Vietnamese businesses are spending more on branding

Nike and Adidas are willing to pay 10-17 percent of their profits for their marketing campaigns. Will Vietnamese businesses do the same?

Nguyen Dang Quang, the owner of Masan Group, at an interview given to a prestigious journal, said Nike and other famous footwear brands, are just some pieces of mesh, foam and other parts held together by glue polished by marketing campaigns.

A branding expert commented that it is not only the quality of product or service, but the branding which decides who wins the competition in the market.

Biti’s is an example. The brand, which fell into oblivion for a long time, has sparked an impressive marketing campaign with the participation of famous showbiz celebrities.

Biti’s regained the strength of its brand after Hunter sports shoes appeared in two hits of Son Tung MTP – Lac Troi (Drifting in Mind) and Noi Nay Co Anh.

Son Tung is a Vietnamese singer and songwriter. Most of his songs became big hits and earned top ranking in Vietnamese music charts such as Con mua ngang qua (The Rain Of Love), Em cua ngay hom qua (Yesterday's you), Chac ai do se ve (She Would Come Back), Thai Binh mo hoi roi (Sweat of Thai Binh), Khong Phai dang vua dau (I’m Quite Something)

Unlike Biti’s, Thai Binh Shoes does not have a brand of its own, but only does outsourcing for foreign brands. In addition, as it does not spend money on costly marketing campaigns like Biti’s, Thai Binh Shoes just ‘lives under the shadow of giants’.

Most recently, the Vietnamese shoe market was stirred up by the appearance of sShoes, a new shoe brand for men. With the slogan ‘the world’s smartest shoes’, sShoes has raised strong controversy among the public and caught the attention of customers.

Huu Long, director of sShoes, said that sShoes provides high-quality products to customers. There are 20 sizes for one model, a record high number, while they are durable and attractive in price.

However, he said sShoes and other Vietnamese shoes brands are weak at smart branding.

Long revealed that sShoes is willing to spend 50 percent of the company’s profit on branding.

Reports from Vietnamese businesses show that they now tend to spend more money on advertisements and marketing.

Vinamilk spent VND4.6 trillion in 2015 and double that sum in 2016, while Vietjet spent VND62 billion in 2014, VND136.3 billion in 2015 and VND219 billion in 2016.