Appealing cultural factors for television advertising on fmcg in hanoi

Acknowledgment For the completion of this dissertation, I would like to express my special appreciation to my Supervisor, Professor Vu Minh Duc (P.H.D) who provided me valuable comments and guild me how to apply all theory into real business activities My sincerely thanks is also extended to my manager Ms Nguyen Huong Quynh as Associate Director of Nielsen Company Vietnam who offers me precious advices for my research paper as well as the research survey methods applied hợ p I would like to thank to all lecturers in CFVG for the past two years for knowledge, ng skills gained in MBA program tổ Especially, my thanks are also given to my family, friends, my boss, co-workers p and class members of 17 Intake who support me during the hard time of research tậ study They are really strong motivation which has inspired me to fulfil my Bá o cá o th ực missions EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Vietnam has undergone major development over the past decade with significant increase in production and consumption It has become very lucrative markets especially for the retail industry in general and FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) in particular In order to compete in the potential market, it is required to make out a sound marketingư strategy to build a strong brand Television advertising has been chosen as the very effective mean to promote and strengthen product’s image in the customer’s mind The more economic is developed, the more sophisticated the demand of consumer is Vietnamese customers are considered as very potential ones but they have certain requirements for the advertising which are exposed to them every day tổ ng hợ p With the booming of television advertising for the past decades, the customers have more choices for the products Under the data by TNS Gallup Media, everyday people are exposed to around 3,000 advertising messages on average With the overloaded advertisings, consumers are harder to please Advertising is not merely a mean of communication, a tool of marketing mix, but it is an art which requires the different elements, especially cultural element In the research paper, the author focuses on cultural factors which are considered the hard barrier to win the customers’ preference However, it is not easy for the advertiser, especially for the international firm to have successful advertising which takes into account of Vietnamese cultural elements Bá o cá o th ực tậ p As the research scope is limited within Hanoi, the author is ambitious to analize the appealing cultural factors for Hanoians in specific FMCG products With the research paper: “Appealing cultural factors for television advertising on FMCG in Hanoi”, the author expects it can analyze all the factors especially cultural ones to appeal customers in television In order to give insights on the importance of those factors as well as the effects on their consumer behaviors, the author conduct the survey for 150 questionnaires (92 out of those are valid) to understand what the audience/consumer think about the cultural factors appealing to them Futhermore, the author analyzes the cases of both successful and unsuccessful advertisings in Vietnam to bring the important findings for the report With the utmost objective of the research paper, the author shall provide recommendations for advertisers as well as the companies/enterprises to evaluate successful television advertising CHAPTER I: RESEARCH BACKGROUND 1.1 Research Problems Vietnam economy has experienced rapid development for the last two decade Especially, after being official member of WTO, Vietnam has been known as fast emerging economy in Asia Since then, Vietnam has made progressive integration into the global economy With the total population of around 86 million people ranking 3rd in ASIAN countries and 13rd in the world (General Population and housing survey, 2009), Vietnam has about 60.6 million consumers under TNS World-Panel This number is anticipated to increase up to 70 million by 2018 It is not exaggerating to affirm that Vietnam is a promising and lucrative retail investment market with huge number of consumers Even undergone hard time in economic crisis in 2009, Vietnam retail market is still an attractive destination not only for domestic enterprises but also international/global one ng hợ p Though being promising market, Vietnam is not easy market for international/global companies to dominate As our living conditions have been improved incredibly especially in Hanoi and Hochiminh city, the consumers are more and more sophisticated and demanding Amid this fierce competition, all enterprises acknowledge that if they not have wise marketing plan, they shall be leg behind in this potential market Many international/global companies in their “first landing” and “go native” stage believe that advertising shall be dangerous weapon in their marketing plan to win customers rapid developing markets such as Hanoi and Hochiminh city Bá o cá o th ực tậ p tổ They have aggressively launched advertising programs in Vietnam with huge budget in order to lure more customers Obviously, annually those companies often spend huge