Branding Bangkok for 37 Years
Some of the biggest names in the corporate world have beaten a path to the doors of Shrimp Asia since it opened for business back in 2000. Yet, anyone who thinks this company is some Johnny-come-lately which now happens to be Thailand’s longest established and arguably most recognisable branding, design and communications firm, would be missing the 37 years of incredible experience garnered by its founder, the irrepressible Patrick Gauvain.
Patrick founded Shrimp Studios Co. Ltd way back in June 1976 and he quickly made quite a name for himself in a country that, at the time, was still well and truly in the grip of military dictatorship and was only just starting to realise its tourist potential.
Fast forward an incredible 37 years (in fact the lifetime of Senior Partner and Executive Creative Director Ben Howard) and Gauvain now heads up a truly sophisticated and thoroughly modern organisation. He understands the changes that have taken place in Thailand politically and economically have been nothing short of stupendous, and he and his company have moved seamlessly with the times.
The journey through that almost four decades has been one of adventure. Gauvain’s original Shrimp Studios initially operated as a graphic design and photographic studio but expanded into a full service agency in 1983 handling clients such as Amari Hotels & Resorts, The Peninsula Group, IHG, Shangri-La Hotel, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Volvo, and Jim Thompson Thai Silk Co.
Well known for his stylish skills behind the camera, Gauvain’s photographic assignments included Singapore Airlines, British Airways, Aeroflot and Air Siam.
In 1989 they partnered with BSB Worldwide (Backer, Spielvogel, Bates) and Saatchi & Saatchi. However, Shrimp Asia is now once again a fully independent marketing, design and communications operation.
Shrimp Asia focuses on brand engineering. Basically, they will put together a marketing strategy aimed at covering all the various media bases and assist in solving marketing problems with creative and innovative solutions.
They not only carry out in-depth analysis and evaluation of a client’s branding and marketing issues, but also ensure that ultimately everyone benefits from the results by improving and building the brand of each and every client.
Naturally, with such a wealth of experience of Thailand in particular and Southeast Asia in general, most of their focus is concentrated in this country and region. However, Shrimp Asia also has great knowledge of the entire Asia-Pacific and MENA (Middle East & North Africa) regions. Recently both China and India have been explored within their hospitality and property sectors.
Their products and services cover a very wide spectrum within the marketing and communications area. From designs and signs to project management, strategic marketing and planning, advertising to brand engineering, to network media buying and SEO, Shrimp Asia covers every media angle.
The company employs approximately 30 staff in the areas of Management and Administration, Account Servicing, Media Planning/Buying, Creative Design Development (including Signage Systems) and On-line Communications.
Currently, Shrimp Asia’s main clients are the InterContinental Hotel Group (IHG) and Marriott Hotels and Resorts. They work with IHG in Thailand, India, China, and Singapore. In Pattaya, they are heavily involved with Blue Sky Group and their Grande Caribbean project, and also work with Kingdom Properties.
The Shrimp Asia offices are at 168 Sukhumvit, Soi 20, Bangkok. Call them on 02 663 7410-2, email: [email protected] or check out their website: www.shrimp-asia.com
