It expects to carry 3 million passengers this year, up from around 2 million last year.

The carrier will boost the number of its aircraft to 14 this year, up from 9 last year.

Thai AirAsia X has affirmed its extensive coverage of Japan by adding a four-times a week direct service from Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport to Fukuoka, the gateway of Kyushu.

Nadda said Japan is a strategic market for Thai AirAsia X and has been performing well. Even with flights across all regions of the country, Thai AirAsia X has continued to seek out new routes to offer new experiences to Thai travellers and attract more Japanese visitors to the Kingdom.

Thai AirAsia X has been flying to Japan for almost five years, beginning with Tokyo and Osaka. The carrier then added Sapporo and Nagoya last year and now Fukuoka as its fifth route. Nadda said the new route is in line with the rising number of Thai travellers to Japan.

“We still see much growth potential in the Japanese market and are hopeful that Fukuoka will further bolster tourism and the economies of both Thailand and Japan,” Nadda said.

Thai AirAsia X recognises the city of Fukuoka in Fukuoka prefecture as a high-potential destination as it is the largest city on the island of Kyushu in southern Japan and a hub of culture, cuisine and natural tourism destinations.

Thai AirAsia X flies to nine cities in four countries (including to Fukuoka) with direct flights from Bangkok (Don Mueang airport) to Seoul in South Korea; Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, Nagoya and Fukuoka in Japan; Shanghai and Tianjin in China; and Brisbane in Australia.

With its latest route addition, Thai AirAsia X is offering members of its loyalty programme AirAsia BIG the opportunity to book flights from Bangkok (Don Mueang)-Fukuoka, available four times a week, at a promotional one-way price from Bt2,990, including taxes and fees. Members must book by April 14, for travel from July 3 to October 26.

Nadda said that this year the carrier would also focus on opening more routes to secondary provinces in Japan and China.

In a press release on Thursday the companies said Thai customers can now enjoy all the touch points of surprising menu that will create new ways to experience dining at both Bar B Q Plaza and Pizza Hut.

The marketing campaign brings the two brand ambassadors, Bar B Gon and WOW Boy, together in a fun storytelling. The secret sauce of each brand are combined and created into a new sauce “Bar B Q Pizza”, with all-new menu such as “Bar B Hut Set” and “Pizza Hut B Gon”.

Marketing promotions are now in full swing, in which customers in Thailand can try these new menu starting April 1 to May 20 at Bar B Q Plaza (only at branches with gold pan) and all branches of Pizza Hut nationwide.

Boonyanuch Boonbumrungsub, Executive Vice President of Bar B Q Plaza at Food Passion Company Limited, said: “This marketing partnership between Bar B Q Plaza and Pizza Hut began from the brand’s approach that believes the marketing collaboration strategy can make the campaign more interesting and new, which will benefit both consumers and partnering brands.

“In the past, we used to do market collaboration with brands in different sectors, but not our own. But now, the idea of limitless creative marketing propels us to seek the kind of partnership that is beyond everyone’s expectation, which is to have a marketing partnership with brands that are also restaurants like us. Many may perceive them as competitors. But we view that, if a collaboration can benefit both customers and ourselves, then it is considered as an interesting idea. Fortunately, Pizza Hut also shares similar marketing ideology, which then brought about this “Fin Ver Hut Jer Gon” campaign.

“Considering it strategy-wise, even though Bar B Q Plaza and Pizza Hut are both in the restaurant business, we actually have different customer base. For Bar B Q Plaza, the customer base is made up largely of teenagers and young adults, while Pizza Hut has more young family with kids. So, we view that this campaign will not only bring something new to the restaurant business, but it will also expand the marketing of both brands through cross target to create new customer base.

“Additionally, both Bar B Q Plaza and Pizza Hut have iconic brand ambassador to help communicate the message. As Bar B Q Plaza has Bar B Gon, Pizza Hut has WOW Boy (Waiter on Wheel). These brand ambassadors can help making the campaign more fun and easy to communicate with the public.

“We believe that this joint campaign can help expand both brands and expand the customer case to new groups. It will definitely help the revenue of Bar B Q Plaza to grow no less than 18% compared to the same time last year,” added Boonyanuch.

Ausana Mahagitsiri, Director of PH Capital, franchisee of Pizza Hut brand in Thailand, said: “Pizza Hut has been a brand that people around the world acknowledge and accept as the No.1 dining place for Young Family with Kids target group for a long time. Our key characteristics are “Innovation. Quality. Taste. Value. Great service”.

Pizza Hut Thailand has been successful in developing new innovation continuously to respond to the customer’s preferences right on point, such as The Black Pizza, Pizza Hut Hokkaido with cheesy sausage crust, as well as introducing innovations in new packaging like Triple Box and Wow Box. Pizza Hut has never stopped bringing excitement to this industry. The collaboration with Bar B Q Plaza is a new phenomenon within the food business in Thailand.

