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Principle of Marketing Management

Chulalongkorn University Academic Year 2008

Nan Province Marketing Strategy

Presentation Assignment

Submits to: Asso. Prof. Dr. Guntalee Ruenrom

Project by: 504 53454 28 Pirachai Sucharitakul 504 53586 28 Wathanya Muhpayak 504 53643 28 Vinita Kasemsupapun 504 53666 28 Sarintorn Puangyoykeaw 504 53752 28 Apinun Thongpradit 504 53769 28 Orakarn Chantaramungkorn

Section 11

International Program Communication management Faculty of Communication Art

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Content Introduction 1

Rationale 1 Goals and Agenda 4 Background Information 7 SWOT Analysis 15 External Environmental Analysis 22 Market Positioning (STP) 31

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) 39 Conclusion 48 Index 50 Reference 52

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Introduction

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Marketing is becoming more important as organizations around the world strive to develop products and services that appeal to their customers and aim to differentiate their offering in the increasingly crowded global marketplace. As a result, more and more organizations are choosing to adopt a marketing-led philosophy to enable them to win market share and capture and retain the hearts and minds of current and prospective customers. Marketing is everywhere and inevitably important in everything we do.

For this project, we have been asked to choose a specific province in Thailand and create a marketing analysis in response to promote it.

Rational Nan is an ancient city of the Lanna-thai period, flourished

during the same time as the Sukhothai Kingdom. It was once called Nuntaburisrinakhonnan or simply Nan. The province itself is located in the east of the northern region bordering Laos in the north and Chiang Rai and Phayao in the south. Nan has an important historical and archaeological background being the home of the Phraputchaturaphak or Buddha image the Phumin temple with old mural painting, the Phu Kha National Park, a beautiful area of natural resources, caves, also other antiques at Nan National Museum.

Nan is one of the most traditional provinces in Thailand. With its own distinctive features and unique positioning, Nan is a very high potential “product” that needs to be nourished. Its preserved traditions of Lanna-Thai culture are the result of the diverse population and the ongoing existence of many hill tribes in the area.

As a result of Nan’s enriched culture and numerous

significant sites, it is now under consideration for the World Heritage status. Administering by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, The list includes 878 properties of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity. Thailand’s current heritage sites include places such as Historic City of Ayutthaya and Historic Town of Sukhothai.

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Unlike Thailand’s current heritage sites, Nan is the only and first province that has been nominated to be a World’s Heritage.

As a proof for its astonishment, Nan has been rewarded plenty of awards at the recent, 2008. Doi Phuka National Park in Nan was awarded the best in nature category in the Northern area, along with the best tourist attraction of the year award that went to Nan as a whole.

From these evidences, it is clear that why it was a

unanimous decision for us to choose Nan as our province of choice. Nan is one of the most precious locations in Thailand and yet a lot of Thai people are still unaware of what this province offers to its country and to the world. With its own tradition and culture, Nan has its own uniqueness as well as a distinctive characteristic.

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Goals and Agenda

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Our goal is to make Nan one of the most well known provinces in Thailand, where tourists can experience the true traditional culture and the enriched nature. While doing so, we also want to preserve the distinctive strengths and improve the weaknesses of the province as well as preventing it from negative internal and external influences. After reading this report, you will agree that Nan is a true destination for both leisure and educational purposes. And that the only true Thai-Lanna culture that is still left untouched and preserved should be more appreciated.

To successfully accomplish our goals, we have carefully

followed the steps in the marketing process. First, the step of understanding the marketplace and

customer needs and wants. For this step, we have analyzed and identify the external environmental factors in which Nan, our product, have been influenced by. Consequently, we have created a SWOT analysis to define the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of our product, Nan province.

Second is the step of designing a customer driven

marketing strategy. Two questions were asked during this step: 1) What customers will we serve? 2) How can we serve these customers best? After segmenting our potential customers, as a group, we have decided that we will be aiming to target a specific audience rather than going for the mass. This will help us to be more focused and be able to satisfy the customer wants and needs more effectively. Moreover, with the use of our SWOT analysis, we have differentiated and positioned our product according to its strengths and opportunities. Furthermore, we have chosen to implement the social marketing concept, a concept focusing on balancing the consumer satisfaction and the society’s long-run interests to achieve the goals and fulfilling responsibilities.

Third, we have constructed a marketing program through

IMC (integrated marketing communication). In this stage, we have used all the data that we have gained in earlier stages.

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One of the most important data, STP, helped us to decide the types as well as the placements of our IMC that will reach our target audience most efficiently and effectively, while keeping on track of our goals.

We feel that this project can be very beneficial towards the

province itself and its people, as it will help to effectively construct and implement marketing strategies. This, therefore, will help Nan to capture value from customers to create profits and customer quality by improving and maintaining its image as well as its consumer awareness, both nationally and internationally.

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Background Information

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Nan or Muang Nan is an ancient town of the Lanna-Thai period founded in 1282 A.D. Governed by 64 different rulers it remained an almost independent kingdom until 1931. Being more than 700 years old, Nan town and province has many remarkable main temple such as Wat Prathat Chae Haeng, Wat Phu Min and Wat Nong Bua, as well as other interesting cultural and historical sites. Nan province is very mountainous and sparsely populated by Yao, Htin, Hmong, Thai-Lue and the primitive nomadic Mabri or Phi Tong Luang tribe that are still migrating around in few remote forest areas. It is famous for its diverse population and traditional Lanna-Thai culture.

Geographic Locating 668 kilometers

away from the capital, Nan province covers an area of 11,472,076 square kilometers, 2.23% of Thailand. Thisboarder province consists of 85% mountainous lands and 15% flat lands.

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Types of land usage Total Area Percentage 1. Mountainous/Forest Areas 3,437,500 Acre 47.94% 2. Decaying/Old Forest Areas 2,813,980 Acre 39.24% 3. Agricultural Areas 876,043 Acre 12.22% 4. Residential/Other areas 43,522 Acre 0.60%

The province is subdivided in 15 districts (Amphoe). These

are further subdivided into 99 sub districts (tambon) and 848 villages (muban).

Mueang Nan Mae Charim Ban Luang Na Noi Pua Tha Wang Pha Wiang Sa Thung Chang

Chiang Klang Na Muen Santi Suk Bo Kluea Song Khwae Phu Phiang Chaloem Phra Kiat

The table below shows the neighbor provinces and

countries bordering the Nan province. North and East Laos- boarder line of 277 km West Prae Province, Payao Province, and Chiang Rai

Province South Prae Province and Uttaradit Province

Although Nan consists of many rivers, such as the Samun River and the Yao River, but the most significant rivers are the Wa River and the Nan River. Stretching over 350 kilometers, the Nan River is the main river flow where numerous streams meet. It is one of the four main rivers that make up the Chao Phraya River, the river of Thailand.