amount on TV advertisements with an aim to attracting new triers and maintaining the loyalty of their customers, and strengthen their brand image in Vietnam However, whether those advertisings can meet the expected objectives set my marketers is questionable In order to save the cost, some international companies have launched regional advertising video Many of adverts have showed high effectiveness in some other countries in the region However, when launching the same advertising in Vietnam, it copes with barriers which are traditional Vietnamese customs and practices Mr Sam, director of Bates advertising company said: “Before I not understand clearly about Vietnamese culture When working in Vietnam, especially in this creative sector, I need to study thoroughly your country’s customs and practices to initiate ideas appropriate with Vietnamese culture” It does not mention only the different traits by countries, but it also exist different segmentations for localities within Vietnam Especially, there have been many differences between Hanoians and Hochiminh city and Hanoians are well-known to be the hard to please customers In fact, not all advertising campaigns work well as desired by marketers Lessons from international big guys so far show that not all their advertising campaigns work well and they even worsen their brand image In order to penetrate successfully into this lucrative market, it is required for international firms/enterprises to understand Vietnamese consumers’ traits and to adapt into its typical market’s features “Thinking globally, acting locally” is famous slogan by HSBC seems to be also appropriate for other foreign enterprises who want to be successful in Vietnam market So, how to utilize factors contributing to the success and effectiveness of a TV advertising campaigns has been great concern of marketers in international companies operating in Hanoi in particular and Vietnam in general This concerns by international/global companies has inspired me to pursue my research on “cultural factors in TV advertising campaigns on FMCG for Hanoians” for the final dissertation 1.2 Research Objectives As mentioned above, in order to solve the concerns by international marketers in Hanoi market in particular and Vietnam market in general, my dissertation shall analyze comprehensive factors contributing to the most effective advertising Due to limit time, the research paper cannot go thoroughly all aspects of this problem but focus more on cultural factors which are considered to be very important especially in Hanoi market My ambition does not constrain to understand which cultural factors to be taken into consideration for TV advertising campaigns but also to investigate Hanoian consumers’ attitude towards those and to develop best advertising campaign Therefore, the dissertation set out all objectives clarified as bellow:  WHAT? Clarify which cultural factors need to be taken into consideration for TV advertising on FMCGs It is very important to define cultural factors in advertising as they shall be the basis for strategy of international marketers for their decision making in Hanoi market hợ p  WHY? Assess the importance of these factors in the success of a TV advertising campaign Through insightful analysis, the author shall help evaluate their effectiveness of cultural factors p tổ ng  HOW? Give a guide on how to customize TV advertising effectively in Hanoi market The author shall provide recommendations on how to build a successful TV advertising campaign as the ultimate objective of the research for the advertising companies as well as the companies/enterprises th ực tậ I expect that by answering those three questions “WHAT”, “WHY”, and “HOW” by the end of the research, it somehow can help international/global companies acknowledge important issues to tailor TV advertising campaign in Hanoi in particular and in Vietnam in general 1.3 Research Methodology Qualitative methods: focus groups (10 peoples) o  cá o In the research paper, qualitative, quantitative and observation methods are applied Bá - Target Interviewees: age ranging from to 60, include female and male, different job, and low, medium and high income …) - Objectives of focus group discussions: how and why cultural factors in those advertising shall affect to their perception, emotion, impression on the brand - Implementation of discussions The author will show at least different adverts for FMCG products from same company (Coca Cola, KFC, Nest Café,…) which one advertisement is shown in their home countries and one is in VN All these TV adverts shall be collected by authors During those discussions, we shall answer these following questions: Do they often watching TV Advertising?How often? (minute/day) Do they like those adverts? Which one they prefer, adverts in home countries or adverts in VN? (Please be noted that they are same company adverts) How they think about these adverts? Why they like/don’t like these advert? Shall their impression on TV adverts affect their shopping decision? buy or not buy? Do they think that International/global manufactures shall take into consideration of Vietnamese cultures in their adverts?  