Brand building process for kim ke rice

HCMC UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION GRADUATION PAPER TOPIC: II BRAND-BUILDING PROCESS FOR KIM KE RICE Student's name: Nguy~n Thuy Linh Class: KDOl- 03 AdVisor: Mr Ngo Kiem Hie'u, MBA r NGO~1 Q~ ~~~ o * NGV:~ _ "'1 THU~Vi~N J\; ~UFLr ~6CH\~/ JULY 200S t ~ '*/ ACKNOWLEGDEMENT Writing this study was a harder task than I had ever imagined it would be There are many people who have made their valuable contribution to my study I would like to show my deep gratitude to my family for their spiritual as well as material supports to me, without which I would not be able to complete my courses as well as this research paper I would like to express my thanks to the Board of Directors of Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology, Dean of International Department Business Administration with necessary guidance and arrangement who have facilitated for my graduation me paper I also would like to send my thanks to all professors who have taught me high valued knowledge during my years of study Most of all, I am grateful to Mr Ngo Kiem Hieu, my advisor, who has heartedly guided and provided me with worthy guidance and corrections I am also thankful to Minh Cat Company and TCM Company for supplying me with useful information and experience supporting my study Finally, I highly appreciate the kind encouragement and support which I have received from my friends of classes KDOI-Ol and KDOI-03 '.' • ., ADVISOR'S ASSESSMENT It must be a common awareness of brand and branding to everyone who, for whichever reason and position, is concerned about business, For businesses, especially the local ones, branding is not only a voluntary option and act, but it has become almost a must Yet, what could be currently witnessed business practice, especially in the agricultural in our produce manufacturing and trade, should be a worrying experience, In this effect, development the writer has selected the topic of branding and brand process in a company in the rice retailing industry This choice should be of a clear practicality from the first place Her work should therefore benefit the general readership which, as she puts it in her thesis, involves those who are interested hopefully in this subject matter, students of this field of study, and the farmers complicated In dealing with the topic, she could link various theoretical issues with many other realistic practices through the case company's brand strategy and formulation and implementation process The topic of branding itself as well as the whole process of building and developing the brand equity is complicated and challenging Her work is therefore quite impressive There should be more reasons for such impressiveness readers of this thesis could experience and appreciation The thesis firstly proves the to be informative and holistic in some sense She could a good job in collecting and sorting out relevant data and information, and then laying the information out with illustrations and analysis Much time and effort was put in collecting the • information systematically as, while relevant recorded and documented data and information had been in the company, the accessibility to 11 such information • was highly restricted for the sake of confidentiality writer could clearly show her competence in categorizing The and analyzing the information she could squeeze from numerous talks with the people and key personnel, and extract and aggregate from the documents filed in the case company The analysis of the chosen brand with all the brand elements is specially interesting, which further shows her analytical skill on the other hand, and her good background on branding( with literature review) on the other Her findings and comments, as well as recommendations, then, could picture the whole branding process and also the cross-functional achieving the branding objectives and gain the credit from the relevant background performance towards aims Finally, the writer could never achieve of academic academically characterized knowledge and skills readers her without a good Language is generally with rather satisfactory maturity which could really help with describing and criticizing the deliberate issues However, as a rule, some limitations could be found in this thesis Firstly, as • prevIous mentioned, financial performance, the accessibility to information branding evaluation which should result in the corresponding (company and adjustment, strategy, etc) is limited, limitation to the writer's position in treating her thesis even more thoroughly Another weak point found in this thesis should lie in assessment of the company's achievement rooted from their branding effort Such achievement should have been logically identified, analyzed, and measured not only qualitatively but ne.cessarily quantitatively is worth being mentioned accessibility (It at this point that it is partly beyond the writer's and control) Still another weak point could be traced in the conclusion of the thesis The conclusive points seem to be self-emerged and fast logicality Again, this should be expected hard- to be logical with such limitation in the premise and framework of a thesis of this kind III A brief word about the writer's • attitudinal behavior would not lessen the importance of it but highlight the mentor's appreciation to