Index Creative Village Plc, the country's largest creative events organiser, is expanding its online presence in Myanmar, as people there become increasingly attached to social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube.
Founder and group chief executive Kreingkrai Kanjanapokin said apart from building up its presence in Myanmar, Index Creative Village is also partnering with tech startup Happio to provide business opportunities for Thais who want to expand to neighbouring countries.
"Higher technologies have been playing a major role in Myanmar. Increased internet access and social media usage will provide new business opportunities," said Mr Kreingkrai.
He said the partnership with Happio will help drive international business next year, with digital marketing strategies helping reach Myanmar citizens at home and in Thailand.
"I'm optimistic that Index Creative Village will provide effective tools for Thai businessmen connecting to Asean countries," said Mr Kreingkrai.
Khanit Aramkitpota, general manager of Happio Co, said that Myanmar's consumer trends have rapidly changed as people there prefer modern lifestyle trends, as evidenced through the emergence of modern department stores, international restaurants, luxury hotels and speciality coffee shops.
Mr Khanit said Happio and Index Creative Village are seizing on this tend by using the online marketing platform to maintain awareness and connect with the growing number of internet users in Myanmar.
The latest research done by Index Creative Village and Happio finds media consumption in Myanmar has grown, especially online. The top five media platforms in Myanmar by usage are TV, radio, Facebook, print and internet, accounting for 32%, 17%, 14%, 8% and 14%, respectively. But the biggest growth went to Facebook and the internet, at 90% and 40%.
He said Myanmar has more than 14 million internet users aged between 18-35, virtually all of whom are connected to Facebook and YouTube, making these two platforms necessary to leverage.
Mr Khanit said Happio aims to generate more than 8 million baht from the partnership project. It wants to penetrate the Vietnamese market in 2019.
Mr Kreingkrai said Index Creative Village will generate revenue of 1.74 billion baht this year, thanks to the company's new creative business development unit, which was recently restructured to focus on three core competencies -- creative business development, marketing services and I-Project, which provides services for special projects in Thailand and Asean countries like music festivals, live concerts, seminars, workshops, special courses, exclusive business tours and trade fairs.
He said the event organiser industry will contract by 10% to 11.3 billion baht this year, but next year is projected to see growth of 5-10%.