NEW CHIEF BRINGS MARKETING EXPERTISE

       Many fans of Starbucks coffee have been overjoyed with the series of promotions and marketing activities the coffee chain has rolled out during the past couple of months. And the US chain's new Thailand boss, Murray Darling, is in no less cheerful a mood.
       "It's the best job, to run Starbucks in Thailand. It's a dream for me," he said.
       Speaking to The Nation in his first press interview since assuming his position as managing director in June, Darling, 47, acknowledged that there has been a focus on promotion activities - some of them unprecedented, such as the buy-one-get-one-free promotion offered in partnership with Citibank credit cards at Starbucks' local network of 131 stores in recent months. The offer ended on August 31.
       But for those familiar with Darling's working methods, the stepped-up marketing activities at Starbucks come as no surprise.
       The new MD at Starbucks Coffee Thailand has spent most of his career in marketing, including the past four and a half years, during which he served as vice president for marketing and product management at Starbucks' headquarters in Seattle.
       Darling said the marketing activities were introduced partly to express Starbucks' appreciation to its Thai customers, who have stuck with the brand through the recent tough economic times.
       While business has shrunk by as much as 20 per cent at some stores in tourist destinations such as Koh Samui, Phuket, Pattaya and Krabi, sales in Bangkok have grown this year from 2008.
       Darling said not every Starbucks store in Thailand was making a profit at present, and the company was assessing the various impacts of the macroeconomic situation, the political crisis and the slowing tourism sector on its business here.
       "When tourism comes back, I think most of our stores will be in pretty healthy places," he said.
       Overall, Starbucks' business in Thailand has been flat compared with last year, with decreased sales in the firm's 36 provincial outlets offset by the growing business in Bangkok, where it operates 95 stores.
       Starbucks began slowing its outlet expansion in Thailand last year, when it opened fewer than 10 stores, after a period of rapid growth during the previous two years.
       This year, Darling said, the company was looking at only a few more sites.
       "I don't care about the number, honestly. I care that we get the right sites. We will look on a site-by-site basis, depending on what's come up," he said.
       Asked if it was an unusual move for Starbucks to send a vice president who led marketing and product strategies, and programmes for 50 countries, from headquarters to head a country's operations, Darling said it was a rare move for the firm but an easy decision for him personally, and that he enjoyed returning to Thailand.
       Prior to joining Starbucks in the US in early 2003, Darling lived in Bangkok for about two years, working as a vice president for Diageo's Johnnie Walker whisky brand.
       "Most people [who] go to run [a] country come from operation functions. So actually from marketing in Seattle to come to run a country has been quite rare. So for me it's a nice challenge," he said.
       Darling said he and his wife liked living in Thailand because of the Thai people's sunny disposition and the great variety of things to do here, such as good golfing.
       He also enjoys eating at local noodle shops.
       Perfect job
       Working at the international coffee chain looks very much to be the perfect job for Darling, who has been a heavy coffee drinker since he was a university student (he still drinks at least six cups a day) and is an avid traveller, having visited 82 countries and all 50 US states to date.
       The latest destination was the Maldives, which he visited with his wife, Angela, early this month. His goal is to expand the list to 100 countries.
       The Maldives trip, however, was Darling's first vacation this
       year, as he has been busy dropping by local Starbucks stores. Within two months of taking up his post in June, Darling had visited two-thirds of the Starbucks outlets in Thailand.
       Darling started filling his passport with visa stamps when he left his home in Scotland to visit Romania when he was only 13. He spent the first 10 years of his career in London, working
       with Colgate-Palmolive and Pepsi-Cola.
       He then joined Diageo in New York and later moved
       to Jamaica, before coming to work in Thailand for the first time in 2001, until leaving to join Starbucks in Seattle two years later.
       "I like beverages: all 'black' beverages. I've been drinking Pepsi-Cola, Johnnie Walker and Starbucks for a lot of my life," Darling said with a big laugh.