her work behavior, which evidently positive no matter what standard should it be referred to The general remark is that it is a good thesis Advisor, Ngo Kiem Hieu, MBA iv ABSTRACT • Brands are among a company's today realize that capitalizing most valuable assets and smart companies on their brand is important They know that brands are more than just products and services and also what the company does, what the company is, and why the company exists Therefore, branding is an indispensable Nowadays, activity branding is a buzzing topic to Vietnamese enterprises However, there are few brands which could be perceived as famous ones Kim Ke is the first brand of rice and it may be considered as a good example of brand- building in Vietnam The purpose of this study is to analyze brand-building process for Kim Ke rice The process includes five steps First, the company must some research and analyze markets, consumer needs and perceptions From that, they clarify their brand strategy Afterwards, they design the brand Next, they develop the brand with marketing mix Finally, they introduce the product and brand into the market This study also includes weaknesses, the writer's and recommendations evaluations of brand strengths and to build an eve.il stronger Kim Ke brand v CONTENTS Acknow ledgement » : Advisor's assessment Abstract ii ; v Contents vi Tables and Figures ix INTR D U CTI N ~~ : 1- Research Paper Objectives 2- Scope of The Research 3- Research Method 4- Contents CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 GENERAL CONCEPTS OF BRAND 1.1.1 Some Definitions of Brand 1.1.2 Some Parts of Brand 1.1.2.1 Brand name 1.1.2.2 Brandmarks 1.1.2.3 Tagline :.- 1.1.2.4 Trademark 1.2 B RAND IN G ~ 11 1.1.3.1 Definition 1.1.3.2 The benefits of brand equity 10 1.1.3 Brand Equity " i 11 : 12 13 1.2.1 Definition 13 1.2.2 The Benefits of Branding 14 1.2.3 Branding Imperatives 14 1.2.4 Brand Strategy 15 VI ," • • 1.2.4.1 Who develops brand strategy? 15 1.2.4.2 Brand positioning 16 1.2.4.3 Brand identity 17 1.2.5 Brand Communication Strategy 17 1.3 ACTUAL SITUATION OF BRAND-BUILDING IN VIET NAM 19 1.3.1 Awareness of Brand-Building 19 1.3.2 Investment into Brand-Building 20 1.3.3 Difficulties in Brand-Building 21 CHAPTER 2: AN OVERVIEW OF MINH CAT COMPANY AND ITS BRAND-BUILDING PROCESS FOR KIM KE RICE 23 2.1 AN OVERVIEW OF MINH CAT COMPANy 25 2.1.1 History of Establishment 25 2.1.2 General Introduction 26 2.1.3 Symbol of Minh Cat Company 26 2.1.4 SWOT analysis 27 2.1.5 Company Objectives 28 2.1.6 Culture of Minh Cat Company 28 2.1.7 Guideline to Minh Cat's employees 29 2.2 PREPARATION FOR THE PROCESS 31 2.2.1 Choosing A Consultancy Firm 31 2.2.2 Project Management 31 2.3 BRAND-BUILDING PROCESS FOR KIM KE RICE 2.3.1 Analysis and Research 32 32 2.3.1.1 Market analysis , 32 2.3.1.2 Competitor analysis 32 2.3.1.3 Consumer research 33 2.3.2 Brand Strategy 2.3.2.1 Brand positioning ~ ~ 36 36 Vll • 2.3.2.2 Brand identity 37 2.3.2.3 Naming strategy 38 2.3.3 Brand Design •• , 39 2.3.3.1 Typeface 39 2.3.3.2 Logo 40 2.3.3.3 Tagline : 41 2.3.3.4 Trademark 41 2.3.4 Brand-Building with Marketing Mix 42 2.3.4.1 Product 42 2.3.4.2 Price 42 2.3.4.3 Distribution channels 43 2.3.4.4 Strategic communications 43 2.3.5 Commercialization : 51 2.3.5.1 Domestic market 51 2.3.5.2 Export markets : 52 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 3.1 RE SULTS 53 55 3.1.1 The Strengths : 56 3.1.2 The Weaknesses 62 3.2 RECOMMENDATIONS TO BUILD A STRONG BRAND FOR KIM KE RI CE " ".""."""""" """ ,,.,, ,, ,," ,," " " ,," "" """ "." ,, ,," "" 63 3.2.1 To The Company 63 3.2.2 To The Government 66 C ON CL USI N 68 A P PEND IX """ ,,,,"" ".,,"""""""""" " "" "" " "" ,," "" "" """ """" "" """"""""""""" """"""" ,,,, ,,,, R E FE RE N C E S • • 75 viii TABLES AND FIGURES • , Table 1-1: The world's ten most valuable brand in 2004 (Interbrand) 13 Table 1-2: Vietnamese 20 enterprises' understanding of brand Table 1-3: Difficulties in brand-building 22 Table 2-1: Price ;.'~ Figure 1-1: Diagram concept by Joel Katz, Toek Katz Design Associates Figure 1-2: Brand Touchpoints 18 Figure 2-1: The proposal for the foundation of Minh Clt Company 25 Figure 2-2: Organizational 27 chart Figure 2-3: Age segmentation 34 Figure 2-4: Average monthly household income 34 Figure 2-5: Important things to me 35 , Figure 2-6: The naming process 38 Figure 2-7: Brand name 40 Figure 2-8: Logo • 43 : 41 Figure 2-9: Tagline 41 Figure 2-10: Products 42 Figure 2-11: Package ; 44 Figure 2-12: Uniform 45 Figure 2-13: Introduction Card 45 Figure 2-14: Gift 46 Figure 2-15 : Friendly Customer Card ; 46 Figure 2-16: Point of purchase display 47 Figure 2-17: Website 48 Figure 2-18: Letterhead 49 Figure 2-19: Brochure ; 50 Figure 2-20: Advertising on newspaper (Tuoi Tre, PhuNti, Tiep Thi) 51 Figure 2-21 : News on HTV channel 51 Figure 3-1: Average sales volume per month 55 ix Brand-Building Process For Kim Ke Rice • Chapter and Japan, the story of Ben Tre coconut, or Vietnam's Phu Quoc fish sauce In October 2000 Rice Field trademark with Intelligence competent Protection Company (America) organizations Organization registered in America (WIPO) Trung and This made Nguyen with Trung World Nguyen Company in danger of loosing trademark in America In 2002, Duy Loi private enterprise received a recommendation letter sent by a lawyer in Japan asking it not to produce and sell fold