Other than its fertile nature and flourished surroundings,

Nan is also one of the few areas in Thailand where air pollution is not a problem. The result from recent air pollution test shows that only a very few amount of toxic gases were found in the air of the local areas of Nan province. Out of the average of 30%, only 2% of carbon monoxide was found. As a result, the air in Nan province is very clean and fresh.

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Demographics The most recent population count, December 2007, shows

that Nan has a population of 477,381. 240,800 of these are male, and 236,581 are female. Moreover, the data also shows the amount of residential shelters in Nan, which are 142,559. (See figure 1).

Most of the people of Nan descend from the Lan Changs (Laotians). Their ancestors moved to settle around present-day Pua district about 700 years ago at the time when Sukhothai was becoming the kingdom of the Thais. They subsequently moved south to the fertile Nan River basin. Nan's history is deeply involved with its neighbors, in particular Sukhothai which played an important role in both political and religious terms before Nan became a part of Lanna, Burma and Thailand in that order. Today, 10.5% of Nan population belongs to the hill tribes in which the people still retain highly interesting customs and traditions.

85% of the population has an agricultural occupation, growing corns, soybeans, green beans and rice. 58th highest average income in the country, residents in Nan earn approximately 40,296 per person per year. Although common language spoken in the area is Northern Thai, certain inhabitants known as the T'in or Mal people speak a Northern Mon-Khmer or Khmuic language.

Local products

One of the most famous local products of Nan is their woven handiworks, especially clothes. The most famous pattern is the Lai Nam Lai, which resembles waves or stairs. Other designs also reflect the local artistic and creative skills. The materials are used for making dresses, colourful satchels and Tung, a type of pennant used in religious rites. Such products are widely available in town or production centres in rural villages particularly at Ban Nong Bua in Tha Wang Pha district. In addition, silverware, woodcarving and hilltribe handicraft are quite popular with tourist.

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Nan is also noted for making musical instruments. These include the Saloh, a violin-like instrument, and the Sueng, similar to a guitar. They are used in bands, which can still be heard in certain restaurants in town where they can be bought.

The leading agricultural produce is the Som Si Thong (golden oranges), which are of the same species as oranges of the Central Plain. Because of climatic differences, the local version is golden-skinned and more aromatic. They are in season in December.

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Districts/Municipality   Male Female Total No.  of  Housing

Mueang  Nan   30,833     30,189     61,022     19,735    

Mae  Charim   6,885     6,492     13,377     3,452    Ban  Luang   6,175     5,928     12,103     3,509    

Na  Noi   15,175     14,849     30,024     8,643    Pua   26,980     26,646     53,626     13,937    Tha  Wang  Pha   23,414     23,039     46,453     12,377    Wiang  Sa   33,765     33,032     66,797     20,528    

Thung  Chang 7,522     7,466     14,988     4,280    Chiang  Klang   9,278     8,987     18,265     5,093    

Na  Muen   7,636     7,317     14,953     4,041    Santi  Suk   8,034     7,692     15,726     4,288    Bo  Kluea   7,446     7,057     14,503     3,997    Song  Khwae   6,033     5,631     11,664     3,002    Phu  Phiang   17,942     17,702     35,644     11,262    Chaloem  Phra  Kiat 4,717     4,571     9,288     2,611    

Mueang  Nan  Municipality 9,912     10,269     20,181     8,727    Chiang  Klang  Municipality 5,088     5,171     10,259     3,301    

Thung  Chang  Municipality 1,848     1,772     3,620     1,250    

Wiang  Sa  Municipality 1,509     1,692     3,201     1,051    Tha  Wang  Pha  Municipality 2,637     2,766     5,403     2,055    

Pua  Municipality 5,350     5,578     10,928     3,477    Na  Noi  Municipality 1,378     1,487     2,865     1,069    Nong  Daeng  Municipality 1,243     1,248     2,491     874    Total 240,800    237,953    480,230    143,309    

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Common tourist attractions

The Nan National Museum is housed in the palace of the feudal lord of Nan. The name of this feudal lord was Phrachao Suriyaphong Pharidet and he built the building in 1903 in order to replace his wooden house.

The building was donated to the Thai government in 1931 by the descendents of Chao Maha Brahma Surathada, the last feudal lord of Nan. At that point the building was as the provincial hall. It was only in 1973 that the Fine Arts Department started using the building and this led to the setting up of the Nan National Museum.

The museum showcases history of art, archeological finds and ethnology of the people. All exhibitions organized by the museum focus on these aspects. The museum it divided into two parts -- the floor of the museum is used for ethnological exhibits depicting the life of the locals and minority communities living in Nan Province; while the second floor is used to showcase art history and archeological finds.

Nong Bua Temple is one of

Thailand’s most important legacies. It located around 45 kilometers from Nan city in Tambon Pakha on 1080 Nan-Pua Road, which is a highway.

According to archeologists, Nong Bua Temple was actually located around 500 meters from its present location near the Nong Bua swamp. However, the remains of the old temple no longer exist. The temple was later constructed at its present location and it was registered by the Religion Department, which was established by Monk Sunanta and the locals in 1772.

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The temple is constructed in the Thai Lanna style of architecture. It is considered to be quite a rarity as architecture like this is hardly seen these days. The walls of the temple are decorated with beautiful murals but unfortunately not much is known about the history of this beautiful temple. All the information that is present is based on the stories told by the elders of the village.

It is believed that murals in the temple were created by an artist named Thid Bua Phan, who was from Laos. The artist created the paintings on request from the Nan king and he was assisted by a monk and a soldier. It is estimated to be around 100 to 142 years old.

The other many natural attraction includes the Doi Phu Ka National Park with waterfalls, caves, and spectacular views. Mae Charim National Park also offers wonderful scenery of tropical forest and the river of Lam Nam Wa, which is situated among the mixed forest, and most outstanding characteristics of variety of rapids.

Festivals

Nan Boat Races

Nan Boat Race has been passed on for a long period of time. In 1936, boat racing was organized during the community’s robe presentation to the monks after the end of the Buddhist Lent until the time of the royal robe presentation ceremony. Nowadays, it is around mid-October or at the

beginning of November every year. The opening of the races is the date when the food offerings are presented to the priests by drawing lots of Wat Chang Kham Worawihan, a royal temple. The food offering ceremony will be firstly organized. Therefore, the Nan Boat Races have come together with the Tan Kuai Salak of Wat Chang Kham until nowadays. Later, the province added the celebration of the black elephant tusk

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which is the precious treasure of Nan as well. Moreover, there is boat racing at Amphoe Wiang Sa in the Tan Kuai Salak Festival.

