‘Butterbear’ to join troop of TAT mascots to promote domestic tourism
The much-loved Coffee Beans by Dao mascot to lead its fan club members on a dining, shopping and travelling adventure
Riding on the trend of “mascot marketing”, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) on Thursday unveiled a plan to use Butterbear, the mascot of Thailand's dessert outlet Coffee Beans by Dao to promote domestic tourism.
The campaign “Suk Than Thee Kub Mee Noei” (“Instant happiness with Butterbear”) will kick off later this month and last until August, during which Butterbear’s fans will join their beloved mascot in travelling, dining, and shopping at various locations across Thailand, the TAT said.
“Since there are about 10 million people who are fans of Butterbear in Thailand, we expect the campaign to attract over 100,000 travellers to join and generate tourism income of over 100 million baht,” said Nithi Siprae, TAT Deputy Governor for Marketing Communication.
The TAT also expects to see some participants from China as well, since Butterbear is also famous in the Chinese market, with an estimated fanbase of around 1 million people.
Nithi added that TAT is preparing promotional videos for the campaign, by selecting famous tourism neighbourhoods as the highlights of the travel programmes.
Other activities include fan meeting sessions, lucky draws, and games with prizes including discount coupons at partner shops, in which fans can participate by taking photos with the mascot and sharing them on social media, he said.
Earlier this month, TAT announced the campaign to use “Labubu”, a devil doll that is famous among art toy collectors as a mascot in its 1-million-baht tourism promotion collaboration with Chinese toy company Pop Mart.
Labubu will present five tourism routes under the strategy “5 Must Dos in Thailand”: must eat (Thai food), must see (Thai shows), must seek (Thai culture), must buy (Thai fabric) and must beat (Muay Thai).
Loved by Chinese people, the devil doll with pointed ears and serrated teeth is expected to help Thailand reach its goal of 8 million Chinese visitors this year, the tourism authority said.