hammock products in Vietnam and other countries in the world Ben Tre coconut enterprise had to face the violation of trademark in China It is still necessary sauce The appellation to repeat the case of Vietnam's Phu Quoc fish of origin of this famous fish sauce was previously seized by foreign producers and was not regained by Vietnam until recently However, all of them won their case because their brand names are widely known both abroad and domestically and their trademarks are registered for protection in Vietnam With above examples, • registering the trademark "Kim Ke" from the very beginning is the right act Trademark not only helps the consumers to recognize the trademark holder's company the exclusive products quickly and efficiently right to use the trademark but also gives the and greater chances of compensation in the case of violation • Keeping the brand promise Many enterprises have been successful In building strong brands thanks to product quality Vitek- VTB always considers product quality the top of all priorities Unilever Bestfoods also states that product quality determines not only the influence of a brand on the consumer but also the existence of that trademark Thai Tuan can stand firm only when its product quality is worthwhile With the above Vietnamese assessments on the role of product quality from some companies, it is not surprisingly when brand promise of Minh Cat 60 Brand-Building Process For Kim Ke Rice • Chapter Company is to provide the consumer with stable and high quality product This is a proof that they want to differentiate the product with competitors who sell unstable quality rice The company always selects the best kind of rice to provide the consumers and invested vigorous into technology to offer the product that meets technical and hygiene standard • Building strategic communications methodically The coherence of communications brochure, uniform, letterhead across various media - from packaging, to advertising campaign sends strong signal to the customer about the brand and the company This is a combination investigation, strategic thinking design excellence and management of skills All of them were designed carefully based on some criteria and clear objectives They also reflect professionalism and increase the company's prestige and credibility • Branding on Internet As the world moves rapidly into the digital age, companies have to adapt to new ways of doing business, such as marketing electronic media Sophisticated new marketing channels, on the Internet infocommunications technologies and while some Vietnamese and other drive these companies happily adjusting to it, others are choosing to ignore it Minh Cat Company took advantages of new media channels by building its website The advantage of the Website is speed of information The consumers can access the information information, promotion, they require for example product and corporate branches, etc They can place an order on the websites, which provides the company a new method of selling the product The website also helps deliver brand messages, build brand awareness and generate corporate image All customers have to is to click and buy The , company can reach huge numbers of potential consumers easily • Supportive services 61 Brand-Building Process For Kim Ke Rice • Chapter Services are intangible Nowadays, product marketers try to add intangibles to their tangible offer For a brand, services live up the brand personality and positioning Rice stalls and rice shops in the market also realized the importance of services that helped to add values for rice Therefore, they applied this method into selling rice Minh Cat Company also provides the consumers with supporting services such as delivery and flexible method of ordering Besides, the motto of the company is to provide the customers with perfect services Services provided by the company always reflect professionalism The employees are always friendly and close to the customers • Setting up a system to monitor database of the customers Rice plays an important role in Vietnamese rice frequently, immediately meals The consumer usually buys and with a minimum of comparison and buying effort Therefore, keeping brand-customer relationships is very important The customer database is controlled by using codes, customer card and computer system 3.1.2 The weaknesses • Unclear origin of rice Minh Cat Company ensures the quality of product but they don't mention the origin of the product or the method of production to increase the reliability for nce • Some employees are only responsible for delivering but not know the brand well Employees are the face of the brand because they meet, greet and assist the customer in different , ways Every employee has to understand the brand, embrace the brand and believe in brand The writer tried asking to deliver at home and ask the employee of Minh Cat Company some questions but he couldn't answer Maybe, he didn't know the brand well 62 Brand-Building Process For Kim Ke Rice • Chapter Narrow distribution network There are distribution channels the company is focusing They sell door-todoor and through its own rice shops or sell to the wholesalers (mainly supermarkets) They expanded to other provinces and retailers However, they focus on the market in Ho Chi Minh City • Few advertising Advertising programs campaign was