CASE STUDY THAILAND NOW
THE CLIENT
THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (MFA),
KINGDOM OF THAILAND tasked PAPER & PAGE with creating, publishing, and promoting content for its official media platform, Thailand NOW: Insightfully Thai. As a publication, Thailand NOW aims to bridge the gap between global and local perspectives on a wide range of topics: Thai art, culture, society, technology, and investment, to name a few. Our articles had to be informed by meticulous research and first-hand experience, yet accessible enough for widespread consumption.
“A LOT OF CONTENT IN THAI IS NOT BEING REPRESENTED IN ENGLISH ENOUGH. AND I THINK THAT’S WHAT THAILAND NOW CAN DO IN ORDER TO ADD TO THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE.”
Pensom Lertsithichai
Deputy Director-General, Department of East Asian Affairs, MFA
THE PROBLEM
PAPER & PAGE needed to recruit writers who could write compellingly in English, grasp the nuances of Thai culture, satisfy our standards for journalistic rigor, and digest in-depth knowledge for easy reading. We had seven months to deliver 50 “insightfully Thai” pieces of content (e.g., articles and infographics) and to grow website visitors and social media fans by 50%.
Two major challenges became immediately apparent: website design and offline marketing (AKA event-based PR).
The existing React-based website allowed for new blog posts, but was limited in terms of expanding functionality (e.g., accessibility features, internal search) and suffered from slow page speeds and sub-par search engine optimization (SEO).
It was clear that in order to expand the website’s functionality and improve on-page SEO, PAPER & PAGE would have to completely rebuild the website and all its content in WordPress. What’s more, we’d have to seamlessly redirect all links to Thailand NOW, sacrificing a significant chunk of our timeline to web development.
“OUR TASK BECAME AN UPHILL BATTLE.
EVERY DAY SPENT ON WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT IS A DAY WE WEREN’T ABLE TO EARN ORGANIC TRAFFIC OR ANALYZE OUR ACTIVITIES.”
Robert Woodrich
Co-founder & CEO, PAPER & PAGE (Thailand) Co., Ltd.
To make matters worse, a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections brought on by the Delta variant forced many event organizers in Thailand and across the region to cancel their activities. Our own plans for a social impact pitching competition, Impact NOW, had to be postponed indefinitely. As digital marketers and PR specialists, these conditions massively reduced opportunities for offline marketing, hamstringing our efforts to grow the platform’s visibility.
Yet, in every crisis, there is also opportunity. Rebuilding the website gave us a chance to refresh the user interface and experience (UI/UX), employ on-site SEO techniques, and overhaul key features, like its internal search functionality.
THE SOLUTION
Within two months, PAPER & PAGE rebuilt the website in WordPress and seamlessly transitioned to the new platform.
WEBSITE FEATURES
& IMPROVEMENTS
CYBER
SECURITY
BACKEND DATA
ANALYTICS
UI/UX
BLOG
NAVIGATION
REDUCED
LOAD TIMES
TEXT-TO-SPEECH
FEATURE
ON-SITE
SEO
WCAG
COMPLIANCE
ON-SITE
SEARCH
Notably, PAPER & PAGE strives to achieve compliance with international-standard Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), implementing text-to-speech and image text alternatives (alt text).
At the same time, PAPER & PAGE had been assembling a talented team of writers, onboarding them with the PAPER & PAGE publishing pipeline and guiding them to speak authoritatively and authentically about Thai culture as well as living and working in Thailand. Their articles were also supported with SEO best practice to make sure they were reaching the right audiences.
We also worked with our clients to establish protocols for content creation, allowing us to scale production, eliminate bottlenecks, and earn backlinks from partner entities. In many ways, Thailand NOW is a textbook example of content marketing done right.
THAILAND NOW CONTENT
42
ARTICLES
with a balance of popular and obscure topics held to rigorous writing & research standards
5
INFO
GRAPHIC
to visualize data on a number of key topics
12
ANIMATED
LOGOS
for major holidays and traditions
26
EVENT
BULLETIN
featuring national holidays, local traditions, and virtual exhibitions
In lieu of the Impact NOW pitching competition, PAPER & PAGE branded an interview series, Icon NOW, spotlighting iconic individuals in Thai society. This culminated in the platform’s inaugural anniversary campaign, #TNTurns1, for which we produced a video interviewing three Icon NOW interview guests and MFA officials under strict COVID-19 safety protocols.
ICON NOW
interview series spotlightingThai leaders and experts
ANNIVERSARY VIDEO
marking the first year sincethe launch of Thailand NOW
We also refocused our efforts on a link-building campaign to earn quality backlinks via media partnerships with reputable organizations, such as TEDxChiangMai and UNESCO Bangkok.
Additionally, we created a brand book to guide content sharing and collaboration with Royal Thai Embassies worldwide. This allowed Thailand NOW to expand its audience, earn quality backlinks, and faithfully represent the platform’s brand in target markets.
TOOLS & METHODS
Keyword Research / Media Partnerships / UI / UX
THE RESULT
OUR WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS REACHED OVER 35,000 USERS AMONG TARGET AUDIENCES IN THAILAND AND ABROAD.
SOCIAL MEDIA
WEBSITE
BRAND REPUTATION
GENERATING
BRAND AWARENESS
COLLABORATION
BRAND BOOK
CONCLUSION
Going above and beyond to meet Thailand NOW’s content goals, PAPER & PAGE has become a trusted partner of the MFA and strengthened its bona fides as a creative digital marketing agency capable of steering large-scale, not-for-profit PR programs, even amid a once-in-a-generation crisis. The Ministry has since renewed its contract with PAPER & PAGE and continues to consult the agency on ad hoc PR initiatives to take the platform to new heights.
