All this occurred while the latest newcomer TA Orange waited in the wings.
A grand thank-you party for 4,000 staff in December signaled its commitment to the market and the depth of its pockets, something it further demonstrated when it launched a US$35 million campaign - the largest in Thai advertising history. TA Orange literally painted the town orange, with a dramatic outdoor campaign that covered billboards of the main arteries and the Bangkok skytrain.
However, while agencies and media buyers on telecoms accounts count their profits, the scale of media buying by telecom operators has had an interesting impact on the market as a whole.
A fall-off in spend by consumer goods companies had led to some in the industry to believe that media rates would tumble. But it now appears that the high-spending telecom sector has had a stabilising effect instead.
As such, media buyers are in no stronger position to negotiate discounts than they were before. "Prices have not changed as a result of media buying in the telecom sector,
says Starcom Worldwide (Thailand) assistant managing director, Auravadee Ruangsri.
The hope now is that media owners will remain convivial and not jack up rates especially after Leo Burnett picked up the account for another new operator, Hutchison Whampoa, signalling that a new round of spending is on the cards. The entry of a fourth major player in the market is anticipated to further boost the sector's billings to up to six billion baht, or 10 per cent of 2002's billings, says Advertising Association of Thailand president, Parames Rachjaibun.
This massive rise in spending is expected to pile on more pressure on media buyers. Key space remains at a premium, held as it is by powerful media owners who basically call the shots. "It has never been a buyers market in Thailand, especially with the duopoly of Channel 3 and 7 which command an 80 per cent share of the market,
says Kevin Clarke, managing director of MindShare Thailand. "Demand has always been there for these two stations because clients want to be on with the Thai dramas, and the telecom sector is helping to keep demand up."
Newspaper advertising is not much different with Thai Rath, the dominant daily with a circulation of one million, picking and choosing which advertisers it will carry. "It can never place all the advertising that is requested. You need to be on a waiting list every month. You put in your request for the month and try,
notes Clarke.
The real issue for media buyers is not so much price but access, and this is being exacerbated by the huge demand generated by wireless providers.
Hutchison's entry, anticipated for later this year, will only swallow more advertising space. Meanwhile, TA Orange's delayed launch is understood to have allowed media buyers an opportunity to buy space that had been reserved for the European mobile giant. "I'm not out there gnashing my teeth because I can't book any space,
observes OMD managing director Martin Dufty.
How long this will last is anybody's guess.
