Introduction

Established in 2011, Sansendo International (Thailand) Company provides marketing solutions to a variety of clients through advertising and production. Sansendo (Thailand) is managed by Sansendo International (). Some of Sansendo's clients include , , , Tipco, Mirai, HIS, and Autobacs company.

After graduation from Rajamungala University in Bangkok, Sansendo International hired me as an Assistant Manager of Strategic Marketing and Planning. I helped clients improve customer relationships with their target market by implementing strategic marketing campaigns.

During my three years working in Sansendo, I had the opportunity to work with the following prominent clients: Honda, Autobacs Company, Gateway Ekamai. Creating a CSR Campaign for Improving Brand Image Client: Honda Automobile (Thailand) Company Project: Honda Green Camp

Company Profile

Honda Motor Co., Ltd. is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles and power equipment. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest provider of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than 14 million internal combustion engines each year. It became the second-largest Japanese automobile manufacturer in 2001, and was the eighth largest automobile manufacturer in the world in 2011.

Overview of “Honda Green Camp”

“Honda Green Camp” is an annual event created by Honda Automobile (Thailand) in 1999 to foster a better understanding of the environment. The campaign was sponsored by the king of Thailand and aims to produce a positive impact in schools as well as contribute to a better society and cleaner environment. Teachers and students are selected from 49 schools in Thailand to participate in camp activities. These schools compete to create the best ideas for promoting a cleaner environment. Honda gives a monetary reward to the winning school.

Sansendo and Magic Eyes, a non-profit organization, have been collaborating on this project for 14 years, creating activities, operating the overall project and designing the key visuals for various media outlets in order to positively influence overall brand perception in Thailand. The promotional pictures and content were sent to the public relations firm, Aziam Burson-Marsteller Co, Ltd. The firm publicized Honda Green Camp project through various media platforms.

The primary goal for Honda Green Camp project was to improve Honda’s brand image by increasing employee and customer loyalty in the following ways: Augmenting reputation and brand image; encouraging greater productivity and quality by conveying that Honda is an environmentally friendly car company. Honda focused on two target groups. The primary audience targeted was employees and current customers of Honda. The secondary audience targeted was general Thai consumers.

Description and Goals of “Honda Green Project In 2013”

The primary goal of the Honda Green Project was to create an event with the purpose of raising environmental awareness by educating teachers and students on ways of preserving the environment in Thailand.

My team and Magic-eyes supported this project by creating activities which provided information and methods to create better environments around their schools. For example, teachers and students learned about the lifecycle of turtles and the importance of their preservation, explored the mangrove forest system, planted trees and released fish into their natural habitat.

Methodology, Findings and Recommendations

Based on my research from previous years, I found that the Honda Green Camp Project could improve in the following areas:

• By finding new activities in the camp in order to increase word-of-mouth between teachers, students and their parents. • Enhance the brand image by providing a broader media exposure during the event. Personal Reflections and Contribution

In order to make the Honda Green Camp project fun and interactive, I came up with an idea to throw a Honda Aloha Night party. My responsibilities included set design, production, event planning and managing the budget.

I designed and decorated the event with the focus on the environment by using natural materials such as coconut leaves and bamboo. Activities for the teachers and students included dining together and each school involved with the project was required to put on a show.

The purpose of the “Honda Aloha Night” project was to: • Create a memorable conclusion to the Honda Green Camp. • Help reinforce Honda's brand image and move away from the old image of a school camp. • Increase word-of-mouth advertising. • Enhance the image of the Honda Green Camp via additional media platforms.

Problems and Solutions

1. A particular challenge occurred during the set up. I could not get certain natural materials, such as coconut leaves, which meant whatever authentic items my team could not procure we created ourselves. For example in lieu of coconut leaves we supplemented our decorations with palm leaves.

2. Having never organized an event on a military camp, I quickly learned that I need to reserve more electricity during the night because I could not provide enough illumination. I solved this problem by simply inviting the students to sing and dance in the dark. For future events I plan to budget for greater electrical requirements by renting more generators.

Summary “Honda Aloha Night” of Honda Green Camp Project

All participants were satisfied with Aloha Night. We also received good feedback from the Honda team, to the point that the company planned to do a bigger and nicer “Honda Aloha Night” the following year. Honda Aloha Night significantly changed the camp's image and provided additional promotional material, particularly to news outlets.

Summary “Honda Green Camp Project”

Honda Green Camp Project in 2013 helped Honda (Thailand) improve the brand image because the public relation team provided more promotion about the campaign than in previous years. Honda achieved these goals when the participants received a greeting from the king of Thailand. This proved to be a large promotional boom for Honda.

