Food Branding: Long-term Strategy Needed

Speaking at the workshop, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said the food industry is one of highest potential sectors of Vietnam. However, export branding and marketing is still limited, product competitiveness is still low, and export food sector's foothold on global markets is fragile. Therefore, in the upcoming time, the Vietnamese food industry needs a specific and long-term strategy to improve added value and strengthen support to boost exports.

 

Noting the important role of food branding, Mr Julian Lawson Hill from Giraffe Consulting International Company, affirmed that well-branded products will attract customers to buy more, spend more and introduce to more people. Then, food branding will bring better prices for farmers, sustainable production and greater economic security.

Remarking on food branding, Ms Le Thi Bich Thu, an official from the Department of Processing and Trade for Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Products and Salts Production, said many agricultural products of Vietnam such as cashew, pepper, rice and coffee have held leading positions in the world market. However, their export value was low due to raw material exports.

 

Besides, Vietnam’s export products still face a plenty of difficulties and problems related to food quality, safety and hygiene. For example, tea was defamed by antibiotic residues while rice is contaminated with pesticide.

 

Not only that, Vietnamese companies’ competitiveness is still limited as they have not joined global value chains. A representative from the Vietnam Pangasius Association affirmed that businesses are currently focusing on only their brands. Therefore, efforts to build a collective brand for the industry face difficulties.

 

Explaining some reasons behind ineffective food branding in Vietnam, she said the building of material plantations faced difficulties due to investment shortage in infrastructure, and processing technology. Besides, most food processors of Vietnam have small scale and lack investment capital for enhancing product values.

 

Mr Miroslav Delaporte, SECO Country Director for Vietnam, said Vietnam has also made records in rice, coffee and other commodity export. If Vietnam can build brands for these products, it will improve their competitiveness on the world market. He added that, driven by the free trade agreements (FTAs) it has signed, Vietnam is integrating more deeply into the world economy. This is a good opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises to learn and acquire progress in product branding and protection in other countries.

 

Vietnam’s National Strategy on Food Branding is technically supported by Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries of the Netherlands (CBI). The programme includes four phases: Determining objectives and methods; conducting research and analysis; positioning brands, including brand identity systems; and planning operations and deployments. At present, nine sector associations have registered to accompany the programme, including the food, coffee, tea, fruits, seafood, pepper, cashew, honey and coconut sectors. So far, branding specialists from CBI and Vietrade have completed the first and second phases of the programme.

Mr Julian Lawson Hill stressed that, to brand its food industry, Vietnam should have specific strategies, pay practical attention to product quality, improve product consistency, and build product quality processes.

 

Moreover, businesses must take action to survive and develop. They must boldly upgrade with modern equipment and technology to reduce fuel and material consumption and ensure food safety and hygiene. In addition, they must consider researching, expanding markets, building brands and perfecting distribution channels.

Despite deep and broad integration, Vietnamese agricultural businesses still lack close connectivity in food processing, material production and marketing. For example, most fruits and vegetables are not fully processed, but only preliminarily processed or unprocessed.

 

Enterprises which know how to integrate value chains of diversified agricultural products and increase productivity will have many opportunities to develop. Therefore, they need to change thinking and actions for Vietnam to recognise high quality. They must strive to achieve a higher position on the world culinary map.

 

Common branding and sector branding will involve several sectors. Sector branding will share brands and define visions.

 

To build a collective brand for the food industry, Vietnam needs specific steps. Step 1, it is necessary to build the Vietnam Food Branding Project Management Board and the Steering Committee for Vietnam Food Branding. Step 2, it is necessary to establish and position Vietnamese food brands: Introducing choices for brand identity systems for Vietnamese foods, building branding administration, and creating branding directions. The third step is to build sub-sector brands: Defining priority sub-sectors; develop brand identity systems, and manage and orient brands.