We recently wrote about one innovative use of billboards – the Scribe Billboard – which housed the artist while they worked on designing a new commercial. Taking a philanthropic approach, Thailand’s The Other Side campaign has modified road-side advertisements so they can be repurposed into homes for poor people in the country.

Conceived by BBDO Bangkok for Thailand-based DIY store HomePro, the creators of the initiative realized that those who can’t afford proper accommodation were using old advertisement boards as makeshift walls for their homes. Instead of its usual road-side billboards, HomePro called on the creative agency to build more sturdy boards which had the advertisement on one side, with pleasant wallpaper and fittings such as shelves and hangers on the other. When those scavenging for materials eventually took the boards, they were able to create a safer home as well as enjoy more pleasant and practical surroundings. The video below shows how the campaign worked:

The Other Side project helped market HomePro as a business with social concerns, and helped the poor communities of Thailand build better homes. However, how could this kind of activity be sustained? Is there a gap for billboards to be redesigned with reuse in mind?

Website: www.bbdoasia.com
Contact: somkiat@bbdo.co.th

Spotted by: Murray Orange

We’ve seen pop-up cinemas before on Springwise, with many unlikely places – from shipping containers to a pile of old fridges – serving as locations for the silver screen experience. Recently, however, we came across something we hadn’t seen before. The Archipelago Cinema by Beijing-based architectural firm Buro Ole Scheeren, which has brought movies to the sea.

Premiering at the inaugural edition of the annual Film on the Rocks Yao Noi Festival, curated by Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Hollywood actress Tilda Swinton, the floating cinema consisted of a mobile auditorium installed on a group of modular rafts. The pieces were towed out to the Nai Pi Lae lagoon off the coast of Kudu Island, with another raft housing a screen placed into position. Much like a drive-in cinema, festival-goers then rowed out to the scenic location for the screening. As well as being an intriguing architectural design for the movie experience, German-born Ole Scheeren ensured that the rafts were made from locally-sourced recycled materials using local techniques — the island’s lobster farmers use similar rafts to catch their produce. Following the end of the festival, the rafts pieces will be used in other locations as a cinema on water, before being given back to the local community to use as stages or playgrounds until next year’s celebrations.

The Archipelago Cinema brings a unique spin to the pop-up cinema trend and locally-sourced materials ensure that it is sustainable and beneficial to the area in which it operates. Certainly one to inspire a similar project.

Website: www.buro-os.com
Contact: contact@buro-os.com

Spotted by: Zachary Love

Ecotourism is one of the fastest-growing segments of the travel industry today, and recently we came across a particularly interesting example. In Thailand, Tigerland Rice Farm offers families eco-vacation trips in which they can live and work on an organic rice farm.

Available during the rice-planting season of June and July as well as the harvesting season of October and November, Tigerland’s six-day experiential trips give urban families a taste of a different way of life. Set in Chiang Rai in the hills of northern Thailand, Tigerland Farm lets participants have a hand in each step in the process of planting or harvesting rice. Included along the way, however, are pleasurable extras such as dips in a nearby river, bamboo rice dinners, a visit to the Chiang Rai Night Bazaar, bamboo weaving, and a nature trek to nearby Lahu Village. Tigerland’s eco-vacations are the brainchild of Singapore-based Stone Edge Experiential, while participants are hosted and cared for by the Thai Watasittikul family that runs the farm. Also available are a variety of cultural trips and a two-day, one-night Bamboo Forest experience. The trips cost SGD 480 per person, which includes meals and accommodation, and pick-up and delivery to Chiang Rai International Airport. The video below illustrates Tigerland’s rice-farming trips in more detail:

The planet’s environmental challenges might be here to stay, but so too is consumers’ desire to help. Combine the opportunity to do so with a powerful life experience, and you just may have a winner.

Website: www.tigerlandricefarm.com
Contact: enquiry@tigerlandricefarm.com

Spotted by: Eric Tan

Another hot import from the land of the Rising Sun has made it to US shores, and tuners couldn’t be happier. Super Autobacs is a veritable theme park for auto enthusiasts, and it’s positioned to become the defining brand for the full car experience.

