(left to right) Doonyapol Sichan, Manrat Suensilpong | Photo: Ketsiree Wongwan ART4D INVITES PDM BRAND, ONE OF THE MOST WELL-KNOWN THAI BRANDS OF HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS, TO DISCUSS ITS DEVELOPMENT TRAJECTORY FROM DESIGNING AN ORDINARY PLASTIC MAT TO THE RECENT COLLABORATION WITH LEADING DESIGNERS AND BRANDS AND THE FOLLOWING PROJECTS IN THE FUTURE
TEXT: PRATARN TEERATADA
PHOTO COURTESY OF PDM BRAND EXCEPT AS NOTED
(For Thai, press here)
Manrat Suensilpong and Doonyapol Sichan Co-founder of PDM, a brand that has transformed a Thai household product such as plastic mats into modern-looking design items, which has as a result seen incredible success on the online market. As a brand, PDM stands out for its strong marketing strategies, product research and development trajectories it has taken, including their collaborations with other leading design brands and renowned artists and designers. art4d invites you to join our conversation with PDM and learn about their successful business model, communication strategies and branding. From friends to a niche group of designers, PDM’s clientele has expanded tremendously as their mats and other product lines are now riding the wave with a very bright future that lies ahead.
Photo: Ketsiree Wongwan
Photo: Ketsiree Wongwan
art4d: What are PDM’s branding strategies?
PDM: PDM uses design to dictate the direction to take for the brand. There’s also an incorporation of the startup method in our branding. We focus on trying to develop and improve the design, creating an alternative in home decoration items so that Thai people can have high-quality products that are in the same standard as European brands. We distinctively present our brand in the online market, targeting consumers who want to beautify their living spaces, the people who love home decoration and interior design. We don’t target a specific age group though.
We’ve learnt from the past about how important communication can be. We present our products by educating, and suggesting the significance of design to our clients. Our team tries to be very creative when it comes to online communication, from methods, platforms to consistency so that people can remember PDM as a home decoration product brand that brings together people who want to live in a beautiful home that is also easy to take care of. We use certain elements of design to deliver solutions and create this impression; the image of picture perfect living spaces that people see on pinterest or international architecture or interior design magazines.
To us, the startup method means speediness, but also a process of trails and errors. If something is right, we move forward to the next step, but if it isn’t quite right, we’ll try again before making the final decision. We’ve gone through both the rights and the wrongs to the point where we have loyal followers and we are able to determine their feedback about a product even if it isn’t 100% complete. We have a the support of a strong house team and an amazing production team. The fact that we take good care of the people behind the operations of the brand is the reason why we are able to keep the pre-order system flowing. We don’t have to stock a lot of products, which coincides with the aspect of sustainability. Preordering enables us to produce the products in the amount demanded by the people who want to buy them. We don’t have excess inventory, which means we don’t have to lessen the value of our products by constantly discounting them. Our clients get designer products of incredible quality at reasonably great prices because we are not burdened by retail space fees and middlemen. We don’t have to make a lot of profit to survive because our management is very efficient. I think this direction we’re taking fits today’s PDM the best.
Photo: Ketsiree Wongwan
To simply put, we work by trying to create products of good design, and communicate clearly about what we do. We value creativity, beauty and comprehensiveness when it comes to our design and products. We open for preorders and when we reach the number, we have the products made in the same amount as the order. Our clients will be informed about the updates and once the products are finished, they will be shipped to the clients’ door steps within the promised date, which is scheduled even before any purchase is made. In general, the process helps build the client’s confidence in our brand.
Another important thing is that we don’t have our own factory but we partner up with several manufacturing experts. This is why our products are so diverse because they’re not restricted by the production part of the process.
art4d: Could you introduce some of the interesting collaborations you have had with other design studios?
PDM: PDM has strong in-house design teams for our product design and communication strategies so the purpose of each collaboration stems from each project’s different objective.
If it’s a collaboration for PDM, the highlight is put on the unique expertise and direction of the designer or design studio we work with, whether they’re from Thailand or other countries. Some are experts in craft products while others are more experienced in industrial production. We’ve had many great opportunities to work with design studios with amazing know-how and experiences such as DOT Design Studio, ease studio, Jacob Jensen Design, Kaniit.Textile, Line Design Works, Sini Henttonen, SRINLIM, Studio KN, THINKK Studio, Tong Ren, to name a few.
PDM x Atelier2+
There were times where collaborations didn’t end up in the form of a product. We know that there are many different formats and possibilities when it comes to brand communication, and creating new experiences for people to remember. Our collaborators, namely Atelier2+, Pichai Kaewvichit, Suthipa kamyam (Artist) , 56thStudio, used to take part in curating different experiences for our followers, and collectively we have made design more and more comprehensible and accessible.
We view these collaborations as a way to expand each other’s customer base. Simply speaking, when a collaboration takes place, it needs to bring both sides forward. Their fans know us better and our followers get to see new, fresh dimensions of our collaborators.
Sonar, PDM x Kenkoon
BOUTON, PDM x Kenkoon x Sini Henttonen
The core of our collaboration hasn’t changed and that is the products have to be of excellent quality. From Carnival, Mobella, Yothaka to world-class brands such as Bang & Olufsen, everyone plays their part in complementing each other, and moving forward with new, fun challenges that offer nothing but benefits for the consumers.
BeoplayA9, PDM x Bang & Olufsen
art4d: What are your plans for the future?
PDM: We are currently expanding our product lines to encompass all categories of household products. We’re observing several directions in pursuit of an interesting trajectory, and we will continue to present high quality design to the people who share the passion in interior design and home decoration. Our team is very interested in the incorporation of Data Science to help improve our customer care, as well as our back of the house system so that everything is carried out more efficiently while using less human labor to prevent human errors.
We’re about to start working on a project called Odyssey. We chose the name Odyssey because we think it represents our journey with our fans and followers. Basically, it adopts the Kickstarter model, which is a co-investment project between PDM and the people who want to own the product. So by investing, they will help make our ideas into reality.
Photo: Ketsiree Wongwan
PDM intends to adopt this method with the home decoration items that require really high production costs, and the products we have in mind range from a plastic chair to a fan. In the big picture, this method should enable PDM to grow into the direction where it fully becomes a platform for people who love and are interested in design and home decoration products. This method will allow everyone to take part in making ideas that need a higher production cost into reality and for the products to find their way into the market faster.