It’s a big thumbs up from everyone
trying to promote the new “Pattaya Brand.”
Warunya Thongrod
Area residents learned about marketing, packaging and product
development as they prepare for locally made goods to be sold under a
new “Pattaya Brand.”
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome and Social Development Department head Pannee
Limcharoen, director of Social Development office opened 10 days of
lectures and workshops for representatives from Pattaya’s 38
neighborhoods at city hall Feb. 22.
Called “vocational training” by organizers, the classes offered lectures
on brand-building, marketing strategies, product development, and
business management to housewives, community leaders and small
businesspeople who hope to sell such things as carved vegetables,
objects covered with paper cut-outs, and arranged flowers as unique
“made in Pattaya” products to be sold at a Walking Street night market
and nationwide.
Lectures also covered such subjects as packaging,
developing product value and customer service.
Itthiphol launched his “Pattaya Brand” a year ago to bring more revenue
to the city and neighboring communities by raising the standard of
tourism-related businesses to meet the needs of international and local
commercial markets. The idea was first aimed at hotels, restaurants and
stores, but soon devolved into a plan to put more cash into the pockets
of ordinary citizens and the poor by letting them make and sell trinkets
to tourists.
In October last year, the city sponsored “occupational training” for
Pattaya Brand hopefuls that included classes on vegetable carving and
flower arranging. In December, another workshop taught housewives about
pineapple carving and decoupage.
To move all the locally made gewgaws, Itthiphol
announced in November that the city would spend 21 million baht to
construct a three-story market and administrative office at the south
end of Walking Street.
At the Feb. 22 session, the mayor added that the city will soon
incorporate an entity to manage outlays and other funds to mange its
Pattaya Brand products.