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.
It’s a big thumbs up from everyone trying to promote the new “Pattaya Brand.”
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.
