Boost for Thailand’s production industry as government lifts the state of emergency status

Good news for the Thailand production industry with the government lifting the state of emergency status of the country. The status affected this year’s AdFest with over 200 delegates cancelling their trips to the recent Festival. Whilst AdFest was still a success with just over 1000 delegates, it’s the Bangkok-based production houses that have suffered with little international work undertaken through the Thai state of emergency period.

Yesterday Thailand’s National Security Chief Paradorn Pattanathabutr told Reuters news agency: “We have agreed to lift the state of emergency and use the Internal Security Act (ISA) starting from tomorrow until 30 April as the number of protesters has dwindled… and after pleas from the business community,”

Campaign Brief Asia contacted Indigo Asia Production about the difficulties presented by the recent anti government protests that have been going on since November last year.

“There is no doubt that the film industry as a whole has suffered in terms of the number of international clients coming to Bangkok. The main obstacles were a perceived concern for safety and the inability to insure their travel.” Says Indigoʼs Miles Johnson (left). “Having said that some clients felt the benefits of shooting in Thailand outweighed the concerns. Since December, Indigo produced campaigns for Fruttare, Tiger Beer, Cornetto, Piz Buin and Energy Australia.”

Nigel Kenneally, formally Regional Head of Broadcast for Lowe and who recently joined Indigo as Executive Producer, commented: “The lifting of the emergency rule is great news for us as well as our industry colleagues who pride ourselves on the quality of our work and the resulting repeat business.

Indigoʼs recently developed a specialist table top division will be particularly pleased to know their European clients will be returning soon.

“We were approached before Christmas by Iris in Singapore to produce a digital campaign for Tiger Beer” added Indigo Executive Producer Jamie Popham. “This was our first inhouse digital production and involved celebrity DJʼs flying in from LA for the studio shoot in Bangkok. It was a big project and we had to ensure nothing got in the way of a trouble free shoot and lengthy post production schedule.”

“Around the same time Advance from Copenhagen was searching for the perfect location for a Piz Buin commercial. They had scoured the world looking for a unique combination of perfect white sand, cream coloured rocks and azure water of un-paralleled clarity, which we found for them in Thailand. We were responsible for a large contingent for both a TVC and print shoot, and took particular care to ensure there were no risks to our clients or impediment to our production. We had discussed at length the concerns about the protests, and ensured there was no exposure or inconvenience from them.” said Popham.

“The wider global production community was mostly unaware of any protest activity in Bangkok, however the closer regional clients will be particularly pleased that their favourite production destination is open for business once again,” said Kenneally (left).