CHICKEN-ESSENCE MAKER, MAJOR CINEPLEX JOIN HANDS TO TARGET MOVIE-GOERS

       Scotch Industrial (Thailand) has teamed up with Major Cineplex Group in its first marketing partnership to spend almost Bt100 million on promoting its bottled chicken essence and birds' nest to movie goers.
       "We and Major Cineplex share the same target customers, who enjoy entertaining lifestyles," marketing director Sompoch Chavalvechakul said yesterday.
       Under the budget, which accounts for about 30 per cent of Scotch's overall media budget, various lifestyle marketing activities will be launched aggressively this and next year, including the screening of Scotch commercial at cinemas and joint seasonal marketing campaigns.
       Scotch will also open sales outlets in Major Cineplex's entertainment centres.
       All Scotch products, including collagen, will be available at over 70 locations, selling snacks and beverages, in Major's network.
       Major Cineplex operators 372 screens in 46 locations both in Bangkok and upcountry.
       Sompoch said this was the first time for the company to kick off such lifestyle marketing activities by targeting movie-goers.
       The company will launch a health-food product, which may be chicken essence or collagen, to cater especially to movie-goers, who are younger consumers and first jobbers, by the middle of next year.
       The new product is now under research and development.
       "It is in line with the company's strategy to launch new, innovative products into the market. The market for health foods is quite dynamic as consumers are demanding products with new innovative ingredients for their good health," Sompoch said.
       Scotch chicken essence occupies 20 per cent of the Bt3-billion bottled chicken essence market, while Scotch birds' nest has 50 per cent of the Bt2-billion bottled birds' nest market.
       The markets for bottled chicken essence and birds' nest are expected to grow by 14 per cent and 7 per cent respectively this year.
       Nielsen Media Research recently reported an overall increase in media spending last month, from Bt7.5 billion to Bt7.7 billion.
       Many of the mainstream media-such as radio, newspapers, magazines, outdoor and in-store media-showed a significant drop in ad spending.
       But cinema ads, together with some other media, such as television advertising, which accounts for about 60 per cent of overall media spending, transit media and Internet ads, recorded year on year growth in August.
       Cinema ads alone rose 61 per cent to Bt475 million.
       Sompoch said the company's performance in the first eight months of this year was quite satisfactory.
       "Our chicken essence posted significant growth of 26 per cent in the first eight months of this year. Our birds' nest product also enjoyed growth of 15 per cent over the same period," he said.
       Scotch's overall sales were up by 17-18 per cent over the same period last year.
       "The health-food industry has not been impacted seriously by the current economic and political problems. Our target customers are those medium-to upper-income earners and their purchasing power has not been affected by the economic recession.
       "We have seen an increasing trend of health-conscious consumers in the market," Sompoch said.
       Scotch expected to grow its overall sales by 20 per cent this year to Bt1.6 billion-Bt1.7 billion, he added.

Brand's plans to triple its capacity

       Cerebos (Thailand) Limited, the producer of Brand's food supplements, is investing 2.45 billion baht to triple its production capacity due to confidence in the Thai economic outlook.
       Lackana Leelayouthayotin, the company's CEO, said the outlay was a major investment for the 14-year veteran of the Thai market.
       "We are confident in the Thai economy, which is expected to recover by the end of this year," she said.
       Of the total,730 million baht is for expanding the capacity of Brand's essence of chicken at the Laem Chabang plant in Chon Buri and 500 million baht will go to the production of caps. Another 1.22 billion baht will be used for constructing two facilities on a 38-rai plot in Pinthong Industrial Estate in Si Racha,Chon Buri - one each for the bird's nest products and Vita food supplements.
       The first two projects have already been finished. Work on the two new facilities is under way and the will be opened early next year.
       After the new factories start operation in January, the capacity of all categories under Cerebos will rise threefold.
       The production capacity of Brand's chicken essence will rise to 960,000 bottles per day, for bird's nest products it will reach 300,000 bottles, and for Vita food supplements the capacity will reach 600,000. The additional production capacity will serve both domestic and export markets.
       Over 50% of the bird's nest products will be exported to China. Cerebos has four factories: in Thailand, Taiwan, China and Malaysia.
       Ms Lackana said that with the domestic economy expected to improve next year, the company expected demand for chicken essence in the Thai market next year to grow at a double-digit rate,similar to the past few years.
       The Thai chicken essence market is estimated to be worth 3 billion baht with 10% growth this year.
       Sales of Cerebos in the first seven months of this year grew at a doubledigit rate because of new products and marketing activities.
       Cerebos controls more than 90% of Thailand's chicken essence market and has a 60% share of the 2.5-billion-baht bird's nest market.