(TIỂU LUẬN) major international business administration – advanced program ANALYSIS OF BRANDING STRATEGY AT PHU TRUONG TRANG SOLUTION JSC

FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION *** MIDTERM INTERNSHIP REPORT Major: International Business Administration – Advanced Program ANALYSIS OF BRANDING STRATEGY AT PHU TRUONG TRANG SOLUTION JSC Student: Le Nguyen Ha Giang Appr o v al Student ID: 1812280038 Class: English Hoa n gAnhDu y , Ph D Intake: K57 Instructor: Hoang Anh Duy, Ph.D Hanoi, August 2021 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER AN INTRODUCTION TO PTT SOLUTION., JSC .3 1.1 General information of PTT Solution., JSC 1.2 History of establishment and development of PTT Solution., JSC 1.2.1 Organizational structure 1.2.2 Functions and mission of departments 1.3 Major Business Activities 1.4 Business Performances from 2018 to 2020 .7 1.5 Business Environment and Working Culture CHAPTER AN ANALYSIS OF BRANDING STRATEGY AT PTT SOLUTION., JSC 2.1 Theoretical basics on branding 2.1.1 Theoretical definitions 2.1.2 The importance of branding .9 2.1.3 How branding can impact a brand or a company? 10 2.1.4 Key components of a branding strategy 11 2.1.5 Branding Strategy Process .12 2.2 Analysis of branding strategy at PTT Solution., JSC 12 2.2.1 Overview of branding strategy at PTT Solution., JSC 12 2.2.2 Achievements in the first three-month period 16 2.3 An evaluation of the branding strategy at PTT Solution., JSC 25 2.3.1 Results 25 2.3.2 Advantages 26 2.3.3 Limitations and possible causes .27 CHAPTER RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE THE CURRENT BRANDING STRATEGY AT PTT SOLUTION., JSC 29 3.1 Development orientation of PTT Solution., JSC in terms of branding activities 29 3.2 Recommendations to enhance the performance of branding strategy at PTT Solution., JSC 29 CONCLUSION 31 REFERENCES 32 INTRODUCTION Along with the second wave of the COVID-19 in the first half of 2021, it is undeniable that the mobile gaming industry has been exploding According to Sensor Tower's most recent report, mobile game revenue increased during the COVID-19 pandemic's onset Without any doubt, the mobile game market is having its peak and showing no sign of slowing down When the competition in the mobile games industry is becoming fiercer than ever, it's no surprise that game marketing strategies are becoming more competitive as well Many developers and marketers are thriving to upgrade their marketing games to put their mobile game products on the map The game market in Vietnam has great potential and has made many breakthroughs in the world market since the Flappy Bird hit in 2015 Low barrier cost plus convenience on the go have made mobile gaming an extremely popular platform According to the App Annie 2020 ranking, Vietnamese game companies ranked seventh in the world in terms of most downloaded games, and also, for every 25 mobiles games being downloaded, of which is developed by a studio in Vietnam With that being said, the importance of brand affirmation, besides product quality should also be put under much consideration Branding is the way to impress consumers and clients, and to distinguish one studio from its competitors in order to make sure that the studio is the better choice Phu Truong Trang Solution Joint Stock Company (PTT Solution., JSC) has now almost 10-year experience in developing mobile games with a focus on hypercasual and idle games There are numerous exciting games that have been published by the studio and the management board is planning to upscale the company From those reasons and me being an intern at the company, I realize that the most prioritized factor in this long campaign is branding and since I also took a huge part in this process, I selected the topic of “Analysis of Branding Strategy at PTT Solution., JSC” This report includes physiological research methods and practical research methods, namely: survey, analytical theory, systemization, classification, observation, reference, and so on Due to the shortage of time and research level, the topic only solves the fundamental issues Besides, the report could not avoid mistakes, therefore, I would be really honored to receive comments and feedbacks from lectures to be better completed I would like to profoundly express my gratefulness to my instructor - Mr Hoang Anh Duy, lecturer of the Faculty of Business Administration for his guidance throughout my internship period His instruction was extremely beneficial in helping me complete the report successfully Moreover, I am also grateful to all the staff at PTT Solution., JSC for their support and kindness, especially Mr Dang Van Hung - Chief Marketing Officer CHAPTER AN INTRODUCTION TO PTT SOLUTION., JSC 1.1 General information of PTT Solution., JSC Table 1.1: General Information of PTT Solution., JSC General Information Trading Name Logo PHU TRUONG TRANG SOLUTION JOINT STOCK COMPANY Abbreviation: PTT SOLUTION., JSC Certificate of 0103239368 Business Registration Head Quarter 2nd Floor, 87 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Dien Address Bien District, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, Vietnam Phone Number +8424 32911908 Website https://nopowerup.com/ Email contact@nopowerup.com 1.2 History of establishment