Thailand should brand itself Asean's leader
KWANCHAI RUNGFAPAISARN
CHAOWARAT YONGJIRANON
THE NATION


Philip Kotler

BANGKOK: -- Thailand should take the lead as the "United States of Asean" and take advantage of the Kingdom's rich, religious culture as its selling points in branding itself ahead of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, said marketing guru Philip Kotler.

"Thailand has a beautiful culture and is one of the major Buddhist countries in Southeast Asia. The country is religious-oriented and has a good harmony and principles of good living. These should be the selling points of Thailand," he said.

"You need to think about Asean in branding the country and think about what should be the brand idea behind Thailand. You need to find out the best way to brand Thailand," he said.

Kotler, an 81-year-old distiguished professor at the Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University in the US, has been dubbed "the father of marketing management" and is the author of the book "Marketing 3.0". He spoke at the exclusive training session on "Values Driven Marketing" held yesterday by the Krungthep Turakij newspaper and TV channel.

Revealing the global trends of the growing middle class, consumer empowerment and the rise of "Chindia" (China and India), he said business momentum would gravitate to where the growth is.

Up to now, multinational corporations from the "triad" powers of Europe, the US and Japan had created most of the new products. However, there are now emerging multinationals from China, India, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, South Africa, Thailand and Mexico. They have strong ambition, vision and confidence and want to become global giants themselves, Kotler said.

"Traditional marketing is dead," he said, pointing to the changes taking place in which companies can no longer rely on the traditional four Ps of marketing - product, place, price and promotion. Instead of sales-oriented strategies, Kotler said companies need to have a real purpose that sets their brand apart from others, creating genuine brand loyalty and ultimately contributing back to society to spur demand for their products.

Asia has adapted Western ideas to become a marketing powerhouse, with such countries as Japan and South Korea leading the pack in creating a culture of consistent improvement or what Kotler called "creative destruction".

One such brand that has exceeded expectations is Samsung, which has built itself up from being a parts supplier to electronic brands of the West to become a leading producer of smart phones and televisions. For every product, Samsung assigns a team to "creatively destroy" by looking for flaws and finding out how the product can be better developed. Kotler sees Samsung as a "mega-brand" that will continue to lead.

"Samsung is not afraid of Apple," says Kotler. Instead he says, the company is more concerned about China producing cheaper options. An example is Japanese car brand Toyota facing competition from cheaper brands in India and China.


-- The Nation 2013-03-07

I think it would be good for Mr. Kotler to acquire a long term visa and stay in Thailand for one year. It would be interesting to hear what he has to say at the end of the one year.

At the very least pick up a Thai newspaper once in a while.

The country is religious-oriented and has a good harmony and principles of good living.

What on earth?

I believe that Thailand doesn't have truth in advertising laws, so it should be legal if laughable.

Edited March 7, 201313 yr by OzMick

WHAT?!! Hahaha! Is he from the same planet? Also, I thought it is ASEAN, Association of South East Asian Nations, Asean.

Even gurus can go senile and start talking out of their backsides.

I think it would be good for Mr. Kotler to acquire a long term visa and stay in Thailand for one year. It would be interesting to hear what he has to say at the end of the one year.

I think that he has been in Thailand too long. He's already lost touch with reality. But that's a charitable view as his seat of power is NW Uni. If he had a position at Kentucky State I'd be inclined to check his bank statements.

Is the honourable Phillip Kostler on the same planet as the rest of us ?

One is led to think that the 81 years that this character has spent on this planet have indeed muddled his thought processes.

Thailand and its politicians can't even hold their own in the mens room let alone internationally. The social , political and business cultures of this country like Phillip Kostler are light years removed from reality and current times.

Note the industries this guru speaks of, none are Thai owned, Thailand is but a convenient cheap labour base at the moment nothing more nothing less.

Time to retire Phillip Kostler and do as Pimay states.

Get a retirement visa, emerge from your ivory tower where you are shielded from the realities of daily life and come to live in Thailand for a year or so then publish your profound thoughts so as we lesser mortals can yet again benefit from your ( self professed ) profound wisdom.

