Thailand's advertising spending this year is expected to increase by at least 5% thanks to growth in digital and outdoor advertising, according to the Advertising Association of Thailand.
Growth in digital advertising on the internet and social media will record robust growth of 20%, but the segment only accounts for 15% of total ad spending, said the association president Rati Panthawi.
The association said the country's total advertising spending last year stood at 100 billion baht, with the majority on TV, both analogue and digital formats.
Billboards and out-of-home media are still growing thanks to the mobility of users, spending more time outdoors, and the upcoming general election stimulating growth in the first quarter, Mr Rati said at a forum on ad trends yesterday.
The group suggests spending wisely on ads to serve changes in customer behaviour amid the digital disruption.
Siwat Chaawareewong, chief executive of GroupM, said artificial intelligence (AI) and digital channels allow targeted advertising to gain insights into customer preferences, making marketing, public relations and advertising more aligned.
Ad agencies no longer play a key role in communication strategy, creative ideas or media channels, but need to have the ability to help brands with opportunity growth, product development, innovation, distribution channels and price strategies as well as cutting cost.
Agencies need to be more creative, not just in terms of content but also business models and partnerships, facilitating brand collaboration in different sectors to explore new opportunities, said Mr Siwat.
Siriya Kongsompong, senior consultant of Southeast Asia Centre, said with digital disruption, brands and businesses needs to find "unmet" customer demand in order to launch new disruptions or innovate new businesses and services.
Existing workers need to have the capability to learn and embrace lifelong learning as current knowledge and skills will have shorter lifespans, often less than three years.
Ms Siriya cited a McKinsey forecast that by 2030, AI will replace 14% of the global workforce and 60% of jobs will be new careers that never existed before.
The World Economic Forum predicted that 30% of existing competency will no longer be useful, and by 2022 there will be a major re-skilling of the workforce.
Vinit Suraphongchai, chairman of Adfest and the Asia Pacific Advertising Association, said rapid changes in technology and the advent of 5G will impact the lifestyle of technology users and ways of communicating.
However, creativity will continue to be at the heart of advertising, said Mr Vinit.
The association and partners that will host Adfest want to represent Thailand as a centre of knowledge for advertising and creativity in Asia-Pacific for over the past two decades.
This year the Adfest event will be held in Pattaya during March 20-23.
The event is sponsored by the International Trade Promotion Department, which projects the advertising business as a potential service for export overseas.
