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Business brand and national brand should have resonance and support for mutual development. Photo: S.T

Absence of adequate brand

The Vietnam National Brand Program (Vietnam Value) was approved by the Prime Minister and assigned to the Ministry of Industry and Trade as the focal point, coordinating with ministries and branches to implement from 2003.

Mr. Vu Ba Phu - Director of the Trade Promotion Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) stated: Through the Program, many Vietnamese corporations and enterprises have been aware of the important role of their brands as the key to increase the value of their products and enterprises. Enterprises gradually build, develop and manage their brands, contributing to improving competitiveness and affirming their position in domestic and global markets. According to the report on the world’s 100 most valuable nation brands in 2018 announced by Brand Finance, "Vietnam" was valued at 235 billion USD and belonged to the strong brand group. Our brand's position has improved two levels on the rankings, up to 43rd place thanks to Vietnam Value's contribution and the Government's efforts to boost economic growth.

Regarding this issue, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Thao of the Central Theoretical Council stated that brand was an important factor to create the success of a product, of an enterprise, and of a country. It is no coincidence that major brands in the world are associated with large enterprises, economic groups and economies. Vietnam is developing a market economy, and our international integration is very deep and wide. Vietnam's export turnover has been approximately equal to the country's GDP with dozens of commodities with export turnover of 20-30 billion USD per year. Vietnam has the world's leading products in export turnover.

Frankly however, Vietnam has no reputable brands corresponding to the export turnover achieved so the value obtained is low. This has lasted many years. "Until now, Vietnam is still considered as a raw material producer, a processing and assembly country, providing inputs for large corporations and big brands. Building and developing Vietnam national brand is clearly becoming an urgent requirement”, said Dr. Nguyen Van Thao.

According to Mr. Nguyen Huu Nghia - Deputy Head of the Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission, during the 16 years of organizing the National Brand Program, there have been many stable brands in the domestic and foreign markets. Businesses are also more interested in brand issues, considering it as a tool in competition and business activities. However, Mr. Nghia also pointed out that besides the positive results, a large number of businesses were not interested in building and did not consider brand as a tool to reach consumers. This made enterprises have inadequate perceptions and actions. In addition, a number of management agencies also did not have measures to support and invest in resources to build the national brand, promotional activities were incomplete and inconsistent.

Focus on the breakthrough

Looking at the story of Italy national brand building, Mr. Antonino Tedesco - Head of the Economic and Trade Section of the Italian Embassy in Hanoi said: “Speaking of Italian brand, people will think of rich and elegant consumption style, tourist destinations, unique style... We want to combine Italian characteristics to build Italian brand. This may be a lesson for Vietnam”.

He further analyzed that for Vietnam, the trade promotion strategy was very important because Vietnam’s economy relied on exports to grow and so did Italy. Vietnam is now a big exporter but it should be noted that most of the export proportion comes from FDI enterprises. “How to utilize advantages of promoting exports through brand value? This is a win-win game when combining product trade with national brands, taking advantages of the brand of domestic products. In the future Vietnam National Brand Program needs to introduce collective value and collective brands instead of individual ones. This method will make Vietnam's products more widely accessible to regional and world markets”, said Mr. Antonino Tedesco.

Regard the of building a national brand, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cung - Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) pointed out: The country's resources are still very limited. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on breakthroughs and products and services that bring the highest efficiency when building the national brand. In addition, many branding, trade promotion and tourism programs are being implemented in parallel so it needs better coordination and regulation to effectively use resources.

From a business perspective, Mr. Ngo Minh Hai - Chairman of TH Group stated: Every enterprise who wants to raise its brand to create competitiveness needs to simultaneously focus on product quality and constantly innovating to keep up with the world market trend. In addition, each company also needs a change in the traditional approach to overcome safety zones so that its products must become publicized and reach all consumers. Building a national brand requires long-term and persistent efforts of a whole country. Business brand and national brand should have resonance and support for mutual development. “In brand building, what most businesses want is that officials and state management agencies need to join to clearly understand them and act immediately with very specific solutions and programs to support businesses in promoting their brand in the most effective way”, Mr. Hai emphasized.

According to Mr. Nghia, building a national brand needs close coordination with ministries, departments and branches. In the future the Central Economic Committee will coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to study and propose resolutions and decisions on economic and social development, integrating brand development; regularly organize and coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to combine events to promote Vietnamese businesses, enterprises with products achieving National Brand.

In 2018, the Department of Trade Promotion collaborated with brand experts to conduct surveys and research on the awareness of organizations, individuals and enterprises on the National Brand Program and analyzed experiences of other countries in building and developing their national brands.

The Department of Trade Promotion used the results of these studies to draft the Vietnam National Brand Program Scheme by 2030 with a vision to 2045 and the Prime Minister's Decision publicizing the Regulation on building, managing and implementing the National Brand Program.

How is the Ministry of Industry and Trade developing a national brand? VCN - The Vietnam National Brand Program in the new period will include the linkage of product ...

The content of the Vietnam National Brand Program in the new period will have the link product brands of enterprises with activities to attract investment, promote culture and tourism, thereby building Vietnam's national brand to become a positive and attractive image for importers, tourists, investors, employees and consumers in the domestic and international markets. The Scheme also mentions the coordination of the mechanism among related ministries, branches, localities, socio-political organizations, enterprises and individuals in implementing the Vietnam National Brand Program.