TCP Group, Southeast Asia's largest energy drink maker and distributor, plans to invest 3 billion baht over the next five years to strengthen its Krating Daeng brand in Southeast Asia and boost sales.
Supachai Junkeiat, the group's global marketing director, said the lion's share of the spending scheduled for 2019 to 2023 will be assigned to promote energy drinks in Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand.
The spending aims to pave the way for Krating Daeng energy drink to become one of the top two largest energy drink brands in every country in Southeast Asia.
To achieve its goal, the company plans to launch a wide range of products to meet the varying needs of consumers in every segment and set up a new global marketing team to expand the overseas market, Mr Supachai said.
The group plans to launch Red Bull Plus, a premium energy drink with no sugar, in Singapore by the end of this month as a pilot project to test the response of young people pursuing a healthy lifestyle and image.
"We recognise the potential of Singapore as a high-growth market and an international business hub," Mr Supachai said. "Consumers there have started to care about sugar intake."
If Red Bull Plus is successful in the city-state, the company will launch the product in other Asian countries that have a similar urban lifestyle.
Mr Supachai said the company will allocate 500 million baht to promote Red Bull Plus in Singapore during 2019-21 as part of strengthening Krating Daeng's leadership in the Southeast Asian market.
The energy drink market in Southeast Asia is estimated at 70 billion baht. Krating Daeng is the market leader in Asean with a market share exceeding 40% at present.
Krating Daeng now ranks as one of the three biggest energy drink brands in every country where it has a presence in the Southeast Asian market. Its major market is Vietnam, controlling about a 45% share there.
The company introduced its new Krating Daeng Extra formula with new packaging in Thailand earlier this month to extend its customer base to white-collar workers from the traditional blue-collar types.
Krating Daeng Extra is aimed at university students and working people aged 18-35.
Introduced to the market over four decades ago, Krating Daeng was the pioneering brand for energy drinks.
"With an aggressive business strategy, we expect sales of products under Krating Daeng in Southeast Asia to grow by 15% this year," Mr Supachai said.
In addition to new products, Krating Daeng has also formed a global marketing team, as well as marketing teams for individual markets.
There are more than 100 team members looking after Krating Daeng's marketing across Southeast Asia to synthesise a global brand perspective with local market insights, especially consumer behaviour, culture and lifestyles.
This will further strengthen the iconic brand and drive the organisation towards the same vision of being "a great Thai company on the world stage", Mr Supachai said.
The company expects to double sales of Krating Daeng and Red Bull Plus in Southeast Asia and other Asian countries to 60 billion baht within three years.