Advertising - A Bridge between Products and Consumers

Advertising is the leading method used to promote products to customers. It seems that with every new product which is released, new advertising tools are also devised. To make the most of the power of advertising, it is necessary to utilise the mass media. Via this medium, advertising arts and culture have been highly developed to capture the attention of potential customers on the market. Although some people claim to be unaffected by the mass media, they cannot escape the all encompassing nature of advertising. Advertising tools find every way possible to reach people to appeal to them with products and services.

The crucial role of advertising

As society evolves, the advertising industry orients itself accordingly. Many dedicated advertising firms have been established. Advertising works by forming conceptual linkages in the minds of consumers via words, sounds and images. To develop powerful advertising ideas, foreign companies are willing to pay millions of dollars. In Vietnam, the Television Magazine must pay US$ 10,000 for the services of an advertisement script writer for an advertising block of 30 seconds. The typical features of TV ads are to briefly convey vivid and impressive high quality images of the featured product to the audience in a short time. This requires creativeness and flexibility in each advertiser.

For newspaper advertising, an advertising executive must create an impressive concept to promote the product, take photographs of the product or concept, and enhance the visual design of the ad using special effects to appeal to viewers of the ad.

In the product development process, advertising plays a crucial role. The average budget for product advertising in foreign companies comprises 1-5 per cent of the products value. It is necessary to employ a professional contingent when investing in advertising for your product. Advertising companies set up specific units such as a market-research unit, advertisement production unit, marketing unit and financial unit. Leading players in the world advertising industry include Saatchi, Matches, Dentsu, Hakuhodo, Leo Burnette, J. Walter Thompson, Ogilvy and Mathers and Lowe Lintas. Today there are around 1.7 million advertising companies and associations operating in the lucrative industry.

Vietnam's advertising industry

The consumer and industrial product advertising industry in Vietnam was established when the government embarked upon an open market economy. Many domestic and foreign advertising companies have come into operation since. With the support of foreign advertising companies, some domestic firms have developed quality operations. Foreign companies like J. Walter Thompson have invested in and trained local advertising companies. A survey by J. Walter Thompson found that foreign companies have helped train 1,000 Vietnamese advertisers over a ten year period from 1993 to 2003. Many of them have been sent to foreign countries for training in advertising expertise. These companies have spent over 1 billion dollars on advertising activities (in 2003 alone 210 million dollars was invested in advertising). In addition, foreign advertising companies have played a crucial role in job creation within the industry.

Advertisements by foreign advertising companies are usually of a high quality and appeal to audiences. The promotion of BP lubricant oil was the first foreign advertisement to screen on Vietnamese television in 1991. However, while advertisements on TV and in newspapers by foreign advertising companies are usually well targeted, some advertisements that are not suited to Vietnamese consumer tastes have triggered unexpected reactions amongst audiences. Examples are advertisements containing extreme martial-arts films.

Advertisements created by local firms have also played an important role in promoting products to consumers. Some local advertising companies like Gold Sun, Power PR, Vietnam Football Development Company, Galaxy, and Bach Viet have operated well in the industry. Advertisements for Bitis, Vinamilk, Saigon Beer, and Vietnamese-Korean Steel amongst others, display a standard comparable to that of foreign advertising firms. However, much still needs to be done by local firms to integrate into the international advertising association. First, low expertise and consistency in advertisements can still be found in local firms. Second, local advertising companies tend to offer a wordy commentary on products, rarely found in slick foreign advertisements. Third, advertising culture is not yet widely respected locally for the role it plays. Fourth, some product advertisements play tricks on consumers, annoying the audience. Advertisements of Ben Thanh Beer, Nikko, some washing powder products, and others, have been assessed as falling short of the mark in five criteria: Beauty - accuracy - sufficiency - stylishness - seriousness.

Proposals to Develop Advertising Industry

To further develop Vietnam's Advertising Industry, we propose these ideas:

First, the Ministry of Information and Culture should more effectively monitor advertising activities. Advertising laws suitable to each development phase of the country must be promulgated.

Second, local advertising companies and associations must enhance their advertising expertise. Personnel in advertising firms should be trained to meet the developing demands of society and meet the pace of international advertising.

Third, education regarding the advertising tastes of viewers should be provided not only to advertising firms but also leaders of enterprises.

Fourth, enterprises should raise their awareness of advertising to avoid unhealthy competition between companies in related industries.

Fifth, authorities should further monitor advertising to ensure consumers are not exposed to false advertising.

Sixth, mass media authorities should develop a classification system for advertising to regulate appropriates times to broadcast ads which display more mature themes or content.

• Tran Quang