Highlighting PepsiCo’s multi-year partnership with the Uefa (Union of European Football Associations) Champions League, the Bt300-million campaign will be supported by fully integrated marketing activities, anchored by a TV commercial featuring two Thai soccer stars.

Additionally, Pepsi will be giving away daily prizes valued at up to Bt30 million in total over 60 days. On every one of those 60 days, someone will win a Bt300,000 VIP package trip to experience the 2016 Uefa Champions League Final in Milan, Italy. Another 600 people will win a “Golden Pepsi Football” valued at Bt20,000 each.

Apart from the soccer campaign, Pepsi will also present the second annual “S2O Music Festival”, which will be held during the Songkran period.

Across all categories, Thailand’s carbonated-soft-drink (CSD) market is expected to grow by 5-6 per cent in 2016, the same as last year. However, during the peak season which runs from February to the end of May and early June, growth typically reaches 15-20 per cent.

Last year, Pepsi grew in sales volume and market share. It was the No 1 cola company in Thailand in the non-returnable (NR) packaging segment, with more than 44 per cent of the market share, representing 3-per-cent growth from 2014, according to Nielsen Company (Thailand). The company expects to carry forward similar growth for 2016.

The NR packaging category, which consists of plastic bottles and cans, now has 78-80 per cent of the Thai CSD market. This follows global and regional trends, where the share of the returnable-packaging category has dropped. Other beverages such as juices also comply with this trend.

The campaign will be staged at The Mall, The Emporium, The EmQuartier and Paragon department stores.

“During the first two months of the year, the retail business showed promise, especially compared with the same period in 2015,” said Chamnarn Maytaprechakul, The Mall Group vice president.

“During Chinese New Year, consumers spent more and businesses, especially department stores and shopping malls, offered riveting promotions and activities – a sign of an improving economy. As such, the company expects sales growth of more than 10 per cent during the first quarter.”

Summer is a pivotal retail season after New Year and Chinese New Year holiday period because there are several positive factors contributing to sales. Many business categories, including fashion, electronic appliances and consumer products, compete through marketing. Overall sales of up to Bt3 billion have been recorded in summer.

The Mall Group has budgeted Bt150 million for its marketing tactics, specifically for concentration and consolidation. The company said its summer strategy was centred on offering value at all its department stores while providing distinctive activities to suit each store’s character.

A joint campaign called “Salute Summer” will run from March 10 to April 17 at the department stores. Customers who spend between Bt1,500 and Bt15,000 will receive a discount of up to 50 per cent, while M Card members who redeem 100 to 1,200 points also receive a discount of up to 50 per cent.

The “Viva Voyager” concept that caters to the travelling lifestyle offers M Card members who spend at least Bt2,000 the chance to win business-class plane tickets for two to a destination of their choice. Customers can select from more than 150 routes on Qatar Airways.

There are two prizes, each for two people, worth Bt949,000 in total. The top 51 spenders during the campaign will receive vouchers to stay at leading luxurious hotels worth more than Bt8 million in total.

Other offers include additional discounts, vouchers, cash back and special deals with participating credit cards including Citi M Visa, Siam Commercial Bank, Kasikorn Thai, Krungsri and KTC. These offers cannot be combined with other special promotions.

Chamnarn said each mall had special activity highlights that reflected its character.

The vice president said The Mall was focused on happiness and family, with activities regarding food, fashion, entertainment and health.

During “The Mall Summerbration 2016”, there will be activities such as meeting superheroes and fun times at the Fantasia Lagoon water park.

Chamnarn said the Em District, which consists of The Emporium and The EmQuartier, was focused on creating new experiences for customers, so there were seven imitations of some of the world’s best beaches, including the French Riviera, Ipanema Beach in Brazil, Bondi Beach in Australia, Miami Beach and Phuket.

Customers who spend at least Bt300 can join The EM District Airline Mapping activity at the screen in front of The EmQuartier.