Failing that Mr.Phillip Kostler you could always try to perfect your current comedy act and tread the boards as a comedian, however if you do follow that path I sincerely hope that you have the means to support yourself as I fear income from the theatrical world will indeed be extremely sparse and very short on time too.

Methinks you have the makings of a, ''Born again failure,'' concerning your business acumen as your comments concerning Thailand and its role in ASEAN clearly show us all.

Edited March 7, 201313 yr by siampolee

I think it would be good for Mr. Kotler to acquire a long term visa and stay in Thailand for one year. It would be interesting to hear what he has to say at the end of the one year.

Two years would be better.Then he would have to deal with immigration a few times.

Wow, this article! Mr. Kotler, you hansum man ...

It's obviously a cover for his regular...(cough cough)....holidays.

Thailand should brand itself Asean's leader

Because no one else ever will.

The man says:

Thailand should brand itself Asean's leader

Something very critical is missing - the capability!

Any serious marketing consultant knows well to make a serious assessment and profile what a company / an organization / a country is capable of and then either:

- Set goals (stretch a little) that are actually achieveable. Or

- Fast track some seriousy development work to quickly gain ground in capability then set some higher goals (with recognition that this is all mid to long-term).

Poor chap, too many cornflakes for his breakfast

Anyone else get the impression he's being seriously miss-quoted

Thailand and its politicians can't even hold their own in the mens room let alone internationally. Quote from Siampolee

This will set off many trains of thought, all arriving at the same terminus. Who provides the service of unzipping, extracting, shaking the drips off the end and returning the family jewels to their former resting place? Does TAT know about this service and if so, why aren't they advertising the fact worldwide? Forget wats,the crummy culture and high grade tourists, this is a winner.

Thailand would appear to be in need of some serious marketing advice particularly for rice but I somehow doubt he is the man for the job.

Wow!

2 things:

1) are we talking about the same Thailand?

2) You don't "brand" yourself as leader! You lead by example and eventually others follow you.

ad to 2) it is not gonna happen in my lifetime and I am only 45!

Age gets to us all in the end.

Wonder if he's had his audience with Yingluck yet?

Thailand the new hub of a "beautiful culture and is one of the major Buddhist countries in Southeast Asia. The country is religious-oriented and has a good harmony and principles of good living. These should be the selling points of Thailand," ?

trying to find some reply but I am still speechless after reading this article ....

An 82 year old “marketing Guru” from the Kellogg School of Management. What would be his advice? To sell the huge amount of stored and slowly rotting rice to the enlightened of the world?

"Thailand has a beautiful culture and is one of the major Buddhist countries in Southeast Asia. The country is religious-oriented and has a good harmony and principles of good living. These should be the selling points of Thailand," he said.

Religious-orientation and good harmony and principles (if they exist in LOS) won’t even sell 1 Kg of incense consecrated by lottery numbers selling monks, even though it was offered 85% below the market price.

Edited March 7, 201313 yr by TackyToo

This is what you get when you restrict your market research to TAT brochures.

Too much chicken and no idea of reality. Thailand is already the ASEAN leader in corruption and its floor for education.

Thailand has a beautiful corruption and is one of the major corruption
countries in Southeast Asia. The country is corruption-oriented and has a
good corruption and principles of good corruption.

These should be the selling points of Thailand. I would also throw in beautiful xenophobia as this will greatly impact on its ability to be the Hub of ASEAN.

Mr Kotler looks about "ripe enough" to live in Thailand, perhaps Pattaya. He probably thinks if he sweet talks enough about the country that Yingluck will issue him a Soi Cowbow Elite/VIP card

He's a professor and a 'guru' so he should know what he's talking about!

I wonder if he's EVER spent a long amount of time here, does he know that this 'religious' country really own pray for wealth and not peace for mankind???

Maybe he should keep his thoughts closer to home.

He should have said,

'Thailand, the HUB of ASEAN'

Sorry, had to say it!