Wai Phrathat Festival

Nan is a town in the Lanna kingdom where Buddhism spread for a long period of time. Within the area of the ancient city, both in Mueang Nan and in Amphoe Pua, lie Phrathats on the hill. Every year, festivals paying respect to the important Phrathats are organized as follows:

Tan Kuai Salak, Hae Khua Tan or Khrua Than Festival

Than Salak or Kuai Salak is an ancient tradition created in the Buddha’s time. For the northern people, it is considered as a major local merit making ceremony possessing local uniqueness. Monks are invited to receive the offerings by drawing lots.

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SWOT Analysis

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SWOT analysis is an overall evaluation of the province’s strengths (S), weakness (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T). Strengths include internal capabilities, resources, and positive situation factors that may help the province to serve its customers and achieve its objects. Weaknesses include internal limitations and negative situational factors that may interfere with the company’s performance. Opportunities are favorable factors or trends in the external environment that the province may be able to exploit to its advantage. And threats are unfavorable external factors or trends that may present challenges to performance.

We analyzed our markets and marketing environment to find attractive opportunities and identify environmental threats. We analyzed province strengths and weakness as well as current and possible marketing actions to determine which opportunities it can best pursue. Our goal is to match the province’s strengths to attractive opportunities in the environment, while eliminating or overcoming the weaknesses and minimizing the threats.

Nan is a very beautiful province where rich culture and nature meet. In order to become successful, Nan needs to learn how to use strength extensively while improving its weaknesses, exploiting each opportunity and mitigating each threat.

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Strengths

• Have many perfect natural resources and forests • Remarkable local traditional practice which is the identity

of Lanna culture • Have connection routes to the foreign countries; Laos,

Southern China, and Vietnam • The highest rate of collaborate from people to develop

the province, while preserving their valuble traditions passed along from the ancestors.

• Interesting culture, mix many tribes + Thai + Lanna + Lao

• Whitewater rafting and other activities

The strengths of Nan are the perfect natural resources and forests. Nan Province consists of valuable natural resources, which is the home for plants, wild fruits and wild animals, as well as beautiful scenery of forests, mountains, streams, and cliffs. Nan is the origin of beautiful Nan River; one of the most expansive tributaries of the Chao Phraya River. Nan River is a river of western Thailand flowing southward to join the Ping River to form the Chao Phraya.

Nan’s history played an important role in both cultural and

religious terms before Nan became a part of Lanna, Lao and Thailand in that order. Therefore, the history of Nan has enriched the remarkable local traditional practice, which is the identity of Lanna culture, mixing with Laotian and Thai, uniquely separating Nan from other provinces. Today, Nan is still the home of numerous Thai Lue and many other hill tribes who retain highly interesting customs and traditions. The important point is that these valuable traditions passed along from their ancestors are still well preserved as their treasure.

Nan is mountainous surrounding so it is less influenced by

the external changes and technological advancement. Advantages of the mountains are not only the scenic view it provides but also the great area for whitewater rafting, trekking, camping and many other activities. Nan also is a center of all tourism. Nan has connection routes to the foreign countries like Laos, Southern China, and Vietnam. Moreover, people are strongly cooperating with the province as Nan has

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the highest rate of collaborate from people to develop the province.

Weaknesses

• Inconvenience transportation routes; most of the land is mountainous landscape

• Far from Bangkok • People have problem of poverty • High rate of immigration to the capital city • Limitation of government support • Lack in development and organization especially in

comfortable shelter for tourists.

A weakness confronting Nan is inconvenient transportation. Most of the land is the wavy mountain area so it makes the transportation routes quite difficult. The mountainous landscape has added much inconvenience to the transportation of Nan. Nan is about 668 kilometers from Bangkok. It is quite far from the capital city. Although Nan is connected by plane and by bus to the rest of the country, a regular airline connects Nan to Bangkok only four times a week and there is only one flight per day. By road, it takes from 10 to 13 hours, to travel from Bangkok to Nan. Furthermore, there are no trains going to Nan. One may travel by train to Denchai (Phrae province) and take a local bus to Nan, some 146 km away.

Nan also lacks in foundation of any unions or organizations

that standardize and improve shelter for tourists. Another weakness is the poverty of the local people comprising with lesser income and education comparing to Bangkok people. As a result, there is a high rate of immigration to capital city which leads to the loss of use of creativity and knowledge of local people as well as the loss of human resources to improve their hometown.

Nan covers an area of 11,472 square kilometers when

compare with the other province like Chiang Mai, Nan is much smaller. In addition, Nan is smaller in term of number of population. Nan has hardly 500,000 inhabitants whereas Chiangmai has as many as 1,700,000, approximately. Thus, as a small province, Nan itself can collect fewer tax revenue from

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the people and receives a less support from government, making it is harder for Nan to develop a big project for improving the province.

Opportunities

• Office of tourism << home stay+keep things in order+reserve

• Keep the traditional culture whereas other famous provinces in the Northern part of Thailand such as Chiang Mai and Maehongsorn are now more commercialilzed

• Some tourists are fear of the Tsunami which once devastated the Andaman coast of Thailand, so they try to avoid beaches

• Green movement of the society booming of ecotourism • Nan is nominated to be the heritage site of the world by

UNESCO • More Governmental support on tourism higher quality

of shelters attracts more tourists The biggest and most honored opportunity for Nan is that it

is nominated to be the world’s heritage site by the UNESCO. This confirms that the province is valueless and worth preserving. In the social view, many people, especially older ones, nowadays long for the simple life which Nan can offer due to tiredness of chaos in the cities – stress, competition, traffic jam, increasing cost of living, crime, etc.

Furthermore, as the global campaign, the green movement

affects people’s values and lifestyles. They are more concerned about the environment they live in and act accordingly. This leads to the boom of ecotourism in the past years. In addition, due to the devastating tsunami on the Andaman coast that took away so many lives in 2004, some people including some of the victims and their close friends and families try to avoid beaches even because they will bring back the old memories or they are scared that the tsunami will happen again. This may bring about the increasing amount of visitors in other parts of Thailand.

Moreover, other competitors such as the famous Chiangmai

and Maehongsorn of which the target market are the same as

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Nan’s are now more commercialized. Pai of Maehongsorn, once renowned for its stunning nature and good climate, is now holding the Full Moon Party as the one in Pattaya – which is notorious for free sex, drugs, and alcohol. Thus, they gradually lose the charm of the place and cannot deliver what they have promised.

The last opportunity is there is Thailand has more and more

organizations concerning the tourism to support any provinces. For example, Office of Tourism sets the standard for homestays in Thailand and keeps them in order. The higher quality means the more satisfaction of the visitors. As well as the OSMEP, which develops a natural camping park project to provide financial reinforcement for those who are in the business.