set up and communication tools were used to introduce the brand Now, the main media channel is only newspapers • Not pay much attention to the international market They found the gap in the domestic market and tried to fiII it However, they didn't prepare carefully to enter the foreign market Their American partners satisfied about packaging, appearance •• of the product but they showed that its quality is not as good as Thai rice Breaking into foreign markets is still objectives and opportunities of the company 3.2 RECOMMENDATIONS ' TO BUILD A STRONG BRAND FOR KIM KE RICE 3.2.1 To the company • Long-term perspective This leads onto the important factor in brand-building: the need to invest in the brand over the long-term Building customer awareness, communicating the brand's message and creating customer loyalty takes time Almost Vietnamese short-term concerns expenses and accomplished .- enterprises view overlook long-term brand building efforts for They often consider the budget of brand building as brand In brand-driven development as another "project" companies, brand development to be is more than a project - it's a way of doing business The company embodies brand values in its approach to business, from senior executives to front - line employees In 63 Brand-Building Process For Kim Ke Rice Chapter this way, a brand is something that is built, nurtured and grown over time lived by the company, its customers each and every day • Branding from the inside out Employees are key to the brand's success especially door-to-door selling When the employees are working with customers, they are doing more than the company's business They are building and managing relationships Everything they to impact customer relationship impacts how the company is perceived Depending on how they act, react and present themselves, the staff contribute 50% - 90% of what the brand stands for in the customer's mind The staff should be trained so that each staff member becomes a "keeper of the brand" They should learn how to approach to customers, what language to us and how to create a productive • and meaningful dialogue They should learn how to bring the customers closer to the brand The company should make sure that the staff understand the brand, embrace the brand and believe in the brand, and encourage and take notice of any suggestions they may make to improve the delivery of the brand message • Set and meet expectations The company should focus on the customer's needs and wants and try to satisfy their expectations answered, From the company's letterhead to the way the phone is the customers should always feel that the company is providing them with exactly what the brand promise Moreover, monitor the customer's the company should response to the brand regularly and continually review how the brand values are communicated to them by getting regular feedback from friendly customers and find out if what the business is doing for them matches the expectation lessons about the brand the brand creates The company can learn useful through honest criticism by asking dissatisfied customers or former customers • Focus on the improvement of the processing technology 64 Brand-Building Process For Kim Ke Rice Chapter Quality is a vital ingredient of a good brand Thanks to an improvement in processing IS technologies, the company can assure that the quality of rice always best, which makes its product more competitive in the market • Expand the distribution network At present, the company chiefly distributes its product available in Ho Chi Minh City and some neighbors Besides the customers, the company should research distributors to find out what they expect (credit, time of delivery, promotion) and how to make the cooperation between the company and the distributors better Now, other important channel members are restaurant and hotel system The restaurants and hotels where there are many people who come to enjoy delicious meals are good places the company can publicize the product • Sponsorships Sponsorships have become very popular because they can be targeted easily at desirable market segments, sponsorship popular The key points to remember very of events being the most are to choose events that match the brand's personality and to stay with the event or events choose For example, the company can sponsor the rice cooking contests or gastronomical festivals Sponsoring radio and television programs such as cooking programs can build brand loyalty among target audiences that are demographically • Develop trademark in domestic market and overseas markets When trademark overseas law, market countries, is successful in domestic market, it is easier to break into market However, the business needs to get information International , predictable demand and other factors law plays a major in protecting the company doesn't need to establish intellectual to register proper about the strategy property In some trademark but in other countries, the company must register to protect trademark When breaking into the foreign market, the company should choose and manage strategic partners 65 Brand-Building Process For Kim Ke Rice carefully Chapter The company should also some research before entering new markets, on both competitors and consumers and adapt to local cultures and preferences where necessary Besides, to occupy the export