When the first Super Autobacs Creative CarLife store opened in the Metro Tokyo area, Japanese car culture aficionados rejoiced. Fueled by Japanese race queen culture and the country’s love of driving as a hobby activity, Super Autobacs fast became THE auto experience destination and the most successful auto parts chain in the country. From customization, maintenance services, and (of course) auto parts to the latest hot rims, electronics, music, and tuner fashion, the superstores provide a full one-stop-shopping experience in a hip-yet-functional environment designed to appeal to the aesthetics of tuner culture. Super Autobacs quickly expanded to Taiwan, France, Thailand and China, and with the recent opening of its first US superstore in Orange County, stateside tuners can now indulge in Autobacs-bliss.

The 35,000 square-foot Orange County store will carry over 20,000 separate products including the newest and hottest brands, but the product selection is just the tip of the Super Autobacs iceberg. Central attractions include the autobay-as-art, where customers can watch hot customizations being installed by Autobacs mechanics (also known as “automotive Iron Chefs”) while reclining in comfort in the custom-designed waiting rooms.

The 35,000 square-foot Orange County store will carry over 20,000 separate products including the newest and hottest brands, but the product selection is just the tip of the Super Autobacs iceberg. Central attractions include the autobay-as-art, where customers can watch hot customizations being installed by Autobacs mechanics (also known as “automotive Iron Chefs”) while reclining in comfort in the custom-designed waiting rooms.Racing videos playing on 50-inch plasma TVs, a multi-screen movie theater, an extensive automotive bookstore, in-store restaurants, and a Kids Park child care service elevates the car maintenance and servicing experience to a mini-vacation. Super Autobacs also sells used and custom-made cars, has a music department full of all the latest releases courtesy of Tower Records, provides tuner culture updates on the latest trends from Japan, and hosts ARTA Race Team events and how-to classes. No wonder tuners are swooning.

Opportunities

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: THE EXPERIENCE ECONOMY is not a fad, it’s actually in its infancy. Servicing is becoming a lifestyle — needs, nuances, and all. Super Autobacs tuned its business model in a country where little details are a big thing, comprehensiveness is a given, and superior service coupled with outstanding aesthetics is expected. Their US debut has definitely raised the bar for the automotive service industry – why should consumers sit in an uncomfortable chair in a grungy waiting room when they can indulge in every aspect of their hobby in comfort and get top-rate, competitively priced repairs for their ride?If you’re in the automotive sector but you’re not in the market to bankroll a new Super Autobacs store in your region, consider upgrading your business model to address your customers’ needs beyond the basics. And automotive dealership owners should take notice, too; if Super Autobacs expands its car sales division, incumbents will have some hellacious competition on their hands. Consider the ways you can covert your showroom from a utilitarian workhorse into a pop culture destination.

Thailand’s marketing-savvy government continues to make waves. A while ago, we reported on plans to open hundreds of Thai restaurants around the world, in an elaborate franchise scheme set up by the Thai Department of Export both to promote Thai food and act as physical tourist brochures around the world. Now, targeting high net-worth individuals around the world, the country’s Tourism Authority has introduced a loyalty scheme, called the Thailand Elite Privilege Club.

A world’s first, membership (which comes with the Thailand Elite Card) earns card holders benefits and discounts all over the kingdom, ranging from fast-track immigration at Don Muang Airport, heavy discounts on Thai Airways (buy one, get one free), special rates at five-star hotels, free golf at several courses, free limousine transfers, 24-hour concierge service, free spa treatments and medical check-ups, and five-year multiple entry visas allowing the cardholder to stay continuously in Thailand for 90 days. And it gets even better: next year (2005) will see hotels like the Thailand Elite Boutique Hotel, golf clubs, and entertainment centers that would be exclusive only to card holders.

Perhaps most intriguingly, members can also ‘purchase’ second homes in Thailand. As foreigners aren’t allowed to own land in Thailand, purchases would be in the name of Thailand Privilege Co., the entity that runs the Thailand Elite program on behalf of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). The state tourist body, which is overseeing the promotion, is hoping to sign up at least 10,000 wealthy visitors to the program by the end of next year. Thailand’s president, Thaksin Shinawatra, has predicted that 200,000 members could eventually join. That’s a lot of newly minted Thai ambassadors!

