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Bangkok Post

National

PM defends ad spending by govt

Nielsen Prayut Chanocha Prime Minister Office United States

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha listens to questions from reporters at Government House, Bangkok, after his weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday. (Photo: Chanat Katanyu)

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and government officials on Friday defended spending by the Office of the Prime Minister on advertising, after it was ranked 13th out of 20 businesses and organisations for the highest ad spending in the country according to a recent poll by the US-based research firm Nielsen.

The Office of the Prime Minister spent US$37.7 million (1.36 billion baht) on advertising in the first half of this year, according to data compiled by Nielsen Ad Intel. That was more than big names including Shopee and L'Oreal. The top spender on the list was the consumer products group Unilever Thai Holdings at $158.7 million (5.7 billion baht).

The spending was for creating awareness on numerous issues and most of the funding goes to the Government Public Relations Department (PRD), Gen Prayut told reporters at Government House on Friday.

Theerapat Prayurasiddh, permanent secretary at the Prime Minister's Office, said the government is now looking into the research firm's data collection and other agencies involved in the poll before providing further clarification.

Deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek said Nielsen's rankings may be based on general ad spending, which did not reflect the actual expenses of government agencies.

She also noted that the Prime Minister's Office is in charge of 17 agencies, such as the PRD, the Office of the Consumer Protection Board, the Secretariat to the Prime Minister, the Budget Bureau, the Office of the National Security Council (NSC), the Office of the Council of State, the Office of the Civil Service Commission (OCSC), the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) and the Office of the Board of Investment (BOI).

"Public relations budgets of government agencies must be thoroughly examined to ensure that they are appropriate and follow proper procedures, and everything must be transparent," said Ms Rachada.

PR spending has increased as Thailand will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum this year, she added.

On Wednesday, Nielsen released insights on the biggest 20 advertisers and industry spenders during the first half of 2022 across key media in 10 markets in Asia Pacific.

Arnaud Frade, head of commercial growth for Nielsen Asia-Pacific said: "In today’s complex and crowded media landscape, audiences have access to more content across more platforms than ever before. To stay ahead, businesses need reliable advertising intelligence to develop efficient media strategies and differentiate themselves from their competitors.

"According to Nielsen’s ROI Report, media spending needs to be between 1% and 9% of revenue to stay competitive. It is crucial for marketers to continue to turn to Nielsen Ad Intel for quality intelligence, to differentiate themselves from the competition and to carve out the best path forward for their brand or media property," Frade added.

The rankings of the top 20 ad spenders in Thailand in the first half of 2022 (figures in US$ millions):