Threats

• Problem of cutting and burning the forests • “Double-standard” in the services, Thais turn their back

on Thai tourism • Widespread of drug along the border of Laos • Strengthening of Baht value makes Thai tourists choose

to travel abroad more • Economic recession all over the world • Unsettled political conflict some want to stay at home

for their safety // some travel to Bangkok to join the protests

The problem of cutting and burning the forests represent the threat to Nan. The perfect natural resources and forests might be destroy and limited its opportunity to position in the market. The forests are the home as well as sources of food and material of the hill tribes, so the depletion of the forest poses another threat to the province.

Moreover, fear of “double-standard” in service providers who treat foreign tourists better than Thais results in many Thais turn their backs on Thai tourism and travel abroad instead. Furthermore, Widespread of drug along the border of Laos might stop the tourists to come to visit the beautiful

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natural and traditional culture of Nan due to safety concern and bad image of the province.

Additionally, the world is facing the Great Economic

Depression, even the superpower like the US and the EU. The effects of this economic downturn are inevitably echo to our nation, the decrease of foreign loans for an example. Then the government has fewer funds in public development and in support the economic system in the country. Many businesses cannot survive and many workers are laid off. The circulation of money in the system is low. People have less money for their leisure time. Furthermore, the strengthening of Baht value compared to foreign currencies makes Thai tourists choose to travel abroad more.

The unsettled political conflict in Thailand is also considered

as a threat to tourism in Nan. Some may want to stay at home for their own safety while some other may spend their money joining protests in Bangkok and financially support the mobs.

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External Environmental Analysis

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Demographic forces

1. Decreasing working age of the population

Despite the fact that as the time passes by the amounts of people are increasing, the number of workers who are valuable resource for the nation and the young and the senior population to rely on is likely to decrease. This may lead to a decrease in the growth rates per capita in GDP, leading to the decrease in the growth rate in Thais’ living standards. This also decreases the growth rate in consumption. As in 2006 economic growth, of perhaps around 2.5% per year, where it represents a major drop from recent assumptions of long term 3-3.5% real annual GDP growth. To simplify this, this is sure bitter news for tourism business since people in the working age now, whose families tend to be smaller than their parents are, have to take care of more people. They work harder and have less leisure time even though their money is likely to be spent for other family members who cannot earn their livings. Therefore, fewer people will be able to afford the tour both internationally and domestically.

2. Increasing seniors

The improvement in Health Science and Technology these days lengthens the life span of human. Thus, the number of senior population is increasing. This group of population holds the major demand in cultural tourism and sight seeing tourism in Thailand since they have lots of time and money to spend. Most of the elderly people in Thailand longs for the traditional, simple, and peaceful lives like once they had lived in.

3. High purchasing power of Baby Boom generations

The Baby Boomers generation in Thailand is now in their late forties to sixties. The forties and fifties are the time that most of the people enjoy the highest income as they are at the peak of their careers. Many sixties are retirees that have saved

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the money for the whole career life and are now ready to spend the money for their own pleasure for the hard working. These high purchasing power members of the generation are now the heads of the families, which now much decreasing in size compared to before, who can afford the best things for their children including trips to travel destinations.

4. Less time for families and friends

The changing Thai society affects the lifestyles and roles of many people. For instance, both father and mother have to work hard to earn the living while children need special classes and tutors to ensure the best study. Not only that, nowadays, time is wasted in activities such as being trapped in the traffic congestion, using personal computer, or watching TV set. Furthermore, the globalization may keep best friends apart from each other in their workplaces at each side of the world. These situations have brought about only little time available to spend together in the family and friends. Therefore, the potential growth traveling as well as reunions of families and friends are high. They can use the trips as opportunities to get relaxed and keep up what they have been missing in others’ lives while getting closer in to the loved ones.

Economic forces

1. The Great Economic Depression in global economic

As recently as October, industry leaders were dismissing the impact of the banking crisis on travel, but events are improving at speed. The collapse of AIG, the world’s largest insurance company, and the US recession has pulled down the rest of the worlds economic. Inevitably, Thailand also faces the echo of this economic downturn as one of many factors that drop down Thai economic.

The world’s decreasing international leads to the smaller number of loans available to provide to developing countries

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like Thailand because the superpowers which once had a lot of monetary resources themselves such as the US or the EU encounter the recession as well. Or even the large international organization as the IMF or International Monetary Fund that Thailand borrowed the money to levitate the Tom Yum Kung disease in 1997 claimed that they have not enough fund to support the economic breakdown in many countries. The more the world economic suffers, the less support the government can provide to tourist industry and the less people to spend their money on leisure.

2. Strengthening of Baht value

In addition, the strengthening of baht value poses a new economic threat to not only the export business of Thailand but also the more costly Thai tourism viewed by foreign visitors, as well as vice versa the cheaper international trip for Thai people. This can stimulate international tourism and impact domestic tourism negatively.

Technological forces

1. The abilities of the Internet to gain information and do transactions

With the advanced technology, people can learn much more information and more quickly than before. We agree with this view is because the technology has made people to get materials easier and made less complications.

Firstly, the advanced technology has made people to access to information much easier. Today, the Internet has covered almost everywhere. Everybody can access the Internet from home, or internet café, and even when they are traveling around the world. This makes it easier for tourists to plan their trips by booking tickets and hotel reservations through the internet, and also reaching any information of specific places

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they want to go. The traveling and learning process is not longer limited for elites.

Today the Online Travel Industry is on the verge of becoming one of the most powerful and dynamic parts of the booming Thailand’s economy partly because of its increasing numbers of sources and channels. The Emerging Online Travel Marketplace in Thailand," estimates that online leisure/unmanaged business travel gross bookings in Thailand and its suburbs totaled $135 million in 2005 and will grow nearly sevenfold in just three years to go beyond $1.5 billion by 2008.

2. Better and cheaper means of transportation

Second, since the technological development in transportation means becomes pervasive, different parts in Thailand are connected with many means of transportation available throughout the country – motorcycles, cars, vans, buses, trains, and planes with lower cost. As the most expensive mean of transportation, air travel is now enjoyed by many tourists who have more alternatives since the booming of low cost airline making more people who have lower budget can afford the tickets.

3. Media impact on people

Third, technological advancement also enhances the accessibility of the people to the media both Thai and Western. Unfortunately, today media is bombarded with sex and violence while playing an important role in posing great influence upon people. The result may be the gradual destroy of traditional practices and values and increasing rate of crime. These may bring about more people seeking in cultural attractions where the same old things are preserved and place where they feel comfortable.

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Political forces

1. International increase in oil price

Internationally, the Middle East Crisis as well as the negotiation power of the OPEC has led the global crude oil’s price stay high at the ceiling.