“Finally, Paragon Department Store, the apex of modernity and trendiness, is concentrating on merchandise and travel concept under the ‘Paragon Vivacious Summer’ theme,” Chamnarn said.

“There are summer-scope activities for customers on Fridays through Sundays during the campaign. M Card, Citi M Visa and those who have coupons from M2F, BK, Don’t Journal or Hamburger magazine can join the Jackpot Spin activity for a chance to win gift vouchers worth Bt500, special offers and gift vouchers from popular brands.

“This summer, The Mall Group will stand out with its variety of activities and promotions. Customers can enjoy any of them at all three malls, all of which have distinctive themes and experiences while all offering the same value for money.”

A source at the NBTC said Lt-General Peerapong Manakit, chairman of the subcommittee, planned to meet with executives of Bangkok Entertainment Company, which operates Channel 3 under a broadcasting concession contract with MCOT, to clarify decision to let Sorrayuth continue hosting programmes.

As well, Supinya Klangnarong, chairwoman of the NBTC’s subcommittee on consumer rights protection, will invite representatives from all 26 digital terrestrial TV stations to discuss the regulations they must work under. The highlighted issue will be media ethics and responsibility, with the spotlight on the case of Rai Som case involving Sorrayuth.

An expert on the TV broadcasting industry, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested that companies were now hesitant to advertise on Sorrayuth’s former programmes after Channel 3 decided to replace him with Krittika “Kook” Korphaibool on the morning news variety show “Rueng Lao Chao Nee” yesterday.

“We have to wait at least two weeks to see any substantial impact from the recent decision made by Channel 3 management and whether this could help minimise business loss,” the expert said.

However, the expert believed that morning news shows on digital TV stations such as Channel 8, Workpoint TV and Mono29 could benefit if companies decided to reallocate their advertising budgets to those programmes because they are still concerned about how they would look if they continued to support Channel 3’s morning programme.

Under another scenario, those advertisers might look at top-rated digital TV news stations such as New TV, Nation TV and Springnews TV instead.

The source also suggested that Channel 7, which is a direct rival of Channel 3, was unlikely to be a winner in this regard as its morning news show already gets higher ratings than “Rueng Lao Chao Nee”. Channel 7’s morning news advertising slots are also fully booked.

Professor Dr Surapongse Sothanasathien, a lecturer at Thammasat University’s Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication, said there had been many stories about legal and ethical violations by mass and alternative media. Many of them became major causes of dissent and anarchy in Thai society, which led to the coup in May 2014.

He said the Sorrayuth case was similar to other cases where media have taken advantage of the lack of knowledge among the public about how the media operate, in order to pursue unethical activities that have damaged society.

He said Channel 3 was a prime example of a big media organisation being more concerned about making money than with conducting ethical journalism.

“It is a legitimate and urgent time for the Prayut government to be seriously concerned about media reform with a focus on ethical journalism. This is because media institutions and industry have been gradually deteriorating since 2004,” Surapongse said.

Another communication specialist said reporters, editors and others in the journalistic profession held a very special position of high responsibility in society.

They are up there with judges, teachers and doctors because we trust them to guide us towards doing what is right without personal prejudice or the distraction of personal interest.

Politicians, who are at the top of this pyramid of people who should be shaping our lives without the interference of personal interest, have long lost this respect.

That is why how society responds to a case like this as very important, because it tells others in positions of high responsibility what is and what is not acceptable to society.

“From my observation, a large number of people who hold such positions of high responsibility show high ethical responsibility because they know it’s simply the right thing to do. But many more do so because they fear the consequences to their lives, their reputations, and their ability to earn a livelihood if they fail to show high ethical responsibility,” he said.

If the public wants editors, reporters and news commentators to show high ethical standards in all that they do – not least as a way to keep wayward politicians in check – then the public must actively demonstrate when people do show poor ethical judgement that they are going to be deprived of their reputation and livelihood. If the public takes no action, then they will give the reporters, editors, and commentators that they deserve. Don’t expect big corporates to take the lead.