Increasing Brand Awareness and Customer Loyalty Client: Autobacs (Thailand) Company Project: Outlining Marketing Plan 2013

Company Profile

Autobacs Seven Company, Limited is an automotive franchise and is the first large-scale automotive goods store to offer its motor oil and tires in store. It was founded in 1947 by Toshio Sumino. The first store opened in Daito, . Today, Autobacs has over 500 stores in France, China, Taiwan, Singapore, and Thailand. It is the largest nationwide automotive chain in Japan. In 2000, , Company opened four stores in Thailand, three in Bangkok and one in Sriracha, which has a prominent Japanese community in Thailand.

Description and Goals

Autobacs' goal is to expand their businesses by adding more than 30 stores by 2019. Sansendo accomplished this for Autobacs' by strengthening their customer rapport. Sansendo supported Autobacs' goal by setting forth to increase brand awareness and raise Autobacs' previous customer acquisition rate.

Methodology, Findings, and Recommendations

Based on the evaluations (SWOT, Porter’s Five Forces, 7 P’s of services marketing, GAP Analysis, and Financial Analysis) that were performed during the research of this program, I found that Autobacs' success came from its superlative services, quality goods, and loyal clientele. There are four Autobacs located in Bangkok and Sriracha. Their general promotion of unique Japanese automotive products was effective. Also, their services and products are reasonably priced, and the stores are conveniently located within Bangkok and Sriracha. So I decided to use these positive attributes to further increase consumer interest.

Through my research, I decided to focus on target groups which the company had overlooked. I focused on two groups. The primary group was teenagers, working adults, travelers, and current customers who use cars. The secondary group was people who live near each of the stores, women who purchased their vehicles, buyers of exclusive Japanese products, and people who were looking for quality services or goods at an affordable price.

Also, I found that due to heavy competition, active memberships to Autobacs has been in decline. Competitors such as Cock Pit, B-quick, A.C.T (Auto cares and Tire) are particularly aggressive. Of note, Cock Pit and A.C.T are supported by the global tire brand . Particular Thai branches include Cock Pit 169, B quick 90, and A.C.T 75. So I concluded that Autobacs should perform and improve in the following areas:

Personal Reflections and Contribution

My responsibilities for the project included researching, analyzing, SWOT, Porter’s Five Forces, 7 P’s of services marketing, GAP Analysis, and Financial Analysis, creating the core ideas, outlining the 2013 marketing plan, and managing budgets and timelines for the company.

After conducting a thorough research analysis, I focused on long-term relationship building and customer loyalty, as opposed to a short-term transaction focus. The project tasks were divided into three sections: capture target demographics, provided and reminded to the targets, and provided information on a larger scale or non- targets.

Tactic 1: Capture Target Demographics

After identifying the targets, I decided to acquired current customers' information. This allowed me to build a targeted direct marketing campaign; I began this project by collating accurate information about my targets, such as telephone numbers, emails, and addresses. I collated my target information in two ways: in stores and out of stores. The following were the methods used to get the target information.

In Autobacs' Stores I asked Autobacs to support my project by updating their promotions and new products in their stores on a weekly basis. This was because I wanted to encourage current users to use their services, purchase more products, and help increase overall foot traffic. I also asked Autobacs to train their employees in sales, specifically reminding customers to register for membership so that I could get visitors or current customer information.

Event Roadshow (Out Of Store) I created the monthly event roadshow to provide product information as well as promote sales in researched areas, which were closed to competitor stores and could get my targets. Also, monthly leaflets were handed out at the roadshows by attractive young women to pedestrians in the area. I also trained my staff to invite people to the event as well register for membership, filling in their personal information, such as telephone numbers, addresses, and emails. As a result, I got personal information from my targets and pedestrians.

Autobacs' Event Roadshow in 2013

Tactic 2: Provide Promotional Materials to Targets

Having received personal information from my targets, I decided to increase internal communication to remind them about the brand and increase brand awareness. The following were tools I used to deliver promotion and information to customers and to build stronger relationships with the client.

SMS Campaign I tasked my team to send Autobacs members promotions, including a member's discount once a month. The campaign was meant to be a helpful reminder of the company's membership benefits and services.

Direct Marketing I promoted Autobacs to the targets by providing two types of promotional materials for this campaign: Catalogs and Monthly Leaflets. Catalogs were highlighted services and products offered by Autobacs. These were updated and mailed out on an annual basis.

Monthly Leaflets to advertise what products were on sale.

Example of Monthly Leaflet Tactic 3: Provide Promotional Materials on a Larger Scale

In order to promote the Autobacs brand to a larger Thai audience and non-traditional target, I developed a media strategy to promote existing and new Autobacs stores. This would help build brand awareness with our target market.

