With geopolitical and economic woes continuing to multiply around the world, Thai people are increasingly worried about the greater uncertainty and insecurity that they face in their lives.
This fragile situation has meant that many Thai people are turning to good luck charms, superstitious objects and occult rites, known as mutelu, in addition to existing religious beliefs, to try to boost their luck.
The name is believed to come from an old Indonesian movie called Mutelu: Occult War about superstition, black magic and mysticism.
In Thailand, mutelu is the word used to refer to people who travel to revered places to worship sacred items such as amulets and talismans.
The phenomenon arose from various factors including belief in an individual, the sacredness of items, and the power of legends, stories, places of historical importance, and natural wonders.
Another factor concerns influential figures such as famous masters of ceremonies, actors, and celebrities who believe in mutelu and travel to sacred places to worship.
They influence people's thoughts and decisions about travel, for example by posting pictures and videos of their journeys, mutelu activities, and talismans on social media. These persuade individuals to travel to the same sacred places.
Mr Tanachai said Satin's bed sheets using designs and colours related to beliefs were launched in 2020.
Businesses have also adjusted their marketing strategies to accommodate this growing phenomenon.
FAITH CAMPAIGNS WORK
Kritchakhun Pornthananunt, general manager for the corporate marketing department of The Mall Group, said the company has arranged faith marketing campaigns at its stores for several years, in particular during New Year and Chinese New Year.
"Engaging customers with campaigns about faith really works. Customers love to participate in such faith campaigns because they believe that the rites can help boost their luck amid a host of market and economic uncertainties,'' Mr Kritchakhun said.
According to Mr Kritchakhun, The Mall Group has rolled out marketing activities and gimmicks related to faith every year, but the event format has changed to make its physical stores more interesting.
"The Covid-19 situation, in particular, resulted in an increase of the popularity of faith marketing activities and we have seen the number of suppliers who joined our faith or mutelu marketing campaigns rising over the past few years," he said. "With the Mu-café introduced during Chinese New Year 2022, sales increased by up to 40% from the same period a year earlier."
The group regularly holds faith campaigns via Beauty Hall, The Living, and Gourmet Market, but it plans to launch larger-scale campaigns during the upcoming New Year festive season to boost all aspects of spending.
"In the coming New Year festive season, we are creating faith campaigns aimed at building up luck for our shoppers,'' he said.
PUT YOUR FAITH IN BED SHEETS
Tanachai Sujintamanee, vice-president of Choke Laup Boonchai Co, the producer of the Satin brand of bed sheets, said the company has cooperated with Tossapol Sritula, a famous fortune teller known as Mor chang, to develop "Satin Plus Lucky Me Lucky You Special Collection 2022'', for a third year. This bed sheet collection has been designed from "faith marketing" strategies and research into consumers' concerns about current uncertainties.
The Satin Plus Lucky Me Lucky You collection is available via 1,000 points of sale across the country from modern retail chains, online channels and the company's dealers.
"The Covid-19 outbreaks helped promote the use of products related to faith; we aim to boost sales of the current Satin Plus limited edition by 30% this year, helping to drive overall revenues of the Satin brand by 10-15% in 2022," Mr Tanachai said.
Satin bed sheets developed with designs and colours related to faith were launched for the first time in 2020 and have continued until the present.
"We had sales of 20 million baht for the first limited edition of Satin in 2020, better than expected. Demand doubled in the second launch in 2021,'' Mr Tanachai added.
CREDIT CARDS GET IN ON THE ACT
Susopit Watanasin, senior vice-president for retail travel platform and merchandise marketing at Krungthai Card Plc (KTC), said that KTC allows its credit card holders who are interested in good luck charms and occult items to earn extra points from their spending.
KTC has also made Buddha amulets available through its e-Marketplace "KTC U SHOP", with over 7,000 products including amulets and good luck charm items from more than 250 stores. The company also sets aside a temporary space at its head office every month for its clients, including amulet shops, to sell their products.
"We provide products related to faith because we want to cash in on the trend of mutelu products. We believe that if customers are happy with our services, they will remain loyal to us and increase their repurchase opportunity through our cards,'' she said.
FENG SHUI SURGES DURING CRISIS
A popular feng shui fortune teller for well-known Thai billionaires, who requested anonymity, said that his feng shui business continues to grow every year, with outstanding growth seen particularly when the economy is not doing well.
"With overwhelming bookings, some days we have to provide services to customers until 10pm, from the regular service hours of between 8am-2pm. A majority of our customers are businessmen, followed by actors, politicians and student patrons," the fortune teller said.
Kwanek Siridumrongsak, 40, the owner of a metal plating plant in Samut Sakhon province, said he had been interested in feng shui since he was 20 years old.
"At first, I never imagined that our business, which suffered losses for a long time, would be able to become positive after we adjusted our factory's feng shui,'' Mr Kwanek said.
ENDURING POPULARITY
Boonying Kongarchapatara, chair of the marketing programme at the College of Management at Mahidol University, said he believed faith marketing strategies will maintain their popularity.
"This strategy was applied a long time ago and it is the marketing tool for many consumer products even in the baby diaper business,'' Mr Boonying said. "According to our marketing research, 52 million people in Thailand are superstitious."
According to Mr Boonying, factors that concern the population include uncertainty about the future, emerging diseases and epidemics such as Covid-19, and environmental issues such as PM2.5 particles and waste pollution.
Other concerns include educational inequality, economic concerns like the high cost of living and job instability, the inability to adjust to new technologies, and political situations that could affect people's lives.
The concerns and uncertainties affect all generation groups, such as Baby Boomers (56 to 74 years old), Gen X (40-55), Gen Y (24-39) and Gen Z (8-23).
These people have their own ways of dealing with uncertainty, including superstitions such as prophecy, astrology, palm reading and gypsy cards. The use of amulets and sacred objects, auspicious colours and auspicious numbers are also used.
"When the world changes, humans adjust their behaviour in accordance with changes in the environment in order to survive. This could be seen during the global Covid-19 pandemic," Mr Boonying said.
He said that faith became people's solution because of widespread information via many channels such as social media and websites, family members around them, experts in the field, newspapers and magazines, and television and radio programmes.
As a result, the business sector had to face ongoing challenges, and businesses have had to adjust their marketing strategies to match the lifestyle of consumers to be able to continue their operations, said Mr Boonying.
"In keeping with such consumer trends, one of the ways to reach consumers is to include faith in marketing content. The faith marketing campaigns, along with brand communications, help make consumers confident and able to make more informed decisions,'' he said.