Quantitative method: Distributed to 150 respondents - Target interview: age ranging from 20 to 56, include female and male, different job, and low, medium and high income …) tổ ng hợ p - Questionnaires shall be prepared basing on the ideas suggested from qualitative methods with aim to qualifying whether their comments/ideas represent for the majority or not The questionnaires shall include 13 questions to analyze which cultural factor are the most important in adverts The questionnaire are designed to capture all the thought/comments of the customer on the factors appealing to the advertising The survey was intended for 150 respondents, and the author received 92 valid answers out of 150 o cá Observation method: around 70 television advertising in Vietnam and other countries - The author has selected around 70 TVC advertising in Vietnam and other countries in different channels During the observation, the author analyzes the elements which contribute to the success as well as failure of the advertising 1.4 Data sources Bá  o th ực tậ p - Qualitative method shall be conducted firstly because it is necessary to define exactly their interviewee’s answers to these questions: “what factors”, “why?” and “how” The focus group including 6-8 people from backgrounds shall provide the author different points of views on TV advertising programs Exploring interviewees from diversified aspects would be important step to bring the author overall picture on what’s on their mind and to orient the research questionnaire survey In order to provide insightful analysis, I utilize two kinds of data resource including secondary and primary data Primary sources of information I collected from available information in reference books, reports by AC Nielsen as well as articles in newspaper and internet Besides, I use secondary sources collected from the questionnaire survey and hearing survey for the findings In additional, I have collected and observed hundred advertisements in different TV channels especially VTV3, VTV1, VTC and other cable channels This source of information is valuable and useful for me to give recommendations to build effective advertising campaign in Vietnam 1.5 Research scope and limitation The research scope for the survey is restrained in Hanoi where consumers are well- known to be very hard to please as they have stricter requirements than Saigonese Therefore, the survey result shall not present the ideas/opinions for the whole Vietnamese Thus, the remarks and insights shall be more suitable for the Hanoi context but not Vietnam nationwide Especially, the FMCG products are different from other products as they have short life cycle, so the recommendations shall be not cover all types of products Due to the limit of time and budget, I have not deeply covered all the cultural factors in advertising in Vietnam through the questionnaire survey, so there might have some missing points of analysis Futhermore, the sample of the survey deem not sufficient enough to present the overall information because I don’t have much time to collecting more questionnaires 1.6 Thesis’s Structure Chapter 1: Introduction hợ p This chapter shows the research problem research objectives and the research design with the explanation about the scope and limitation of the thesis ng Chapter 2: Theoretical background th Chapter 3: Research findings ực tậ p tổ In this chapter, the author recalls relevant theories on advertising, its dimensions and basic objectives In addition, the author reviews the definition of culture and its cultural elements, and cross culture consumer behavior Through the theories on advertising and culture, the author studies the linkage between advertising and consumer behavior as well as the corelation between the culture and advertising Based on that, the author covers the basic and main points to answer the question how culture and advertising work to appeal the consumer’s behavior and trigger their purchasing Bá o cá o This part of the thesis presents the research findings including the cultural factors in Vietnamese advertising With comprehensive information collected from the questionnaire survey as secondary data as well as studies, report by research market companies such as Nielsen Company and TNS Media Vietnam, the author bring the overall picture on the television advertising development in Vietnam as well as the typical features of Hanoians customers This chapter also provides the important insights analyzed from over 25 advertisers broadcasted in Vietnam Through case analysis, the author summarizes what are the key points to be taken into consideration to develop a successful advertising of FMCG in Hanoi The research findings come to end with evaluation of those cultural factor appealing consumers Chapter 4: Recommendations Based on the research finding, the author proposed a set of recommendations to develop a successful advertising on FMCGs in Hanoi through objectives setting, budget planning and message generation which has been taken into consideration of Vietnamese culture CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Advertising  Definition of advertising Every day, we as consumers are exposed to hundred of brands intentionally and unintentionally We can see them everywhere It may be in