A source from a property firm that bought advertising on Sorrayuth’s programme said good corporate governance was very important, the court ruling about the corruption case would be a crucial factor for the company as it considers whether to advertise on the channel again.

AQuest Search leverages En World’s established network of 15 offices in Thailand, India, Vietnam, Singapore, Australia, South Korea and Japan, supporting more than 2,500 clients across the region.

Global companies in the Asia-Pacific region have never faced a greater scarcity of executive leaders who possess understanding of diverse cultures and languages in the fast changing region, En World claims.

AQuest Search partners with global companies operating in the region to identify, attract and engage top-level executive talent. Through a highly committed, responsive and client-focused service, AQuest Search delivers results – equipping clients with high-performing leaders, the parent company says.

Combining the deep regional experience in Asia-Pacific and rich sector expertise of its consultants with En World’s substantial reach and technology resources, AQuest Search has a superior understanding of both client and candidate needs, it says.

“The addition of the executive level focus of AQuest Search will enhance our existing and unique levels of customer service,” said Craig Saphin, group chief executive officer.

“AQuest members inherit a deep understanding of the Asia-Pacific region, close personal networks with clients and candidates and proven professional values. AQuest is focused on achieving its mission by helping our clients achieve their strategic goals by bringing the best people together.”

En World is a group of recruiting consultancies specialising in professional and managerial roles. Operating from seven countries, it supports global companies’ recruitment needs through its AsiapPacific network with the En World, Navigos Search, New Era India and AQuest Search brands.

Despite missing its revenue target of $5 billion last year, chiefly due to the cancellation of the Bumble Bee Foods acquisition late in the year, Thai Union is sticking to its ambitious target for 2020.

According to presentation documents provided to stock analysts and the media yesterday, Thai Union will grow from $3.7 billion in revenue last year to the $8-billion target in the next five years through both merger-and-acquisition and organic growth strategies.

Of the total additional incremental revenue of $4.3 billion by 2020, organic growth will account for $2.9 billion, while newly acquired businesses will contribute $1.4 billion. The group’s gross margin is targeted to increase to nearly 20 per cent over the period, from about 15-16 per cent at present, said Wai Yat Paco Lee, Thai Union’s deputy general manager for investor relations and corporate investment.

Under its organic growth plan, new divisions will make an assault on emerging markets, the food service sector and the sale of marine ingredients, in a strategy aimed at generating additional annual revenue of $1.2 billion by 2020.

New product and process innovations will be instrumental to the group’s organic expansion of its existing businesses, he said.

The deputy GM said that Thai Union, which booked record sales and profit last year, now expected to achieve new records in its financial results this year.

The company aims to achieve sales revenue of $4.5 billion to $5 billion this year, which would represent growth of 15-20 per cent in baht terms.

It is eyeing a gross profit margin of about 16 per cent, similar to last year, he added.

The illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing regulations have not directly affected Thai Union greatly, because the group buys less than 4 per cent of its fishery supplies from local sources.

“We are not worried [about IUU]. But we are worrying about the image of the country, since consumers [in end-buyer countries] may typecast [all products from Thailand] as the same,” he said.

Elaborating on the group’s new food-service sector division, he said Thai Union would aim to become a total solution provider for establishments such as hotel, catering and restaurant companies, with which it would jointly work to develop their menus, standardise the quality and taste of their products, thus reducing costs, and the sizes of their kitchens.

The targets include large hotel, restaurant and catering operators in the US. The group aims to capture $400 million in annual sales from the food-service sector by 2020, he added.

On the emerging-markets plan, Thai Union will focus on the Middle East, Asean and China, markets in which it aims to increase its revenue to $600 million annually by 2020.

“We will review our approach in the Chinese market to allow our sales to grow more. Although we’re already the No-1 brand in the canned-tuna market there, the market is relatively small because Chinese consumers still do not favour canned tuna. We can introduce new products such as King Oscar premium sardines or Orion Seafood lobsters,” he explained.

