Thai Beverage Plc (ThaiBev), the brewer of Chang beer, is spending 1 billion baht to boost the brand through a deal with Real Madrid and Barcelona, two of the world's top football clubs.
Taking a photo with Thai football fans are Fabio Cannavaro (standing fourth from left), the Real Madrid CF ambassador, Thapana Sirivadhanabhakdi (centre), president and chief executive of ThaiBev, Antonio Millan (fourth from right), deputy head of mission for the Spanish Embassy in Bangkok, and Edgar Davids (third from right), the FC Barcelona ambassador.
The company yesterday signed a three-year marketing pact with the clubs worth a combined 500 million baht to help raise the profile of Chang Export brand, Chang soda and Chang drinking water in Thailand and elsewhere in Asia.
Chang will be allowed to use the logos of both clubs and images of their footballers on product packaging and in advertisements.
Moreover, ThaiBev will spend another 500 million baht on marketing activity for Chang products in the next three years and to bring Spanish football clubs to play here for Thai fans.
Matthew Kichodhan, ThaiBev's senior vice-president for international business, said Real Madrid will support the launch of newer Chang products, particularly Chang Export beer, solely in Thailand, while the support of Barcelona will cover the whole of Asia.
"We're happy to be in partnership with the two football clubs, as they're popular with a lot of fans worldwide," he said.
As Barcelona and Real Madrid are "clubs of a new generation", they will help Chang Export reach new beer drinkers, Mr Matthew said.
The move is a further step in strengthening products under the Chang label in Thailand and elsewhere in Asia.
In the past, ThaiBev was a featured sponsor on the jerseys for Everton, an English Premier League club.
"After three years passed with the Everton partnership, the image of Chang beer was more premium," Mr Matthew said.
The company exports Chang beer to more than 50 countries worldwide and expects average annual sales growth of 30%.
Export sales for ThaiBev totalled 6 billion baht last year and are seen rising to 30 billion baht in the next five years.
Mr Matthew said the company introduced Chang Export beer three months ago and sold 22 million litres of it in short order compared with 10 million litres a year for Chang Draft.
Via the partnership with famous football clubs, ThaiBev expects sales of Chang Export to reach 60 million litres by year-end.
Under the three-year deal with the two clubs, sales of all products under the Chang brand, both domestic and export, are forecast to reach 50 billion baht, up from 28 billion last year.