and development of PTT Solution., JSC PTT Solution., JSC was founded in 2009 by five students from Hanoi University of Science and Technology with the same passion for software products In the early years, the company focused on developing software products and advising on website designing However, after realizing and witnessing the bloom of mobiles gaming, the management board had decided to research, study, and experience this industry and chose to pursue it From 2014 to 2015, PTT Solution., JSC had gained many achievements with their hypercasual games, some of which were published by Ketchapp - one of the biggest publishers and stood at first place in many countries’ charts such as the US, Russia, Hungary, Netherlands, and so on However, after a long time of pursuing the hypercasual genre, the management board of PTT Solution., JSC recognized some drawbacks of this genre Firstly, the lifetime of hypercasual games was usually short; secondly, the market itself was extremely competitive at the time; and lastly, hypercasual games’ design was simple enough to make them lose their creativity Due to those factors, PTT Solution., JSC felt like they not own many benefits and motivation to solely focus on one genre Therefore, the management board has decided to shift PTT Solution., JSC’s focus to simulation or idle games ever since to stabilize revenue In 2017, PTT Solution., JSC started taking more risks with one of their earliest idle games - Clicker Racing This was the only game title they developed at that time, with great investments in game art and features This laid the first foundation for the company’s later success with this genre After that, they continued to develop more game titles and tried to collaborate with some publishers to prototype and conduct trials However, not until 2019 did they gain their first success with Idle Light City, which has now 20 million downloads Shortly afterward, in 2020, they released Idle Digging Tycoon, then Idle Success - both received positive feedbacks and a great number of downloads From the second half of 2020 to the present, the management board of PTT Solution., JSC has been planning to scale up the company in every possible aspect They aim to develop games that bear deeper and resourceful content, furthermore, distinction and completion in final products also hold great priorities In terms of marketing, the management board of PTT Solution., JSC wants to change and upgrade the company’s image to a more professional and unified one 1.2.1 Organizational structure PPT Solution., JSC manages and operates in the Agile Scrum model, which is the most optimal managing solution for software developing companies Being a Small-Medium-Enterprise (SME) company, this method has shown a lot of help when it comes down to managing different projects with limited human resources Figure 1.1: Organizational structure at PTT Solution., JSC Managment Board Mr Hoang Xuan Tung Chief Executive Officer Mr Dang Van Hung Chief Marketing Officer Administration/HR Mr Ngo Duc Hiep Chief Technology Officer Technical Department Marketing Department (Source: The Administration, Administration/HR Department, PTT Solution., JSC) 1.2.2 Functions and mission of departments a Administration/Human Resources - In charge of administrative tasks: scheduling and coordinating meetings; organizing files, documents, and related paperwork; onboarding; and bookkeeping - In charge of recruiting procedure: job posting; contacting candidates; classifying resumes; and scheduling interviews - In charge of handling payrolls, budgeting, and managing expenses - Organize teambuildings, gatherings, and other bonding activities if needed - This department has the mission of maintaining a professional workspace as well as its human culture b Marketing - In charge of app campaigns for any new products: developing, researching, implementing and managing app campaigns; developing strategies to drive traffic and install rate; and managing social platforms - Raising brand awareness through unifying the brand, optimizing the use of social media, planning long-term strategies - Acquiring, engaging, and monetizing suite of products - Planning social content plan and strategies to execute on social platforms - Managing and planning marketing budget - Studying reports and metrics to better all marketing campaigns - This department has the mission of building branding awareness, driving traffic, assuring user click-through-rate (CTR) and install volume c Technical - In charge of brainstorming, discussing, researching, and experiencing new ideas for games - In charge of developing, maintaining published games or prototyping new games as required from the Project Owner in charge - In charge of designing, researching, and conceptualizing game art as required from the Project Owner in charge - In charge of testing, assuring game quality, analyzing specifications, and reviewing as required from the Project Owner in charge - This department has the mission of building and maintaining the quality and results of mobile game products 1.3 - Major Business Activities Products: manufacturing of mobile games, developing and maintaining original hypercasual or idle games, releasing game titles by themselves or collaborating with publishers - Services: advising on, designing, developing, and proceeding solutions; system maintenance; and delegation guarantee - Solutions: securing system; storing, copying, or recovering database; app monetization 1.4 Business Performances from 2018 to 2020 Table 1.2: Consolidated Income Statement (in miilions VND, except numbers of shares) Year Ended December 31 2018 2019 2020 Revenue Net sales 173,715 183,639 180,235 Costs of revenue Costs of sales 120,089 115,376 118,048 Gross profit 53,626 68,263 62,187 Operating expenses Research and development 2,067 2,658 2,480 Selling, general, and administrative 14,329 16,029 17,261 Total operating expenses 16,396 18,687 19,741 Operating incomes 37,230 49,576 42,446 Other revenue and expenses Other revenue/income (net) 40 320 560 Income before taxes 37,270 49,896 43,006 Net income 33,543 44,906 38,705 (Source: The Administration, Administration/HR Department, PTT Solution., JSC) 1.5 Business Environment and Working Culture PTT Solution., JSC always aims to encourage the company’s working environment and the management board holds a strong belief in human values PTT Solution., JSC wants to build a professional, united, and creative workspace This is a company developing mobile games, which requires people to work on both their specialty and artistry for product completion to be excelled Nevertheless, responsibility and punctuality still remain the top criterion to evaluate work 18 positioning statement can also communicate the brand’s value proposition to its ideal customers by featuring core characteristics - PTT Solution., JSC’s positioning statement: For mobile gamers who seek joy and satisfaction, PTT Solution., JSC is a mobile game studio that offers amazing casual mobile games with high completion rates so our customers can emerge themselves in the world of excitement because PTT Solution., JSC is never hesitant to take risks and always aim for the most creative and excellent game design b Customer Persona: - Definition: An ideal customer persona is a description of the type of customer who would derive significant benefits from a product or service - PTT Solution., JSC’s customer persona: Norms Details Age 26 Gender Male Location Ho Chi Minh City Living situation Sharing an apartment with a friend Hobbies Gaming, watching football Job Office worker Hashtags #games #mobilegames #entertainment Active social media channels Facebook Personality Conservative, easy-going, calm Pain points He wants to look for a casual mobile game to entertain himself in his free time Phase 3: Creative 19 a Brand name: The management board of PTT Solution., JSC realized that the current name - Phu Truong Trang Solution., JSC was no longer a fit with the company’s vision and values Therefore, they generated ideas from the employees, discussed, and decided on a new brand name that was likely to show more spirit of the brand’s image New brand name: NoPowerup Vietnam Joint Stock Company Or NoPowerup Vietnam., JSC NoPowerup represents the main game genres that the company focuses on, which are Hypercasual and Idle These two genres allow gamers to continuously play without having to power up This brand name has been legally registered but has not yet been fully officiated until October 2021 Therefore, throughout this report, the company is referred to as Phu Truong Trang Solution Joint Stock Company or PTT Solution., JSC b Brand logo, color palette, fonts, and tagline: - Logo Logo on dark background - Color palette Logo on light background 20 Black Deep Saffron HEX: #000000 - HEX: #FF921E Light Grey HEX: #D5D5D5 Fonts: Rabbid Highway Sign II Rabbid Highway Sign II is PTT Solution., JSCs primary typeface and should be used for all communications This typeface is used specifically for the brand - Tagline: More Games, More Fun c Brand identities: - Card visit: - Clipboard 21 - Envelop - Notebooks - Uniform 22 - - Website: Social media 23 Phase 4: Execution - Develop a contemporary social strategy for trial on Facebook and LinkedIn 24 - Update brand identities on all social platforms - Update an introduction post to announce the rebrand information 25 - Build a new website with more synchronous content, clear messages, highquality photos, and focus on interactive features Phase 5: Management - Develop a social content schedule for each month, with fixed topics and adjustable content - Develop a set of social content templates for each category of content: social, interactive, recruitment, internal, link sharing including signatures, hashtags, graphics, color palette, fonts, and so on - Update employee profiles and G-suite signatures 26 2.3 An evaluation of the branding strategy at PTT Solution., JSC 2.3.1 Results Since May 1, 2021, PTT Solution., JSC has gradually executed their branding strategy on social media platforms based on basic principles and has gained significant results From 1/5/2021 to 1/7/2021, the reach from the company’s Facebook page drastically went up about 1300%, in comparison with the previous 3-month period (Facebook page reach is the data that shows the number of people seeing any content from your Page or about your Page, including posts, stories, ads, social information from people who interact with your Page and more) Among 57 job applicants PTT Solution., JSC