The expansion of emerging-market sales will help give Thai Union a better balance between its revenue sources, as about 70 per cent of current sales are from the US and European markets.

Under the revised five-year business plan, Thai Union will no longer need to conduct a capital increase to fund its $4 billion worth of acquisitions planned for the period, since each transaction is likely to be much smaller than the aborted $1.5-billion Bumble Bee deal, he said.

Thai Union has announced a record net profit of Bt5.3 billion for 2015, up 4.1 per cent from the previous year.

Excluding one-off adjustment items such as a fishing-fleet impairment cost of Bt508 million, expenses totalling Bt211 million for its cancelled capital-increase plan, and related expenses of Bt57 million for the aborted acquisition of Bumble Bee, the company booked a normalised net profit of Bt6.1 billion last year.

The group has also budgeted Bt10.4 billion for the renovation of its department stores in Europe, which will be conducted from now through 2020.

The group targets total revenue of Bt337.04 billion this year, 18.9 per cent more than last year’s Bt283.45 billion.

Tos Chirathivat, chief executive of Central Group, said the company had no plan to sell its 25-per-cent stake in Big C Supercenter, a majority of which was recently acquired by beverage tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi.

Through his company Berli Jucker, Charoen last month acquired a 58.6-per-cent stake in Big C from France’s Casino Group for US$3.5 billion (Bt124 billion).

Tos said Central Group created the Big C hypermarket business back in 1994. In 1997, the year of the Asian financial crisis, the group decided to invite Casino Group to acquire a stake and raise the investment capital at Big C. At that time, Central’s stake in Big C was diluted to only 25 per cent. “We have not yet discussed with the new majority shareholder of Big C what we will do for the hypermarket chain in the future,” Tos said.

He said Central Group was also considering whether to bid for acquisition of Big C’s operation in Vietnam. That deal, worth about Bt20 billion, will open for bidding next Thursday. Many players are expressing interest in joining the bidding process, including from Japan, South Korea and Vietnam itself.

Vietnam

“In Vietnam, Central Group has operated retail businesses in the country with about Bt20 billion in annual sales. If the group is able to acquire Big C’s business in Vietnam, the revenue generated by the group [in that country] will double, as Big C’s annual sales in Vietnam are also as high as Bt20 billion.”

In Thailand, Tos said, Central Group will invest in department stores, condominium projects, hotels, and new special stores.

He said it would open two new CentralPlaza shopping complexes in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Nakhon Ratchasima. Late next year, the group will open Central Phuket Phase 2.

Some of the investment budget will be also allocated to the renovation of its existing shopping centres in Pattaya, on Rama III Road in Bangkok, and CentralWorld, as well as Central Department Store outlets. These will include Central Chidlom, Zen, and department stores in Phuket, Bang Na and Pinklao, and Robinson Department Store outlets on Rama IX Road in Bangkok, as well as inChiang Mai, Ratchaburi, Trang, Saraburi and Nakhon Si Thammarat.

The group will this year also |open a Robinson Lifestyle Center |in Lop Buri and a new Robinson Department Store at its CentralPlaza shopping complex |in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

It will also develop three new condominium projects under the Escent brand in Chiang Mai, Rayong and Khon Kaen.

For its hotel business, the group plans to open Khum Kham Convention Centre in Chiang Mai, Centra Maris Resort Jomtien and Centara Avenue Hotel in Pattaya, Centra Phu Pano Resort, and six new hotels under the Cosi brand in six locations including Samui, Chiang Mai and Pattaya.

About 420 stores will be opened this year by the group’s retail units, including Central Restaurant Group, Central Food Hall, Tops Market, Tops Superstores, Tops Daily, Family Mart, Komonoya, Supersports, Power Buy, and Thai Watsadu.