1. Print

• Advertising/Banner I placed Autobacs' advertising/banner in several popular car and women targeted magazines such as Car Magazine, AUTO Vision, Travel, Yanyon, Nuk-lang-rod, GM Car, A Car, Voyage, Family Travel, IN Magazine, and Woman Plus, as well as newspapers such as M2F

Example of Advertising in Magazines and Newspaper 2. Online Marketing

2.2. Popular websites I selected the most popular websites, which my targets were crowed, such as sanook.com, Mthai.com, Kapook.com, and Pantip.com to host an advertising banner. !9 2.3. YouTube I came up with an idea which I conveyed to the creative team to use an animated cartoon called Mr. Autobacs to introduce the brand and give driving tips. The video was uploaded on YouTube and shared on the Autobacs fan page and company website:

▪ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EOTaW0LkD4

2.4. Facebook Social networks are a primary source of advertising, so I focused on improving Autobacs's fan page with continuous updates, such as giving hints and tips on maintaining cars and promoting their products and services, twice daily. Problems and Solutions

1. In Stores, membership signups were unfortunately below estimates. In order to remedy the situation, I further encouraged my staff to be more proactive in engaging customers regarding capturing their information for our direct marketing campaign.

2. In the event road shows, some male targets did not accept the leaflets or listen to the promotional information, so we used attractive young women to hand out and provide information. As a result, male membership increased as well contributing to a greater overall membership.

3. SMS Campaign, About a third of our telephone contacts did not receive our promotional text messages, so I solved the problem by sending a physical leaflet to their addresses. 4. Direct mail campaign, I found that young people did not read or look over our mailings, so I used social media such as Facebook to engage this demographic.

5. Our YouTube video did not get a considerable amount of views. I believe this is because of lack in interesting content, so I either work to improve content creation skills or engage a third party to create video content.

Summary

Since 2013, brand recognition of Autobacs Thailand stores has increased in breath and depth. They can acquire new customers by researching potential new members. Brand awareness will increase among primary and secondary target groups due to supported marketing communication and media tools.

I came to realize that online marketing was the most effective way to reach my target audience and the most effective communication platform to promote the brand. Launching Newly-Established/Increase Brand Awareness Client: Gateway Ekamai (Thailand) Project: Creating and Building A Soft-Opening Campaign

Description and Goals

Gateway Ekamai planned to open a brand new shopping mall in July 2012, uniquely patterned off of the Japanese shopping experience in Thailand. They planned a soft-opening event to provide publicity to all journalistic outlets such as newspapers and television channels as well as other various medias such as billboards.

They focused on two group of targets. Primary targets were people who work close to Sukhumvit Road and use the BTS (Bangkok Mass Transit System) as well as college and high school students living within a 5-kilometer radius of Gateway Ekamai. Secondary targets were general Bangkok residents.

The primary goal for the soft-opening was to introduce the shopping mall and provide highlight the particular strengths and promotion of the mall to the targets and the general population in Bangkok to increase foot traffic in the new shopping mall and building brand awareness for the business.

Methodology, Findings, and Recommendations

San sends or My team supported Gateway Ekamai goals by creating the soft-opening was called Tanabata Festival. We focused on attracting as many potential customers to the festival as possible.

Based on my extensive research and survey, I found that Gateway Ekamai targets were wealthy individuals and thus reside in a high-income area. My idea for this project based off the word “Elaborate.” Also, the building design is reminiscent of Japanese culture and its simple lifestyle. Distinct with remarkable ambiance, the Japanese lifestyle is an amalgam of the old and new. The second key phrase was “Traditional and Japanese.”

Personal Reflections and Contribution

My responsibilities for the project included managing budgets and timelines, and operating importation for the soft-opening. Moreover, I create the core ideas of the event: Decorations and Activities.

Decoration Part, I wanted to attract our target groups by providing the first Tanabata festival in Thailand. I planned the elaborate construction which consisted of a combination of the elaborate and the traditional. I set a six meter hanging Fukinagashis in a middle of the area. Also, beautiful decorative items, such as Fukinagashis, Chocin, etc. were imported from Japan.

Tanabata Festival at Gateway Ekamai in 2013 Activity Strategy

To increase brand awareness, I decided to provide promotional activities by focusing on a highlight of Gateway Ekamai. I chose to initially promote Gateway Ekamai by showcasing the shops that first opened in Thailand such as Japanese restaurants and beauty shops. Also, Gateway Ekamai often provided promotions on a weekly basis. For example, Gateway Ekamai coordinates with local restaurants in establishing weekly advertisements. I decided to use these positive attributes to increase the targets' interest further.

Problem and Solutions

My production team had difficulty preparing the soft-opening of the festival because of a miscalculation in measurements. We had to postpone the soft-opening for two weeks. Decoration Part was that I could not get import some items from Japan because of some transportation problems. I had hoped we could use better Japanese decoration and live events, but our options were limited. So whatever authentic items or events we could not procure we created ourselves. Some of the activities did not as good as I expected. For example, while the soft-opening was running, the emcee was ill, so I assumed the duty for a half day until I could find another emcee the following day.

Summary

The success of the marketing activities during the soft opening (Tanabata Festival) gave an active and enduring memory to customers. Gateway Ekamai was satisfied with the results because the opening increased overall awareness within their target market. The mall was packed with visitors every day. Gateway Ekamai customer service continues to interact with their clients using different marketing tactics and keeps them updated on products and services. This has ultimately fostered brand loyalty.