Crude oil prices all over the globe are constantly soaring up, almost double the price of January 2007 and five times that of five years ago. This leads to higher cost of transportation in every business and household. Thus, it can be said that the high oil price stops people from travelling.

The most significant concern facing marketers is attracting workers to events as managers stop spending money on travel. Last month, the Society of Independent Show Organizers in an online survey asked its members how concerned they were about the impact of increased travel costs on their business—a majority of respondents said they were moderately to greatly concerned.

Respondents also said they were already seeing the impact, stating they were sending fewer of their own staff to events and cutting trips from their budget; exhibitors were also pulling back from participating in their events. Some show organizers noted up to a 10% decrease in attendance and higher then normal no-show or cancellation rates from workers.

2. Domestic unrested political conflict between the UDD and the PAD

Domestically, there are the unsettled political conflicts mostly between the two extreme sides. One is the National United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship or the PAD and the other is the People’s Alliance of Democracy. Both demand for the true democratic political system but they view democracy in different views. Many confrontation leads to the

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loss of many lives, assets, and the feeling of security of Thai people.

These negative images along with the constant coups arise in Thai politics generate the bad view of Thailand in the eyes of foreigners. Thai Airways International cut flights to Asian countries because of a fall in passenger numbers due to the political unrest and the global financial crisis. Thais have also been less willing to leave home because of the political crisis. Not many Thai who want to travel at the time as well.

In September the Chamber of Commerce said the political turmoil, if prolonged for another month, could cost the economy as much as 62 billion baht and might drag growth below 5 percent this year after 4.8 percent in 2007.

However, renewed political complication in Thailand did not stop the Tourism Authority of Thailand to organize a costly party with invited travel media and travel agents from all around the world to celebrate the launch of its “Visit Year Thailand 2009”. Therefore, there is still a chance that Thai tourism is going to be better than in the present.

Cultural forces

1. Cultural shift towards green thinking and action

The global awareness about global warming in the past few years has generated a shift in secondary cultural value of Thai people. Thais are more concerns about the environment issue. They began to learn that the environment is closely combined with the human way of life. It is not only an important source of natural resources which are raw materials for industry but also helps to maintain the balance of nature and contributes to the happiness and well being of mankind.

In the business, you can see in the largely increasing campaigns in using cloth bags instead of plastic bags run by many shops and department stores. Furthermore, many

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companies do their SCR by growing trees or building small wooden dams. This cultural shift proposes a bright opportunity in ecotourism.

Natural forces

1. Increasing pollution

The increased pollution in big cities generated from the use of transportation and industrial sectors call for the more people starving for more natural relaxation. Being combined with the more environmental concern of the public, this helps boost the ecotourism even further.

Apart from human and asset great losses, the regional

avian flu outbreak in 2004 led to the contraction of agricultural industry and the tsunami disaster of December 26, 2004, devastated the west coast fisheries industry. They occurred at different time and place, but the same result from these incidents and other natural forces such as flooding and drought is the fall of tourists travel in Thailand due to psychological impact.

2. Tsunami

The total value of property damage and material loss is estimated to be at least 60 billion baht, not to mention the loss of potential earnings of around 40 billion baht. After the Tsunami (2005) Tourism income is forecasted to decline by 40 per cent, largely as a result of repair and construction of resorts and hotels during the year’s first quarter. After that, the situation should gradually improve. By the last quarter, when the next high season on the Andaman coast begins, there is only little hope that the tourists will return in large number.

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However, the December 26, 2004 tsunami did generate a wave of public awareness and push the government to begin installing a network of warning system along the seashore of Thailand’s coastal provinces, which might be used as a tool to restore the trust from the beaches. Nevertheless, the network not only requires an investment of several billions of baht for construction and maintenance but also raises some doubts about its effectiveness.

3. Bird flu (SARS)

As a fatal disease that can be transmitted to human being easily, great impact on the number of international tourist arrivals to Thailand was the SARS outbreak. The size of the impact was estimated to be 70.02 % of normal situation and the impact lasts for three months (April, May and June). The most affected markets are those in East Asia (China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong). The disaster with next greatest impact was the Bird Flu outbreak. The size of its impact was estimated to be 31.43% of normal situation. The duration of the impact is three months (February, March, and April). SARS and Bird flu are once devastating Thai tourism but is now recovered. However, if Thai authority and the agricultural sector do not watch out carefully, the history may once again be repeated.

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Market Positioning (STP)

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Marketplace of tourism today consists of both international and domestic tourists with the great variety of differences in their wants and needs. Moreover, it is almost impossible for any place to have ability to serve all of these needs. That is when the need for marketing strategy decisions is higher as never before. One of well-known marketing tools to help the provincial department identify the parts of the market that it can serve best and most profitably is STP. STP enables the provincial department to build the right relationships with the right customers by developing marketing programs tailored to the prospective group of tourists. STP strategy consists of three steps; market segmentation, target marketing, and market positioning.

Segmenting

Market segmentation is one of the steps that go into

defining and targeting specific markets. It is the process of dividing a market into a distinct group of buyers that require different products or marketing mixes. The purpose for segmenting a market is to allow your marketing/sales program to focus on the subset of prospects that are most likely to purchase offering. A key factor to success in today's market place is finding subtle differences to give a business the marketing edge. Businesses that target specialty markets will promote its products and services more effectively than a business aiming at the "average" customer and help to insure the highest return for your marketing/sales expenditures.

Opportunities in marketing increase when segmented groups of clients and customers with varying needs and wants are recognized. Markets can be segmented or targeted using a variety of factor. The bases for segmenting consumer markets include (1) demographic segmentation (age and life-cycle stage, gender, income, family size, occupation), (2) geographical segmentation (provinces, states, regions, countries) (3) behavioral segmentation (occasions, benefits sought, user status, usage rate, loyalty status), and (4) psychographic segmentation (social class, lifestyle, values, personality characteristics).

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We divided Thai tourism market into two large segments and three sub segments using lifestyle as the main criteria. Lifestyle is a person’s pattern of living as expressed in his or her psychographics. As researched, we found that lifestyle is the most suitable criteria in tourism market in Thailand since it covers the consumers’ major AIO dimensions – activities, interests, as well as opinions which are the main factors considered in choosing where to go on a vacation.

The first segment is a segment consisting Thai people who

like to travel abroad. These people do not travel in the country much as they want to experience something new and different from their own culture and environment. The most popular regions for Thai tourists to visit are Europe and East Asia.

The second segment includes Thai people who like to travel

in their own country. This is the segment we want to focus on because they are the potential tourists of Nan, so we divided the members of this segment further into three subgroups, also using lifestyle as criteria.

