Please imagine the heading above in 700 point, capitalised, bold, emphasised, red, flashing text, then you will have an idea of the publicity approach employed by Surapol Sanguanchartisorakrai, a.k.a Tony; an approach that has led to him being one of Pattaya’s more successful businessmen.
Tony is a Thai who was educated in the USA and spent many years there leading a show band that toured the country. When he came back to Thailand he opened businesses in Bangkok and then opened Tony’s entertainment complex in Walking Street.
This became a popular spot for young men of all ages with an excess of testosterone to meet young ladies with a shortage of cash. It’s been many years since I visited, but it was all a bit too brash for me and the beer tasted suspicious.
Everyone knew that there was a place called Tony’s on beach road because you couldn’t move more than 100 metres in Pattaya or the surrounding area without sighting a billboard with TONY’S slapped across it. This approach continues to be used to promote Tony’s current and future enterprises. This bunch of boards are all within 100 metres of each other on Third Road:
Tony has a Trade Centre, a Mua Thai academny, a Japanese Spa and a new nightclub and shopping mall under construction. All of these are close to Tony’s Gym which has been around for a while and seems quite popular. Perhaps the popularity of the place is due to the amazing transformations experienced by members. One rather chubby and unattractive lady signed up for the special offer, never to be repeated until next week, membership; and she morphed into Catherine Zeta-Jones.
