Building Vietnamese Brands

Vietnam is a strong exporter of agricultural products, processed foods, footwear, apparels, handicrafts and seafood and their quality are increasing day after day. However, most Vietnamese goods are exported to other countries via intermediaries. Therefore, foreign consumers have no idea about Vietnam-branded goods. This is a huge weakness and disadvantage of Vietnamese goods sold to foreign markets.

 

In the domestic market, some companies have developed their brands very professionally. As for multinational corporations, in addition to strengthening their brands in Vietnam, some have started to “tap” Vietnamese brands by buying famous names. For example, Unilever purchased P/S toothpaste brand for US$5 million and renewed and made it a big brand name in Vietnam. Unilever also was quick enough to use "Phu Quoc" geographical indications with Knor Phu Quoc fish sauce. Some foreign companies registered famous brand names in Vietnam in other countries and Vietnamese companies cannot use their brand names on international markets. Some Vietnamese brands were involved in brand disputes on international markets like Trung Nguyen Coffee, Vinataba, Sa Giang and Biti's.

 

In recent years, knowing the importance of branding to production and business operations, some Vietnamese companies have registered their brands on global scale like Pho 24 and Nam Roi grapefruit.

 

However, a majority are not fully aware of branding. Hence, they do not have long-term plans for branding in global market and competition.

 

According to a recent survey into 500 companies on brand building capacity and advertising by Business Support Project, up to 25-30 percent of companies do not invest in branding, 70 percent just partially invest, and only at 5 percent have proper investment for this.

 

According to a survey by the Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics, 98 percent of consumers in Ho Chi Minh City said brands decide their buying because brands made them feel assured of origin, quality and other information. This result indicates that consumers understand more deeply about brands. At the same time, companies must invest enough for branding if they want to dominate the market.

 

Therefore, they must have right marketing and branding strategies to win on global markets, particularly in ASEAN.

 

According to experts, to build a successful brand, they must know what customers are looking for. Amid growing competition intensity, brand plays a key role in keeping loyal customers, drawing new ones and finally existing and developing sustainably. Nowadays, not just companies, many countries have started national marketing and branding, started from a variety of reasons like investment, trade promotion and resources accumulation for development.

 

Thus, branding is extremely important to the sustainable development of any company. According to experts, in designing branding strategy, Vietnamese companies need to pay special attention to some core issues. First of all, they must form a triangle of positioning, differentiation and branding. Branding primarily starts from market segments and target customers to position their brand identity. Then, they will promote differentiation to create brand integrity and finally build brand image.

 

Then, they must specify the above triangle with a process of building branding strategy, including 9-P stages (Philip Kotler model): Probing the market, partitioning the market; pursuing the market, positioning the brand, producing the brand, pricing the brand, placing the brand, promoting the brand, and post-purchasing activities.

There are nine core elements of marketing formed from the above process: segmenting, targeting, positioning, differentiation, marketing mix, selling, brand, services and process.

This is valuable experience for Vietnamese to apply.