Opportunities

Maybe you’re in government. Or in tourism. Or in loyalty management. Or in anything that could do with a healthy dose of privilege for customers floating in the ever expanding ‘sea of sameness’. This Thai initiative may inspire you to re-assess your assets and determine which could carry a premium by making them available to members-only.

From a country’s point of view, there are a lot of potential candidates who could do with either an inflow of prosperous visitors, or more goodwill. Springwise will continue to closely track the Thai Elite program, as we believe it will offer an ongoing source of inspiration to the world of travel and loyalty. We also realize that the aforementioned Thai restaurant chains idea never really materialized, so this is, before anything else, a source of inspiration: how and with whom you execute, is up to you!

‘Native’ Asian restaurant chains that may well make it big

Tasty and healthy, pan-Asian food has never been more popular. Wok and noodle bars are popping up all over the world, be it, often, with a very modest roll-out strategy. Eager to know which one will eventually turn out to be the Asian equivalent of Burger King or KFC? Some of the truly ‘native’ Asian chains you should keep an eye on:

Philippine fast food player Jollibee, which has 400 burger restaurants in the Philippines, has high hopes for its Chinese fast food chain Chowking. Not only is it rapidly expanding in the Philippines, but outlets are now in operation on the West Coast of the US, and a Dubai restaurant is in the pipeline.

Hong Kong based Café de Coral, an up-market Chinese fast food chain with more than 100 restaurants in the Hong Kong region, is set to conquer Mainland China, with branches popping up in special economic zones and coastal cities of Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Guangzhou, and regional town centers of Foshan and Jiangmen. It also has restaurants in Canada, where it bought the Manchu Wok chain in 2000, and in the US, where it operates under the China Inn, Fan Ting and Dai Bai Dang brands. According to their website, Café de Coral is more than interested in discussing franchising, JVs and other partnering business opportunities.

Thai Mango Chili goes after the fast-rice and noodle crowd in Thailand and beyond. It is owned by Thai Exquisine System and offers quick khao gaeng style meals (rice with a sauce-based topping) in its proto-type fast food restaurant in the heart of Bangkok.

So far, Mango Chili has received interest from franchisees in Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, India and Saudi Arabia. A second concept outlet is being developed in Malaysia (source: Bangkok Post).

And last but not least, MTR Foods (Bangalore, India), which hopes to become the ‘McDonald’s of Indian food’, is rolling out Indian fast food restaurants in Bangalore, Delhi, Bombay and Chennai this year (source: NYT). The company also has a sizable instant and frozen foods business. J.P. Morgan liked the idea so much they took a 28% stake.

So, whether you’re an investor, an established fast food giant, a beer/soda distributor, or a budding fast food entrepreneur interested in representing these companies in your country of residence, there are plenty of spicy initiatives to get you going in this space.

Thai government develops restaurant franchises

Now this is TRUE country-branding: Thailand’s government is developing Thai food franchises along the lines of the McDonald’s chain. The highly branded outlets will be known as Golden Leaf, Cool Basil and Elephant Jump. The goal is to open 3,000 restaurants worldwide, in cooperation with joint-venture partners.

Kicking off this remarkable initiative, two ‘Elephant Jump’ outlets recently opened in London. In the US, franchise fees would be US$30,000 for Golden Leaf, $20,000 for Cool Basil and $10,000 for Elephant Jump.

Franchisees would pay 3% of their annual revenue to the holding company, which would see a 30% Thai government ownership.With tourism now the world’s largest industry, and smaller countries scrambling to be heard and seen amidst the explosion of travel destinations, Thailand shows that it understands the future of ‘popular embassies’.

Opportunities

Opening up entertaining (not to mention appetizing) global outposts that generate both instant cash and future income from increased tourism/trade is far more profitable than boring brochures and travel trade shows.

Country and city governments from Belgium to Chile should take notice, as should clever design/food/brand experts, who could set up dedicated ‘city/country branding’ consulting and implementation ventures.

Useful links
http://www.depthai.go.th