Marketing in Vietnam- It’s changing The government has a long-term economic plan for Vietnam – and an improved international and domestic marketing campaign is at the centre of it, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai recently affirmed. At the conference, Hai added that the economic success the country has had over the past few years has largely been due to the support the government has provided Vietnamese businesses as they trade around the globe. It has also been the result of the welcome the government has extended to those who invest in the nation’s future. However it is time to pick up the pace of support for small and medium sized companies looking to export and to more broadly implement a marketing campaign aimed at increasing both international and domestic demand, Hai concluded. Deputy Director of the Trade Promotion Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) Ta Hoang Linh echoed Hai’s views underscoring the point that it is time for a refreshed advertising campaign. The time for complacency is over and there needs to be a unified and strengthened determination to deliver Vietnamese goods to both foreign and domestic markets along with stricter oversight of relevant governmental agencies activities. Too many agencies have not followed the guidance from the MoIT and this has hampered the efficiency and effectiveness of implementing the programme. Recently, a large-scale campaign kicked off in rural areas to encourage Vietnamese to consume Made-in-Vietnam products. However, the campaign has not achieved remarkable success due to poor organizational work, Linh said. He pointed out a number of shortcomings the programme has faced, such as an overreliance on supply sources, ineffective dissemination of information and to many companies producing the same products. “Four markets in the same region sell the same products. And there’s no innovation or difference between the product last year and this year,” Linh elaborated. Moreover, most businesses participating in the programme only focused on price competition for their products rather than developing a marketing campaign to differentiate their product from the others or brand it. A few officials from the central region provincial Departments for Industry and Trade in turn raised concern over a lack of a close link between local government, producers and consumers to successfully organize trade fairs, which are often in small scale (around 300 pavilions each). They also shared their opinions on capacity building for local producers, especially in marketing skills. Most businesses in the central region are in small and medium sizes, so they need State subsidies to take part in trade fairs and implement marketing programme. Bui Huy Son, head of the MoIT’s Trade Promotion Department, said the Finance Ministry’s Circular 88 provides more open and practical mechanisms and regulations on the organization of the trade programme. For example, businesses receive more support from the government to launch a ‘Vietnamese people purchasing Vietnamese goods’ campaign in island and coastal areas, but this fact has not been fully disseminated. This year’s trade marketing programme will receive VND100 billion in aid, which is VND30 billion higher than last year’s figure, Son revealed. He laid emphasis on creating a closer link between businesses, trade counsellors and managers of trade centres in foreign countries to help made-in-Vietnam products penetrate overseas markets. VOV