True iContent, the content creation arm of True Corporation, has taken over the Pokemon franchise's licensing and merchandising rights in a bid to penetrate the cartoon character merchandising market.
Pokemon Co recently terminated the Pokemon franchise held by a group of small franchisees in Thailand and appointed True iContent as Thailand's sole master licensee managing Pokemon content.
Picture by AFP
"We decided to enter the cartoon character merchandising market because we believe in our convergence resources and multicommunication and media platforms," managing director Birathon Kasemsri Na Ayudhaya said.
He said True planned to spend 100 million baht raising the Pokemon brand in Thailand, targeting five to 10-year-olds.
True in collaboration with Pokemon Co is introducing the "Pokemon Together" campaign.
True iContent will synergise the potential of True Group's businesses — pay TV service TrueVisions, digital TV firm True4you, broadband provider True Online, mobile operating unit True Move and True Music.
"We expect to realise 500 million baht in revenue next year out of a market worth an estimated 3 billion baht," Mr Birathon said.
"We expect to see 25% revenue growth from cartoon characters in the coming years, outpacing the overall annual industry growth of 4-5%."
Pokemon has proved very successful since its creation in Japan in 1996.
As of Sept 30, the Pokemon market was worth ¥1.9 trillion (526 billion baht) in Japan and ¥4.2 trillion globally, said Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and chief executive of Pokemon Co.
The Pokemon universe is most popular among Japanese children aged 7-12 years, based on a survey conducted by marketing consultancy Character Databank Ltd.