First, those who like to go to the beach. They like to bathe

in the sun and enjoy cool breeze of the ocean. In addition, they have their interests in and enjoy activities such as water sporting or scuba diving. Ocean has more than 350,000 square kilometer with two sides – Thai Bay side and Andaman side. The Thai Bay side is influenced by northeastern typhoon from China, resulting in the high season from May to November. On the other hand, the Andaman side is influenced by southwestern typhoon from India Ocean. This brings about the high season from November to May, the other half of the year. Therefore, the beaches in the southern part of Thailand offer breathtaking scenery as well as many activities for fun-loving people all through the year.

Second, those who like to go to the mountains and be

pampered by the green while cooling off with waterfalls and listening to beautiful songs of birds. The stunning and breathtaking scenery is also included as one of the highlights of the attraction. Furthermore, more adventurous activities such as camping, hiking, rafting, as well as watching animals, birds, insects, and plants in their most origin attract the members of this group. The northern part of Thailand is prominent for this group since it offers many mountain ranges.

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The most recommended season is winter where tourists can experience the minus temperature, the hoarfrost, and the famous sea of mist. However, traveling during the flood season can be very dangerous.

Third, those who like to go to the cultural and historical

attractions. Despite the fact that Thailand has its long history of its own and is now unified as one, different parts of Thailand have its own unique culture and history developed under other ancient Kingdoms. Lanchang kingdom was once dominated the northeastern part whereas Lanna kingdom prospered in the northern part. In addition, Thailand is also a home sweet home for many tribes that mostly settled down for generations in the northern part of Thailand. Nevertheless, most of the Thais share strong believes in Buddhist and appreciation in their own diversified culture and history of Thai people, which can generate many good opportunities for the marketers.

Evaluating marketing segments

1. Segment Size and Growth

The size of the market is medium. Nowadays, for Thai tourism market, most people prefer to have a beach holiday rather than cultural or natural ones. One of the reasons is that the beaches are located near Bangkok. Therefore, the majority of Thai population lives in the Central part of Thailand can reach the beaches easier, and of course, with the lower budget. In addition, tourists can visit the beaches of Thailand throughout the year where they’ll be able to enjoy variety of activities.

However, there is a high potential growth on the ecotourism due to the green movement, which occur all over the world including Thailand as well. People now are more concern with the environment than ever before, despite the fact that green areas in many provinces have been largely exploited. Therefore, Nan, of which its nature has been cherished by the locals, has very high potential to fulfill the need for the green of many people.

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As the mercy of His Majesty the King, as a civilized society, and as democratic society, Thai people face very few discrimination among different extractions and religions. The government even allows some of the tribes to have Thai nationality, which means that they have the same right as ours. As a result, Thai people are more open to different cultures in Thailand than in the past. Furthermore, the national campaign “eat Thai food and use Thai product” emphasizing the importance of Thais to help each other out in economic crisis persuades many Thais to travel domestically.

Furthermore, more and more people who have lived their

whole lives in the urban areas are becoming tired and bored of the chaos of the big city. People are now looking to find their “inner peace” and seek for products or services that will fulfill their self-actualization needs. As a result, people from the urban areas are now searching for travel destinations that offer attractions that respond to their need of peace and quiet. Provinces with famous temples and cultural facilities are becoming more and more popular. With the cultural and natural tourism growing, it is a very high potential growth market that should be exploit on.

2. Structural Attractiveness Nan encounters many aggressive competitors who mostly

target the same market such as Chiang Mai and Maehongsorn. Chiang Mai is the biggest province with 20,107 square kilometers (the second biggest province in Thailand) and has the most population of around 170,000 (the fifth most population in Thailand) compared to the Northern part of Thailand. Since it can be considered the capital city of the North, so many tourists choose it as their destination. On the other hand, Maehongsorn with the famous Pai district has offer tourists beautiful environment and diversified culture, just like Nan. It also achieves part of its popularity from the famous film “Rak Jung” starring two superstars Film and Polla.

Even though Nan faces many aggressive competitors, we do believe that Nan can offer distinctive value and gain advantage over competitors. In addition to rich cultures of hill tribes as well as Lanna culture that blended in with Laotian and Lanchang culture and untouched nature, the simplicity of

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life in the Thai countryside will absolutely detach the tourists from the chaos of the city. They can take a deep refreshing breath that they could not do for the past years, living in the city full of pollution.

3. Company Objective and Resources Nan is the perfect blend of the rich culture and nature that

are well preserved. People as well as many tribes live their simple but happy lives, not exploiting the nature, but as a part of it, while keep passing the traditions from generations to generations. The trees are still green. The nature protects this precious city by expanding the mountain ranges along. The culture and nature of Nan cannot be broken apart, bringing about our target market which combined two subsegments together – tourists that prefer mountainous and cultural tourism.

Targeting

After segmenting the market, we can see the structure of

the market more clearly. Then the next step is to target the potential segment. By going after segments instead of the whole market, Nan can deliver just the right value proposition to each segment and capture more value in return.

We choose our target market that we can serve best while

concerning with the tourists’ best interest. Instead of choosing segments that we do not have resources such as “Nan as the entertainment capital of Thailand” or “Nan as the airplane hub of Southeast Asia”, we choose medium size but high growing cultural and natural tourism market that matches our potential. We concentrate on those who have their interests in culture and mountains.

The lifestyle, which is used as criteria in segmenting our

market, can lead to the acknowledgement of other variables as well. For example, people of the same age, geographical area, or social status tend to have the same interests, activities, or opinions about things around them. Therefore, we conclude our target into the following chart.

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Demographic • any age and life-cycle • any gender • middle to high income • any races/nationalities especially Thai

Geographic • any regions in Thailand Psychographic • mountainous and cultural tourism

preference lifestyle • open, outgoing, friendly, adventurous,

culturally, historically and environmentally appreciative personalities

Behavior • occasions all year long except the flood season and especially the high-season in winter and long weekends

• benefits sought peaceful and traditional environment and society

Demographic: Since the activities in Nan are not confined

to any specific types, anyone in the family can enjoy the trip. The seniors may want to appreciate and visit temples and other historical sites whereas the youngsters may excite with rafting and hiking. The note we want to make is that in setting the income of the target market from middle to high, we aim for educated people. Our propose is to let the tourists appreciate the beauty of Nan, not to commercialize Nan. We think that educated people are more likely to concern of the environment and culture.

Geographic: Tourists from all over the country can visit

Nan. Nan is accessible through many ways of transportation - buses, cars, trains, or airplanes.

Positioning

The last step in STP is market positioning. This can be considered the most important part of the process. Market positioning differentiates our province from other provinces. If successful, the position of our province will make us standout and make the tourists want to come visit Nan, which will

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surely bring benefit to our province in return. As we carefully observed along the process, we positioned Nan as a true mixture of rich traditional culture and the blessing nature.

