Thai PR agency grows business ahead of listing

The accounts, worth a collective 31 million baht (US$745,000), were awarded by Thailand's Forestry Department and involve work for the 13th Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora; and the 3rd IUCN World Conservation Congress. "Our job is to help gain local awareness of the conferences and (their) objectives," said 124 president Nimitz Modrakee. "We will be using a lot of local media, also banners, posters, press interviews, TVCs and tie-ins with programmes". The wins tie-in with the 16-year old firm's move to beef-up its government and financial PR-related business ahead of going public in the second quarter of next year. 124 will be the first local PR firm in the country to be listed, a move that industry members say will provide an, up to now absent "value" benchmark. In the run up to the public offering, 124 is looking to increase last year's 86 million baht revenue to 100 million baht by year-end, and to double that next year. To accommodate the growth in business, the agency is in the process of increasing its staff from 42 to more than 60.