Live Issue... Budget cuts put Thai creativity at risk

In the year since tanks surrounded Government House and the Royal Thai Army seized control the country, the famous Thai sense of optimism has been put to the test.

At first, there was relief when the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted. But since January, that goodwill has faded. The new Government has failed to convince its public that it is capable of governing, and the economy has started to wobble.

Consumer confidence is down, and local advertisers have cut back their budgets. Some have stopped spending altogether, preferring to wait until after the elections scheduled for 23 December - which presumes the elections happen at all.

Happily, exports are up, helping the economy grow by a better than expected 4.4 per cent in the second quarter. But while the jitters remain, one of Thailand’s more notable products is under threat: its creativity.

A barometer of Thailand’s creative product is local agency Creative Juice\G1, arguably the Kingdom’s (and possibly Asia’s) most brilliant creative agency.

A high proportion of local clients has made it vulnerable, and the company has had to let some of its brightest people go to better-paid jobs. In fact, one of its most talented creatives, Jon Chalermwong, is moving overseas. The agency has frozen recruitment, but no more layoffs are likely, says a philosophical Witawat Jaypani, Creative Juice’s chief executive.

“The sad thing is that we won’t see any young new faces in our creative department for a while. But, as is always the case when there is a downturn in Thailand, it focuses our minds creatively,” he says.
“We tend to produce better work. We improvise. We’ll run 15-second instead of 60-second commercials, which means a greater focus on the idea rather than the details of execution.”

The same applies to media, reckons Wannee Ruttanaphon, the chairman of Initiative. She points to a campaign for the now world-famous Smooth-E Scrub, a brand which has reported record sales not only because of the artfulness of the creative work (by Jureeporn Thaidumrong’s JEH United), but thanks to her agency’s canny media plan on a limited budget.

Shilpa Swaroop, chief operating officer at Grey Thailand, adds that unlike in markets such as Singapore and Australia, whose creativity owes much to foreign influence, Thailand’s talent is homegrown – and is going nowhere.

“The talent is still here,” she says. “But there are not enough campaigns to work on. Creatives are getting frustrated; many are leaving to go freelance because the pay’s better. This is a dangerous trend for agencies. It’s not great for creatives either, working without the infrastructure of a functioning creative department.”

Smaller budgets mean less money to spend on adventurous creative projects and, of course, awards, adds Swaroop. This is not good news for Thai creatives, who are among the few in Asia to regularly impress international awards juries. But let’s not get too depressed, says M&C Saatchi Thailand MD David Howell.

“Industry spend is down six per cent, which isn’t a huge drop. Not like the late ’90s. Newspapers are still carrying brand ads - not the retail stuff you’d get in a severe downturn. The tourist season is approaching, so there’s no reason to be too gloomy. Yes, everyone is being careful. But Thais are not the kind of people to let caution hinder creativity.”