s annual PVC growth is around 2-3 per cent on average.

Deputy Industry Minister Somchai Harnhirun said that Vietnam enjoys average growth in gross domestic product of least 7 per cent a year.

Thailand is the ninth-biggest source of foreign direct investment in Vietnam.

The increased budget will be mainly focused on television advertising, while other media such as newspapers, online and outdoor media will also see higher spending than in non-World Cup years, KRC said on Monday.

This project leverages artificial intelligence technology powered by SCB Abacus to enable instant credit approval on the Lazada platform. Sellers can apply for online loans without additional paperwork. This collaboration will be Thailand’s first lending service on an e-commerce platform to help online SMEs expand their business, Sutapa Amornvivat, chief executive officer of SCB Abacus, said.

As it moves towards what it calls its “Next Chapter”, the company introduced a new organisational structure and brand identity.

“This has been an 18-month journey for our brand and the largest transformation in the history of our agency,” said John Seifert, chief executive, The Ogilvy Group. “To meet the changing needs of our clients, we’re taking a bold step to redefine our company and build a new model for our industry, which we helped to create over 70 years ago.”

The digital revolution has fundamentally disrupted the marketing industry, impacting consumer behaviour, the media landscape and competition. Ogilvy’s plans to respond to these changing dynamics will reinject the vision, values, and ways of thinking about brands that David Ogilvy built the agency on, reaffirming what Ogilvy stands for and believes in – that brands matter now more than ever, Seifert said.

The integrated Ogilvy brand brings together the three distinct units of OgilvyOne, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising and Ogilvy Public Relations along with various company sub-brands and specialty brands under a single, unified group with a common identity, positioning and client service model.

This is in line with EXIM Thailand’s strategy to provide financial support for high-potential small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with focus on product innovation and innovative production technology to boost their competitiveness on the global market, Exim Thailand senior executive vice president Wantana Mongkolsri said on Monday.

She added that Glovetex Co Ltd is a manufacturer and exporter of innovative industrial gloves with pioneering microtex fibre technology under the Microtex brand.

The company is a leading producer of safety gloves and equipment with distinctive properties, such as high cut-resistant gloves, anti-bump gloves, heat-resistant gloves, chemicals-resistant suits, and safety glasses for use in food, agricultural and automobile industries. Currently, the products are distributed domestically and exported to such major market as the US. The company is in the process of expanding its exports.