Part of GMM Grammy boss Paiboon Damrongchaitham's 4-People Foods venture, the brand is reviewing four agencies for the account: TBWA, SC Matchbox, DY&R and Page Setter, a Singapore agency that is planning to set up shop in Thailand. The account was previously serviced in-house.
Launched last September, 4-me secured just three per cent of the nine billion baht (US$209 million) market by year's end. Poor advertising and distribution have been blamed for its failure to achieve the targeted five per cent. "As soon as we select an advertising agency and a new distributor, we will start planning a new integrated marketing campaign, starting with a new television commercial," said managing director Athapol Uraipriwan.
A marketing budget of 100 million baht has been allocated to the relaunch, planned for the first quarter, he said, adding that the target remains a "more than five per cent" market share by year-end.
The brand intends to broaden its consumer base to include "a new generation of consumers" from among teenagers. "This is a very critical issue," Athapol said, admitting that a too narrow target and media choice had contributed to lukewarm sales.
Competition in the instant noodles market is expected to heat up this year as the market grows by just five per cent, above last year's four per cent expansion. The growth is nowhere near the double-digit rise of previous years.
Market leader Mama, which has a more than 50 per cent share, plans to cull its product portfolio from 10 to seven flavours, but will increase advertising spend to maintain its market share.
Wai Wai, with a share hovering between 20 and 30 per cent, has launched two new flavours, and plans to promote them aggressively to boost its market share to 38 per cent by the end of the year, and 45 per cent by 2006. Thai Preserved Food has put an 80 million baht promotional budget behind its two tom yum-based flavours.
Athapol estimated that the top two players each spent between 200 million baht and 250 million baht on advertising last year. "Instant noodles are only five baht a pack so it is easy for people to shift from one brand to another if they like a new advertisement or flavour that has been introduced," he said. The company will also add a new flavour in the near future in hopes of luring new buyers, Athapol said.