received from 1/5/2021 to 1/7/2021, 46 (nearly 81%) of them said that one of the reasons they apply for the job positions was working environment, and they could clearly see that on PTT Solution., JSC’s social media content (The data was collected through a short survey after the interview with each applicant in the first round of interview - virtual) PTT Solution., JSC also conducted a survey among their employees to collect more insights: - 83% said that they felt like sharing more posts on the company’s social platforms to their personal accounts - 77% loved how the rebranding process changed the company’s image - 77% said they would love to be able to contribute to the branding of the company - 66% felt more motivated to work and proud of the company (Source: Branding Strategy, Marketing Department, PTT Solution., JSC) 2.3.2 Advantages The branding strategy was built based on the right needs of the company and the management board had already understood what they wanted to change and expect from the rebranding process Therefore, the branding strategy was quickly initiated, 27 testified, and implemented This has saved a great amount of time and effort for the company since the branding was done before a new product was to be released Throughout the process of exchanging ideas and execution, the branding strategy was clearly divided into each phase with corresponding expected results, action plans, personnel, and budget spending This made the process easy to monitor, adapt, and adjust if necessary Moreover, this way of implementation helps the branding process to be strategic and applicable in the long run Consistency was the most viable advantage that this branding strategy has brought to PTT Solution., JSC The brand is authentic and lively on its own and the marketing team has managed to devote their every content on all platforms to be consistent, synchronous, and unified This has played an important role in polishing the brand and creating a professional impression on the audience The branding strategy clearly aligned with the company’s vision and goals The brand now shows a much more polished, professional, and synchronous image With details focusing on the brand’s core values such as games, characters, fun, the management board has achieved their ultimate goal of transferring their vision through the brand This can also be shown through how this branding strategy has supported the company to communicate with their audience successfully 2.3.3 Limitations and possible causes The foremost limitation of this branding strategy was timing Although the company has been established for almost 11 years and has 10 years of experience in mobile gaming, not until the year 2021 did the management board of PTT Solution., JSC realize the significance of investing in branding This made the company late to the market and miss out on many great opportunities and capacity when the market was not so ‘crowded’ As a result, if the company expects to boost their branding, that process requires a great amount of work and effort Another limitation that could be seen is the fact that the reach of the audience for the company’s social platforms fluctuates drastically due to the difficulty in 28 sustaining quality content Regardless of how varied and systematic the content has been planned, it has been hard to engage the audience with the content they might not feel entertained with Figure 3.1: PTT Solution., JSC’s Facebook page reach from Jun 3, 2021 to Jun 27, 2021 (Source: Insights, Facebook Business Suite) The last limitation of this branding strategy is how it cannot be evaluated with adequate data yet This makes the results of the branding strategy theoretically positive, but not yet statistically These limitations are considered to stem from two main causes In the first place, mobile gaming is undeniably an endemic product In a year, PTT Solution., JSC only releases to products at most since one mobile game requires at least months of development and the scale of the company is still small This leads to a lacking of content ideas and ways to execute and evaluate the branding strategy statistically in terms of sales and revenue In the second place, PTT Solution., JSC’s marketing department has only been established for nearly years and the department is still learning to optimize all the resources available Besides, running ad campaigns still holds a reasonably more essential part in the company releasing products, which may cause the resources to be allocated differently 29 CHAPTER RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE THE CURRENT BRANDING STRATEGY AT PTT SOLUTION., JSC 3.1 Development orientation of PTT Solution., JSC in terms of branding activities The company wants to invest in branding by gradually synchronizing all related aspects, from internal to external In the short term, after the quarantine ends, the management board will proceed with the printing of all brand identities stationary and use them at the office, as well as send them as gifts to all the employees This may help the employees to take pride in their brand and help the company to acquire positive working spirits In the long term, PTT Solution., JSC will continuously recruit more talented marketers to help them boost up the branding