According to our SWOT analysis, Nan offers variety of

cultures and natural sites. Therefore, we will position Nan as a province of true mixture of rich traditional culture and the blessing nature. Nan offers more than just a travel destination, but also a chance for visitors to experience the numerous traditional hill tribe cultures, mostly Lanna-Thai, which they can’t find elsewhere.

Rather than aiming at delivering customers functional

benefits like any other provinces such as providing the tourists cheap souvenir shops, we concentrate on emotional benefits of our tourists. A trip to Nan can strengthen the relationship among family members by providing a variety of activities that attract every family members of different age. Seniors may go to see historical and cultural attractions while youngsters do rafting or trekking. The variations of activities in Nan offer mixes of benefits tourists can choose from.

Of all the reasons mentioned with a focused target market

and well-positioning, we believe that it is not hard for Nan to deliver beautiful nature and rich culture as it promised and be the leader of the cultural-ecotourism in Thailand. To achieve our target positioning, our positioning will be reflected throughout all of our IMC strategies.

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Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)

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As stated in the introduction, our goal is to make Nan one of the most well known provinces in Thailand while preserving the distinctive strengths and improve the weaknesses of the province as well as preventing it from negative internal and external influences. We, therefore, want to focus on emphasizing on the image of Nan, which is its traditional Lanna-Thai culture and remarkable natural sites.

To effectively increase the awareness of our product, Nan,

we must construct and implement effective marketing strategies and campaign. This can be done by creating an efficient integrated marketing communication (IMC). We must deliver a clear, consistent and compelling message in all the tools we used.

Slogan

We’ve realized the importance of a good effective slogan, as it will take us to another level in communicating our ads to our audience more effectively.

After coming up with several possible slogans, we have

made our decision to use: “Explore Nan, where beautiful nature and rich

culture meet”

The reason for choosing this particular slogan is that, as stated earlier, our positioning of Nan is a province of true mixture of rich traditional culture and the blessing nature. Therefore, we have chosen a slogan that is not only best reflect our positioning, but also eye-catching and easy to remember.

We have chosen the word “Explore Nan” to be our main catch phrase as it is simple, easy to remember, but yet eye-catching. It conveys an inviting feeling, welcoming the audience to visit Nan and persuade them to want to get to know more about Nan. The second part of our slogan, “where beautiful nature and rich culture meet”, communicates our positioning and the strengths of Nan very clearly and effectively.

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Our slogan will be placed in all of our ads and other

promotional tools.

Media channel Strategy

As our media campaign and strategy will very much aimed

to a specific group of audience, not to the mass, we want to only choose several media strategies and channels.

Stated earlier, our target market are the people who enjoy

mountainous and cultural tourism. They also have adventurous, culturally, historically and environmentally appreciative personalities. Therefore, if we want to communicate our product effectively to our target market, we would have to feature our promotional tools through the media channels that are able to reach them effectively and efficiently, particularly those that share the same target market as ours.

The table below shows examples of some of the media

channel we want our ads to be featured on. Websites Magazines Television

Channels/programs

Outdoor supply shops

• http://thai.tourismthailand.org/

• http://www.gothailand.com/

• Anywhere Magazine

• Nature Explorer

• Destination Thailand

• Backpacker • The Amazing

Race • The Amazing

Race Asia

• The North Face

• Oakley

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Aiming at a specific group of audience is not the only reason why we chose to promote our ads in only several media and not other mass media such as billboards and radios. Even though high level of advertising may result in high level of sales, in this case visitors, high level of advertisements may bring negative results to the province.

Obvious examples are Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. These

two provinces used to be one of the most beautiful provinces in Thailand. However, too much advertisement brings along with it commerciality and negative external influences. Traditional practices of the hill tribe people in the area that has been passed down from generations to generations are now fading away. Traditional cultures and historical sites are replaced with technologies and entertainment facilities. Consequently, nowadays, less and less ecotourism tourists, our target market, choose these two provinces as their travel destinations.

For these reasons, we feel that with too much

advertisement or commerciality, Nan may end up like provinces such as Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai. Therefore, we want to limit the media exposure of the province in order to preserve the province’s positioning as much as possible.

Advertising

For this particular promotion tool, we have created a print ad, a brochure, and a commercial. We feel that these advertising tools are the basic advertising strategies that are relatively effective and worth its costs.

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First is the print ad. The advantage of a print ad is that audiences are able to see more than just boring text. As a Japanese philosopher stated, a picture tells a thousand words, we, therefore, chose a picture that best convey the image of Nan. As you can see, our print ad reflects our positioning greatly, as it responds to our slogan very well. Our first ad is a gorgeous picture of a mountain view of Nan’s sunrise. This represents the first part of our slogan, “beautiful nature”. Our second ad obviously represents the second part of our slogan, “rich culture”, as it features three beautiful Lanna-Thai girls. Our print ad will be featured in a lot of our media channel strategy, including magazines, outdoor supply shops, and websites.

Second is the brochure. The brochure offers both pictures

and more detailed information about the province to the customers. We have included a brief history of the province, information on must-see sites, as well as maps and pictures. Our aims in making this brochure are to help those people who want to learn about the province more or are interested in visiting the province but not sure where they should visit or what activities/festivals are available for them during their visits.

Moreover, we have also included a checklist of Nan must-

sees sites. Visitors can use this checklist to guide them, during their stay, making sure that they don’t miss out on any famous places of Nan. The checklist encourages visitors to visit all of the famous attractions and have a little fun along the way.

These brochures will be available in travel agencies, PR

events, as well as local facilities. The brochures will also be

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available in many languages, to suit the needs of visitors from all over the world.

Third is the commercial ad. This commercial ad is basically

based on a very traditional Lanna-Thai image, our positioning. The commercial shows different parts and features of the Nan and what it has to offer. The commercial will be place during commercial breaks of traveling TV programs such as Destination Thailand, Backpacker, and The Amazing Race. The reason that we decide not to place our commercial in commercial breaks of primetime shows is that we only want to aim our commercial toward our target consumer and not the mass. As these programs share the same target audience as ours, the commercial, therefore, would reach them very effectively and efficiently.

For all of these advertising tools, we feel that we want to

combine two types of media timing strategies together, continuity and pulsing. While we want to continually promote our ads through specific media channel, we also feel that the ads would be very effective if, during the high season, we increase the frequency of the exposure of our ad up a little bit more.

Public relation

As our IMC objective is to make Nan one of the most well

known provinces in Thailand, public relation will help us emphasize on boosting the image.

