Bangkok’s IconSiam has won four first prizes at the International Council of Shopping Centers’ (ICSC) Asia Pacific award programme.
That sets a record for the highest number of first prizes in the awards progamme’s history.
IconSiam was named Best New Development, recognised for creating “a globally innovative model” that offers cultural variety in restaurants, activities, entertainment, together with many different choices in shopping.
IconSiam’s ‘SookSiam’ concept was named Best support to Businesses category as it presents the cultural heritage of the four main geographic regions inThailand in a setting similar to a traditional Thai market. SookSiam outlets were established in the styles of their respective regions, offering local crafts and cuisine.
“It is a platform that brings together hundreds of small, mom-and-pop operations from across Thailand’s 77 provinces,” said Chayapong Naviroj, CEO of SookSiam. “We support them with merchandising and marketing ideas to help them penetrate international markets. Most of the people selling here have never operated out of their hometowns before, but now sell on a globally visible platform.”
The third honour was the title of Best Grand Opening, recognising last November’s opening event which drew thousands of people and included shows including the largest flying drone display ever organised in Southeast Asia and a performance by Alicia Keys.
IconSiam also won top honours in the Best Public Relations category having drawn more than 1000 local and international journalists to the opening and driving IconSiam to become the most-popular topic in social media within a month. “#IconSiam” was the number 1 top trending on Thailand’s Twitter.
Senior VP marketing of Siam Piwat, Mayuree Chaipromprasith, said the effectiveness of communications is essential to IconSiam’s success because it helps fulfil the purpose of serving as a platform to attract global attention to the best of Thailand.
“We invest heavily in marketing and communications activities as well as in on-the-ground activities to ensure that IconSiam is constantly an exciting place to visit.”