“We are confident in Bar B Q Plaza’s status among Thai teenagers and we are positive that the “Fin Ver Hut Jer Gon” campaign will support both brands’ image in this important phenomenon where two big chains of restaurants join hands together.

“The ones who will benefit the most will be our customers because they will get to experience our special recipe of scrumptious food. Fans of Pizza Hut will get to eat pizza with the taste of Bar B Q Plaza, and fans of Bar B Q Plaza will also get to try their favourite Bar B Q Plaza in the form of pizza.

“In terms of our promotional campaign, it will come in a form of co-branding campaign, which will bring the icons of both brands like Bar B Gon by Bar B Q Plaza and WOW Boy (Waiter On Wheel) who deliver pizzas for Pizza Hut as gimmick to draw attention to the “Very Fin Hut Meets Gon” campaign through promotional film on TV and online, plus on ground activities by giving away 3,000 pans of Hut B Gon pizzas, or over 20,000 slices all over the country,” added Ausana.

The collaboration has resulted in new highlight menu that the two brands have developed together. They combine signature ingredients of both brands, starting with Bar B Q Plaza’s secret recipe of its signature dipping sauce and Pizza Hut’s special pizza sauce. The two are combined into a new recipe of dipping sauce, Bar B Q Pizza, which will be the highlight of the new menu at Bar B Q Plaza. The sauce will be spread on top of meat and also as a dip for grilled meat to add into the fusion flavours of both brands.

Aside from the Bar B Q Pizza dipping sauce, the two brands will also develop other products in the form of special menu for this campaign. For Bar B Q Plaza, the highlight menu will be “Bar B Hut Set” for Bt299, to be served on a pizza pan. This brings a new experience of food presentation from the traditional bento box to serving with pizza pan. New ingredients include pepperoni, cheese, mushroom and “Bar B Q Pizza” sauce. Snack menus are also reinvented, such as Pizza Stick (Spring Roll), New Orleans Chicken Gyoza, Hawaiian Sundae Bacon.

Pizza Hut will also use this special sauce as a base sauce for new pizzas so customers can try a new taste they can’t get anywhere else, then, “Pizza Hut B Gon” will be unveiled.

“This new pizza will come with crispy crust with cheddar cheese dripping inside in the pool of chewy string cheese to emulate the soup on the grilling pan of Bar B Q Plaza. The pizza is topped with round sliced pork which is Bar B Q Plaza’s signature, as well as special Ba B Q Pizza sauce, for Bt299 per pan (normally Bt429). Get a second pizza in Lovers section for Bt99 (normally Bt299). Kama-chan from Bar B Q Plaza is also used as an important ingredient to create a new recipe of Kama-chan white cream sauce spaghetti.

This year, Digital Ventures will launch the second batch of U.REKA, a collaborative programme which offers opportunities for Thai researchers in deep-tech to create practical innovations for the private sector.

“In 2018, Digital Ventures, along with its partners in academia and the private sector, launched the first batch of U.REKA,” Orapong Thien-Ngern, SCB’s president and chairman of Digital Venture’s board, said yesterday in a press conference.

Deep-tech – technological innovations that will disrupt traditional business models – will become the key to advancing Thailand’s economy, he said.

“From 2018 to 2020, SCB has an investment budget of Bt55 million to fund key projects in the first and second batch of U.REKA,” Orapong told reporters.

Five startup teams from the first U.REKA batch have been selected to enter the research and development (R&D) stage.

“Of the total investment budget, Bt30 million will be invested in the first batch’s five finalists in the next two years, with each team receiving approximately Bt6 million to undergo their R&D stage,” Orapong said.

The five teams that have advanced to the R&D stage comprise:

Easy Price, an artificial intelligence-based system to raise the quality assessment standards for rice and other grains; Perception, a 3D software system to create virtual reality models; Pordeekum.AI, a chatbot named TuneJai (tune your mind), for mental health support; TinyEpicBains, a technology tool that uses video to link people to the online world while analysing consumer behaviour for effective advertising |and communication; and Qute, a research group in quantum computing.

Online applications for U.REKA’s second batch are being taken until May 3. The in-depth interview stage of applicants will be from June 6 to 15.

The incubation process will be from June to September, with each remaining team to receive a Bt200,000 grant from SCB.

The R&D stage, from November, will last 6 to 24 months. At this stage, each of the teams will receive Bt3 million and Bt5 million in research funds from SCB and its partners. SCB will spend the remainder of the committed funds under its deep-tech startup investment budget on the finalists from the second batch.

SCB, by funding the startups, does not stand to benefit in revenue terms, Orapong said. Rather, the bank and the other stakeholders will benefit in the long-run from a strong deep-tech ecosystem in the country, he said.

“Thailand’s digital competitiveness has become a national issue,” Orapong said.