Every year, at the Queen Sirikit Centre on Sukumvit Road,

Tourism Authority of Thailand organizes a convention in which hotels and tour agencies set up booths to promote and offer customers with special promotions. This is a great opportunity for us to get to our target customers directly as people who come to these kinds out events often are those people who are interested in traveling in Thailand.

Moreover, during the period of the TOT convention,

everyday there will be various events happening in the main hall as a highlight of the fair. We, therefore, see an

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opportunity for us to organize an event of Nan to help further promote the province and create awareness of our positioning to the customers.

Explore Nan Event, at the TOT conventional fair Objectives

1. Encourage the production and sales of agricultural products as well as local products (OTOP).

2. Promote and preserve local cultures and traditional

practices of various hill tribes.

3. Promote tourism in Nan Activities

• Appearance of Miss Nan • Games/activities booths • OTOP and other local product shops • Performances from local hill tribes • Nan Fashion Show

During the event, various types of sales promotion tools

can be used. Plane tickets discounts or hotel reservation discounts can be given out during the games/activities events. A free 3 days-2 nights in Nan tickets can also be given out. This will attract the people around the area and increase the chance of them to check out all the events that has been organized. The fashion show can also help to attract young audiences, as we will be using celebrities and famous high-society people as our models. The clothing in the fashion show will all be made by the local people, using local materials, and all clothes will be sold at the event as well. Samples and demonstrations strategies can also be implemented in the OTOP and other local product shops to increase sales and promote interests in Nan’s product. SMS Advertising Strategy

We have realized the significant of mobile phones towards the people in today’s technology-driven life. Therefore to

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promote our event at the TOT convention, we will not only place posters and our commercial around the convention, but also use an SMS advertising strategy.

Basically we will be sending text messages to target

potential customers, informing, as well as persuading them, to come to the event. As the audience receiving the SMS can be chosen, we can directly send our ad to our target consumers. This information of these potential customers can be retrieve from the information given by our customers from our previous PR events. Thus, we won’t be wasting our money adverting to the mass and has no control over who will receive the ad. The goal of SMS advertising is to create awareness of the event and persuade the target customer to come and participate.

Ecological Communication Strategies

Tree-Nation Project

Cooperative Social Responsibility (CSR) is a new trend widely used in many companies to attract the customers. As environmental downfalls are now taking its toll worldwide, people are now more cautious in everything they do and want to do their parts in helping. Consequently, customers are now more appreciated towards companies that concern the society and environment than those who don’t.

Tree-Nation is an ecological project with its own online

community in which customers can buy their own tree and become the guardian of a real tree that will planted in their chosen location. With over 45000 members and 40670 trees planted, Tree-Nation offers a very successive and fun way of persuading people in the today’s technologically driven world to make a change by just a click.

Tree-Nation uses mapping technology in a way that has

never been done before. Customers will be able to choose their own tree, from numerous options, as well as name them. After purchasing your plant, a real tree will be planted to your

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selection of location. Not only that, purchased trees will also be planted on the virtual map, which customers can access directly through the website. This virtual map offers the customer to be able to watch their trees grow and develop.

After researching on this particular project, we feel that it would be a very innovative way to achieve our main goal, which is to make Nan one of the most well known provinces in Thailand while preserving its distinctive strengths, beautiful nature and rich culture. According to the demographic of Nan, 39% of its total area is now decaying/old forest. Therefore, we feel that by adopting the strategy used by the Tree-Nation project, this will not only build a more positive image for the province, but also improve the environment of the area and do what’s good for the society. Key Benefits:

- Positive branding & eco-Marketing opportunities. - Environmental improvement in the area - Differentiate from the competition-innovative strategy

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Conclusion

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After carefully researching and analyzing our SWOT

Analysis, external environmental analysis, STP Marketing, and

developing promotional strategies (Integrated Marketing

Strategy) that fit to the target market and potential of the

province, we are strongly convinced that we will successfully

marketing NAN into the minds of tourists as the best place to

explore the true blend of beautiful nature and culture as in out

motto says “Explore Nan: where beautiful nature and culture

meet”.

Today, many provinces which have the same selling points

like Chiang Mai and Maehongsorn are more commercialized, so

we believed that Nan with its well-preserved perfect

combination of traditions and environment, along with its

peaceful atmosphere, fresh air, and simplicity of way of life,

that passed along as the province’s priceless treasure from

generations to generations will win the tourists’ hearts. We

emphasized that at Nan people of all tribes and cultures live

together as a part of the nature. As the result, we will outlast

them, not only in terms of our offer, but in terms of our

marketing and our business strategy. In the future, we will

become the most well-known province for the beauty of nature

and enriched culture in the North of Thailand.

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Index

ads, 40, 41, 42, 44

advertisement, 42

advertising strategies, 42

awareness, 28, 30, 40, 45,

46

Baby Boomers, 23

commercial, 42, 44, 46

commerciality, 42

Company Objective and

Resources, 36

consumer awareness, 6

culture, 2, 3, 5, 8, 16, 17,

19, 21, 33, 34, 35, 36,

37, 38, 40, 43, 47

demand, 23, 27

Demographic, 23, 37

Demographics, 10

demonstrations, 45

differentiate, 2

economic crisis, 35

Economic Depression, 21,

24

ecotourism, 19, 29, 34, 38,

42

environment, 16, 19, 28,

33, 34, 35, 37, 46, 47

external environmental, 5

Geographic, 8, 37

globalization, 24

goal, 5, 16, 40, 46, 47

government, 12, 18, 19, 21,

25, 30, 35

IMC, 5, 38, 39, 40, 44

income, 10, 18, 23, 29, 32,

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integrated marketing

communication, 5, 40

Marketing, 2, 39, 47

marketing analysis, 2

marketing strategy, 5, 32

media channel, 41, 43, 44

media strategies, 41

media timing, 44

opportunities, 5, 16, 24, 34,

47

persuade, 40, 46

positioning, 2, 32, 37, 38,

40, 42, 43, 44, 45

potential growth, 24, 34, 35

promote, 2, 32, 42, 44, 45,

46

promotion, 42, 45

promotional tools, 41

public relation, 44

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purchasing power, 23, 24

sales, 32, 42, 45

Segment Size and Growth,

34

segmentation, 32

segments, 33, 34, 36

slogan, 40, 41, 43

social marketing concept, 5

social status, 36

STP, 5, 31, 32, 37

strengths, 5, 16, 17, 40, 47

Structural Attractiveness, 35

SWOT analysis, 5, 16, 38

target market, 19, 36, 37,

38, 41, 42

threats, 5, 16

tourism, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23,

25, 28, 30, 32, 33, 34,

35, 36, 37, 41, 45, 51

weaknesses, 5, 16, 40

World Heritage, 2

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905 -

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