market, the company must meets some criteria such as high quality product (nutrition, safety hygiene, uniform size, natural characteristics, etc.), package (language, shape), time of delivery, price (more competitive than Thai rice), prestige • Cooperation among farmers, scientists, enterprises and agriculture bank Credit programs don't cooperate with programs of encouraging agricultural expansion The officials of the program of encouraging agricultural expansion advise the farmer to something but they don't have money to help the farmers to that Lending money of agricultural bank is not enough Moreover, consumption is an important factor the farmers must consider The farmers don't take an initiative , Cooperation between in setting price and the place of buying the farmers and enterprises is mutually beneficial because the farmers don't have to find the buyers and the enterprise can assure " the input The company can cooperate with the farmers to establish specialized rice farming areas and build silos near the field to maintain and keep natural characteristics of paddy Besides, the company should cooperate with scientists to research new breeds to improve the quality of rice and meet the consumers' needs and wants Therefore cooperation between farmers, scientists, enterprises, and agricultural bank make rural areas develop and the farmers get rich 3.2.2 To the government The government should support the enterprises and farmers by: • , creating a favorable legal environment for farmers to increase production and for enterprises to build strong brands for farm products • helping them with timely consultancy on registration trademarks 66 Brand-Building Process For Kim Ke Rice • popularizing and increasing the awareness Chapter of the importance strong brands for agricultural products and Vietnamese • of building goods encouraging the consumers to buy goods" Made in Vietnam" • building a famous national brand to increase awareness for Vietnamese goods • having serious measurement • establishing a transparent with fake or "me-too" products and valid law system to protect Vietnamese trademarks ' • c • 67 and time, but doing so can pose substantial risks and impede long-term benefits The process when done right, can achieve remarkable results To build a brand, first the company must some research and analyze markets, competitors, consumers to seek new insights and clarify segments that may provide the greatest opportunities for a company in the future From that, the company can obtain a competitive advantage over the existing products A brand must be built on the consumer's needs and wants, perceptions, values and lifestyle A brand must have its own personality that is unique and fits the consumer's personality A brand must also somehow make a promise encompassing an emotional value that customer's desire If the brand promise is of value to the customers, and if the company keeps its promise consistently over time, the customers will form a relationship identity system is very with the brand Besides, setting up brand important Brand identity supports, expresses, communicates, synthesizes, and visualizes the brand Brand name, logo, tagline and trademark are the most visible elements of the brand Specialist, consultant and designers must examine, test tens of new ideas to choose good brand name, unique and impressive logo, tag line that fits brand personality and insure that they are protected and distinguish from other competitors The company also needs to set up marketing strategy and all communications materials to present the brand to public They develop the product, set pricing strategy, specify distribution channels and then design promotional program All applications from packaging, letterhead, uniform, website to advertising campaign increase brand awareness It is undeniable t • development that a strong brand plays an important role in the company's Nowadays, Vietnamese agricultural products lack strong brands Building a strong brand cannot be done overnight instead it is a long involved 69 process • Both the Vietnamese determined government to build up Vietnamese and companies themselves are brands, thus gaining a strong foothold in local and overseas markets The government needs to establish laws, policies to help firms because the government has played an important role in the protection of trademark .• r • 70 Appendix Appendix 1: Certificate of trademark registration GIAY CHUNG NH~N BANG KY NHAN HI~U HANG HoA 56:60056 Chu ~ia.ychling nh~n: C6~G TY T:"llH • • S \N XUAT -TIILtJZ"G ~iAI-DiCH vu ~HI\:H C.\T S6 dun: (~ll:-:H CAT CO., LTD)(V:-:) 20/63A dubng Th.:p ~la; phubng 12 qu~n TJn Binh lhilnh ph6 He Chi Minh 4.2003-1().l28 Ngay nlip dun: 12.11.2003 Cfp lhen Quycl dinh 56: A7S4/QD-DK ngay: 24.01.2005 Co hi~u I,!c lit cJp dcrn h~t 10 nam tinh til nQp dan (co th~ gia h with :,1) ~),p."Ht tlHlln",'c:or III US$l hjlll.m:' l'h;rng ;,;•.•it.! = 73 References •• • Books Wheeler, Alina Designing Brand Identity 1st ed Canada: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2003 A.Aaker, David Managing Brand Equity 1st ed New York: A Division of Macmillan, Inc., 1991 A.Aaker, David Building Strong Brands 1st cd New York: A Division of Simon & Schuster Inc., 1996 L Bovee, Courtland & Michael T Houston & John V Thill Marketing 2nd cd USA: 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