Overseas, the group will invest in the expansion of its retail and hotel networks in eight markets in the West – Italy, Germany, Denmark, Turkey, Qatar, Oman, Ethiopia and Cuba – and nine in the East, namely Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Sri Lanka and Maldives.

Tos said Centara was a Thai-based hotel chain that had been successful in expanding its footprint in many markets abroad. It now operates 41 hotels with 7,800 rooms. A total of 35 of the hotels are in Thailand and six overseas, including in Vietnam, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Maldives.

“We are in the process of signing contracts to manage 29 new hotels with 6,700 rooms altogether. About 18 are in overseas markets, which are China, Oman, Qatar, Turkey and Cuba,” said Tos, adding that the group will also develop two new hotels in Dubai and Maldives.

He said Central Group targeted revenue from its international retail business of Bt51 billion this year, representing about 40 per cent of the total revenue of Central Department Store Group.

The group posted Bt30 billion in revenue from its international retail business last year, a figure that is expected to reach Bt100 billion by 2020.

“Our turning point was late last year, when we conducted a brand repositioning of NOW26 to focus more on factual and lifestyle programmes with world-class entertainment. The revamp came at the right time, as the broadcasting regulator had announced a rearrangement of digital-TV channels that made it easy for viewers to recognise the channel numbers,” NMG chief executive officer Duangkamol Chotana said recently.

NOW26 has made significant gains among a broad segment of viewers after passing this key turning point, she said.

Last month, a rating survey by AC Nielsen found that NOW26 had moved up to 14th place, from 15th position in January and 18th in December.

This was a result of the station having gained more understanding about mass-audience needs, she said, adding that it had decided to dedicate more time for documentaries and sport programmes that suit a wider audience.

To offer world-class documentaries, NOW26 has secured a range of quality content from leading international TV production houses – namely, BBC Worldwide, Deutsche Welle, National Geographic and China Central Television.

Under NOW Studios’ production, the channel is also scheduling two reality shows showcasing Thai boxing – “The Champ” and “FAT Fighter” – which have been well received by viewers, the CEO said.

“Creating our own documentaries is a key strategy in offering unique quality content for viewers. The company is also seeking further opportunity to export the broadcasting rights of those documentaries overseas in the near future,” she added.

To support new documentary producers, NOW26 will soon organise a documentary scriptwriting contest, with the winner receiving a grant from NOW26 to produce a factual programme that they propose.

NOW26 is also planning to work with local sport associations in taekwondo, volleyball, basketball and futsal to develop new leagues as additional TV content catering to sports fans, Duangkamol said.

NOW26 will also continue to broadcast international sporting events such as the Paris-Dakar off-road car rally and the Tour de France bicycle race, as well as Kom Chud Luek Thai boxing matches this year.

In addition, the station has established alliances with producers of variety, reality and game shows, which will come on air soon, she said.

With a strong position in business news, NOW26 also offers quality news content produced by Krungthep Turakij and the Nation Group, the chief executive added.

The insurer this year is targeting total premium income of Bt5.2 billion, a growth rate of 6.5 per cent from last year. Motor insurance still contributes major revenue to the company, which aims for premiums from the sector of Bt2.9 billion to Bt3 billion.

The company is optimistic about motor-insurance growth because many owners have had their autos for nearly five years, which is generally about the time they change to new a model. This will help boost auto sales and income from motor-insurance, he said.

Deves Insurance’s retail customers account for 70 per cent of its total customer base.

Meanwhile, government investment will also be a positive factor for the insurance industry relating to the construction sector but revenue growth is unlikely to be spectacular because of higher competition and underwriting risks.

“Premium rates fell by 20-30 per cent in the sector because of the competition, and lack of business expansion,” he said.

The company still focuses on retail customers especially those upcountry because claim rates are lower than in Bangkok.

Also, Deves plans to introduce new motor insurance and personal accident plus health insurance policies. It will improve its call centre and IT infrastructure to try to reduce the number of motor-insurance claims it has to pay out on as the number has increased by 20-30 per cent per year.