Thailand ranks 39 out of 63 countries on digital competitiveness, according to the IMD World Competitiveness Analysis.

“At this rate, Thailand’s deep-tech innovation – in areas such as Big Data, machine learning, quantum computing, augmented reality, and blockchain – will fall further behind other countries such as China,” Orapong said.

Booncharoen Sirinaovakul, chief executive of the Knowledge Exchange for Innovation Centre, under King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, said: “The U.REKA platform will be able to connect the private sector with innovations in academia.”

“The platform will make sure that innovations in Thai universities do not just stay in research papers, but also create value for the economy.”

VGI’s planned purchase of the18.6 per cent stake in Plan B Media Plc, Thailand’s biggest OOH advertising media provider, was announced in a statement to the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) on Tuesday. The share deal will place both companies at the top of the Thai OOH market with around Bt12 billion in media inventories spanning 77 provinces, as well as strengthening their positions in the Asean region.

Nelson Leung, chief executive of VGI, said that by leveraging the two companies’ core capabilities, “new product development, product bundling, performance-driven services and total marketing solutions, the acquisition provides a major opportunity for both businesses to improve utilisation and fortify” overall revenue and profits.

“Effectiveness and measurability are among the most important factors in the success of future advertising,” Leung said. “We are very excited that our strategic alliance with Plan B will enable us to combine Plan B’s digital reach and content with VGI’s prominent quality data pool. It is a further milestone on our path towards targeting that takes place across combined marketing channels throughout the customer journey within our ecosystem.”

 Palin Lojanagosin, chief executive of Plan B, said: “With this partnership, we will fully leverage VGI’s ecosystem to offer unique products and services in the market. With our nationwide network of digital screens, Plan B’s portfolio optimally complements and strengthens VGI’s advertising platforms.

Indispensable part

“Together, we will be able to provide advertisers in the market with a product that combines the power of data and quality content with the largest OOH advertising spaces, which will be an indispensable part of the market in the future.

“Though our combined share is still small in comparison to the country’s Bt120 billion advertising market, this collaboration will strengthen both our companies’ positions in the industry and propel us to be among the leading media players within Asean.”

In VGI’s filing to the SET, the company said that its board met to approve the purchase of its investment in Plan B. It will subscribe to 352,960,736 newly issued ordinary shares in Plan B and buy 368,843,969 ordinary shares in the company from existing shareholders: Plan B Investment Holding Limited, Outdoor Media Investment Limited, PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi TBK, and Dr Pinijsorn Luechaikajohnpan.

Thailand’s OOH media market is worth between Bt10 billion and Bt12 billion annually. Now, VGI and Plan B Media controlling 50 per cent and 20 per cent of that market, respectively.

The share purchases enabling the deal will be carried out later.

In B2B business model, a debt collection agency, or debt collector, is a specialized entity who can turn overdues bills into money for the creditors and make the loss not too high. Generally, collection agencies are outsourced to work as the creditor’s agent, pursuing debts with the debtor and getting paid with a fee or percentage of the total amount collected.

The debt collection agencies are of several types. First, a first-party agency is recognized as a subsidiary of the company the debt is owed to. Second, a third-party agency is established as an individual company being contracted or outsourced by the company to act as an agent. Lastly, a debt buyer agency may welcome the sale of a debt from the company. The debt buyer agrees to buy debts from creditors for a percentage of the value of the debt. Then, it may pursue the debtor for the full balance due, including any interest that accrues under the terms of the original loan or credit agreement.

Debt collection agencies with commission agreement are essentially motivated to convince the debtors to pay the due. The business practice of debt collection, however, is usually regulated by the government. So, the processes vary, depending on the country. Sometimes, a debt collection agency is allowed to contact a person who can specify the location of the debtor. Nevertheless, this practice may cause an error. The debtor, for example, may fall into a victim of identity theft because he/she has the same name and surname. In this kind of case, a lawsuit can be done to verify that the debt is already paid by one.  With the aforementioned skills needed, international debt collection is a special field and multi-disciplinary in its nature. Its employees must be trained to properly communicate with some emotional debtors. Sometimes, they must communicate in multiple languages and must be aware of possible legal issues that may be involved in the process.

Among reputable debt collection agencies, Reign Collections from Australia usually has a dedicated team of lawyers, litigators, hostile negotiators, private investigators and close personal ex-military security experts with a decade or more of the experience in their respective fields. The reputable agency stands second to none in locating those who owe the company the debt and collecting the debt or liquidating or bankrupting them respectively. Each case is unique and a reputable agency tailor-makes each collection based on the individual merits. As a debt collection agency with an international footprint in Singapore, London, Hong Kong, Bangkok, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Melbourne and Sydney, they represent you with the utmost detailed legalized service in any city you are. The professional teams in each city can cater to your specific situation while gently maintaining the creditor-debtor relationship.