The World: Thai ad industry finds strength in consensus.(Advertising Association of Thailand)

Thailand's Buddhist culture means the trade body's philosophy of co-operation and tolerance works, Mark Johnson reports.

Picture this: an advertising trade body with real power, and influence to change the way clients and agencies do business. European ad industry associations can only dream of such strength, but the Advertising Association of Thailand may be the first to achieve this Holy Grail.

Take the AAT's involvement in a recent pitch debacle; after a protracted review involving ten agencies that began last summer, Krung Thai Bank's pounds 3 million creative account went to Saatchi & Saatchi without a pitch.

Saatchis' decision to work for Krung Thai Bank caused some concern, because it appeared to break with a ruling from the AAT.

The AAT demanded Krung Thai Bank pay the body's pounds 1,500 pitch fee to all ten agencies involved in the review, a stipulation it introduced for all private sector Thai companies 18 months earlier.

The bank refused to pay the fee on the grounds that it is 51 per cent government-owned. The case had to be taken to the country's administrative court to obtain a verbal ruling to clarify that it was, in fact, a private organisation.

At this decision, the AAT put its foot down and held a meeting between the agencies before informing the bank that the agencies would not pitch in the absence of a fee payment. The bank then shelved the review.