romain petiteau brand content manager

Since 1960 Thaismai has been producing and marketing handcrafted Muay Thai equipment. A historic player in the discipline, the brand now struggles to appeal to a new generation even if the discipline is experiencing a strong resurgence. The main reason: a brand image and communication strategy that no longer meet the evolving expectations of today’s market. Faced with new competition, Thaismai has failed to establish a distinctive positioning. Its offering has followed market trends too closely, diluting the brand into a generalist gear supplier unable to capture new audiences. Thaismai’s image remains inseparable from Muay Thai’s “Golden Era”—a defining period that propelled the brand to prominence. Back then, Thaismai outfitted the sport’s greatest champions and even made a silver screen appearance in Kickboxer, with Jean-Claude Van Damme wearing the brand’s signature shorts.

A rebranding rooted in the spirit of a vibrant, mythologized era, brought to life through a new positioning: “We are the Golden Era.”