Expat Friendly Bangkok Map Released

[george]

Expat friendly

PUBLISHING: NCG Marketing is best known for its map of Bangkok

BANGKOK: Nancy Chandler's map of Bangkok is said to be a ``must have'' for expatriates in Thailand as it gives a complete detailed map of the City of Angels suited for anyone looking for markets, shops, sports facilities, dining places and more.

Though the map has been well recognised among foreigners since its debut in 1974, the returns from NCG Marketing Co, the distributor of Nancy's design products created in 1997, are more gratifying in terms of personal feeling than monetary reasons, according to Nima Chandler, Nancy's daughter and business partner.

The journalist now businesswoman said the company was still a small venture with revenue below 10 million baht annually but she anticipated 20% growth this year due to the launch of more souvenir products and a new activity book for children.

The first whimsical Nancy Chandler map was unveiled to the public in a magazine published by the American Women's Club, for which she had worked on a voluntary basis. Due to popular demand for the map, the club reprinted the magazine edition twice.

The map and greeting card business was created in 1974 under Nancy Chandler Graphics Co and a map of Chiang Mai was added to the collection in 1980.

``The map of Chiang Mai was created when my mother visited the city. She took us (Nima and her sister) on a walk that should have taken 20 minutes according to a map but turned out to be over two hours. So, she wanted to do a better map for Chiang Mai,'' Nima recalled.

The business was maintained as kind of a hobby with no profit being made until 1989 when Nancy, now 65, had to move back to the United States.

Activity slowed down until 1997 when Nima, now 37, decided to retire from being a journalist and work together with her mother to market and distribute the products.

In the past three decades, Nancy regularly updated her maps to cover details of weekend markets, central shopping areas, Chinatown, Khao San Road and Sukhumvit Road, and extended it to Greater Bangkok including Nonthaburi.

The company will launch its 23rd edition in May to include the new underground rail system that will be operational in April. The map for Chiang Mai is now in its 15th edition.

Nima said the map business in Thailand had gradually developed over time with some good and accurate new maps available, but many of them focus on road networks and only a few give detailed descriptions of tourist destinations.

She found that it was the trend all over Asia for maps to be produced with advertising compromising the content by only giving details about companies that sponsored the maps.

NCG Group's business is now equally divided in terms of sales between the map division and the card division.

The maps and cards are available in over 100 shops in Bangkok and major cities and at the company's own outlet in Suan Lum Night Bazaar.

Nima said the company currently had 70 designs which targets more upmarket tourists, expatriates and small and medium sized companies in part by using quality recycled paper in the production.

``We cannot compete in the mass market so we make collectible cards that have colourful and meaningful pictures and descriptions that reflects the Thai culture.''

Nima found that many small card companies expanded by exporting products but NCG Group would continue to focus only on the domestic market in the future and instead would produce more products such as mugs.

``We don't want to be a big player in the market, we are happy to be small and proud of our products which have international designs that always show Thailand,'' she added.

The company is concerned about copyright infringement in Thailand as it once had to deal with the problem so it plans its expansion carefully.

``We have a law firm associated with our family (her father's firm, Chandler & Thong-ek Law Firm), so we will go after anyone who copies us,'' Nima said.