strategy and keep it up with the trends in the market Furthermore, consulting with experts is also expected since they are the ones who have skills and experiences with many successful projects, and they can advise the management board on how their current branding strategy can be bettered The company is ambitious about becoming a game studio and release game titles on their own in 2023, therefore, building a strong and sustainable brand is essential 3.2 Recommendations to enhance the performance of branding strategy at PTT Solution., JSC After the four phases of getting the branding strategy right and aligned with its business objectives and developing all the tools needed to communicate the brand, there is the phase of strengthening an updated brand For PTT Solution., JSC, this phase needs special care since it decides whether the brand can step up in the market or not a Keep the focus on branding consistency The most important thing when it comes to branding is to stay consistent PTT Solution., JSC has done this very well and the company needs to keep their branding 30 this way All the execution later on that belongs to branding needs to be consistent and aligned with the company’s vision b Using online platforms reasonably to engage audience Facebook is not the only platform that helps to attract audience For a company that develops such an endemic product, platforms that can express insightful content, not necessarily product-related ones, are preferable The company may want to consider using their website to experience a new approach A new section of ‘Blogs’ may be added to the website, and this section will allow the game developers to share their thoughts on the current trends or some controversial topics in the mobile gaming industry This method can help the brand to gain traffic from search engines and eventually create a community with their audience c Improve and design a set of graphics design and optimize it Even though the graphics used in posts updated by PTT Solution., JSC achieve the goals of meaning and consistency, I personally think they can be more upgraded With in-house game art designers, the marketing team can ask for support to develop a set of high quality, widely applicable, and easy-to-use graphics such as photo frames, characters, icons, overlays, These details show how thorough the company is implementing their branding strategy and they can be used in many ways, not solely on social platforms PTT Solution., JSC may take constructing some documents with graphic design such as Job Description, Company Profile, Product Introduction, into consideration 31 CONCLUSION Overall, regardless of how important branding stands in marketing generally or in mobile gaming particularly, the execution of a successful and long-lasting strategy is never easy to acquire PTT Solution., JSC realized the needs to upgrade their branding game but they were a little bit late and still has a long time to learn, adjust and develop This report has mainly solved three issues Firstly, it illustrates all theoretical principles related to branding, including definitions, key components, impacts, and building process Secondly, the report analyzes and studies the branding strategy being executed at PTT Solution., JSC by pointing out its origins, execution plan, initial achievements and its benefits/limitations Last but not least, in accordance with the advantages and disadvantages stated in the second chapter, the report evaluates and proposes some solutions that the company might want to take into consideration to enhance the performance of their branding strategy Hopefully, this report can help those who are in need of materials for branding marketing or business branding for SME In the process of carrying out the report, due to limited knowledge, there must have been some unavoidable mistakes Therefore, I look forward to learning and listening to recommendations and comments from my instructor as well as PTT Solution., JSC for a more comprehensive completion 32 REFERENCES 2020, Bức tranh toàn cảnh thị trường game mobile Việt Nam, https://blog.tomorrowmarketers.org/ [Accessed 10/08/2021] 2021, Insights, https://business.facebook.com/ [Accessed 15/08/2021] Enin, Aleksandr, 2018, How you evaluate a mobile game’s profit potential?, https://www.gamesindustry.biz/ [Accessed 16/08/2021] Picardal, Ryan, 2018, What Does Branding Mean?, https://powerdigitalmarketing.com/ [Accessed 10/08/2021] Talley, Christina, 2020, Top Mobile Games Marketing Strategies of 2021, https://appsamurai.com [Access 07/08/2021] Vũ Agency, Branding gì? Branding khơng chiến lược xây dựng thương hiệu, https://vudigital.co/ [Accessed 12/08/2021] ... Department, PTT Solution. , JSC) 2.2 Analysis of branding strategy at PTT Solution. , JSC 2.2.1 Overview of branding strategy at PTT Solution. , JSC a Key takeaways: - Issues: PTT Solution. , JSC used to... information of PTT Solution. , JSC Table 1.1: General Information of PTT Solution. , JSC General Information Trading Name Logo PHU TRUONG TRANG SOLUTION JOINT STOCK COMPANY Abbreviation: PTT SOLUTION. ,... of branding strategy at PTT Solution. , JSC 12 2.2.1 Overview of branding strategy at PTT Solution. , JSC 12 2.2.2 Achievements in the first three-month period 16 2.3 An evaluation of