newspapers in the morning we are reading, in the bags we are carrying, in the websites we are surfing, in mobile phone messages we received, in coupons we are seeing in the shop, in the sign boards on streets we are going to office or back to home, or on bus driving on the roads, or on Television we are watching… All the forms we defined ourselves as means of advertising So, what’s the advertising? p It is such a long time since advertising has appeared in our mind as familiar terms There have been many definitions on advertising from different point of views As for journalists, advertising can be interpreted as communication and persuasion process; but for manufactures advertising might be defined as a marketing process… tậ p tổ ng hợ A century ago, Albert Lasker, founder of Lord & Thomas understands “Advertising as salesmanship in print driven by reason why” However, this seems to no longer true thanks to rapid development of diversified and modern communication means Although advertising has been developed considerably for the past two decade in Vietnam and there also exist specific understanding about advertising Under the article 102, Vietnam trade law in 2005 defines advertising is trade promotion activity of the business to introduce to customers its products, services” However, this definition does not cover all aspects of advertising o th ực Advertising is not merely printed, but it comes to consumers by radio, internet and television… William F Arens in his Advertising book defines “Advertising as the structured and composed non-personal communication of information, usually paid for and usually persuasive in nature, about products (goods, services, and ideas) by identified sponsors through various media” Bá o cá In order to understand this definition, we would better to analyze all the elements embedded As advertising is type of communication, William F Aren perceived advertising as a definitely structured form conveying both verbal and nonverbal elements that are composed to fill in specific context at the specific time It is necessary to distinguish the meanings of “personal communication” versus with “non-personal communication” For example, what requires personal selling is the presence of the seller and the buyer together This interaction between the seller and the buyer shall be an opportunity for them to discus everything about the products The buyer can raise questions about products’ function, features, and also can examine them for the final purchasing decision Via personal communication, all five senses such as smell, touch, taste, sound and sight can be experienced by the potential buyer Meanwhile, non-personal selling delivers very quick message via different means of communication and there is no way to examine the customer’s response to the message delivery In addition, by non-personal communication, the customer can use only two senses: sight and sound for their products’ examination To some extends such as information delivery, interaction between the seller and the buyer, personal communication shall be preferred However, when it comes to cost matter, nonpersonal communication shall be effective solution Through advertising, the manufacture also tries to send the message to their potential customers with information such as its feature, shapes, color, functions, ect As purpose of advertising is to introduce, indentify and differentiate the product from others with an aim to persuading customers to buy the products That is to say, it might cause inducement to their customer through perceptible difference; namely, shape, colors, or imperceptible differences which is not obvious features or function For example; Coca Cola shall try to persuade Vietnamese customers through their advertising campaign by differentiate their product features by color, shape, taste, emotion from Pepsi or other brands p All advertising shall be conducted by identified sponsors, i.e who launch the advertising to prevent the audience from misleading their ideas and contents If the sponsor for the advertising is not identified, the audience might understand it as the news about the products but not an attempt to induce their purchasing Advertising shall be shown in varies means such as newspaper, radio, televising, billboards, posters or anything which help communicate through non-personal ways from one/groups of people to the others hợ According to Philip Kotler, managers need to make M decisions in developing an advertising program: Mission, Money, Message, Media and Measurement Bá o cá o th ực tậ p tổ ng Figure 2.1: “5-Ms” model in advertising Source: Marketing Management, Eleventh Edition by Philip Kotler 2003 Firstly, in setting the objective of advertising program, manager needs to base on the prior decision on target market, market positioning and marketing mix Secondly, manager should know how much to spend on advertising tool by considering: stage in the product life cycle, market share and consumer base, competition and clutter, advertising frequency and product substitutability and market characteristic Thirdly, they must choose the advertising message, determining how the message will be generated, evaluating alternative message for desirability, exclusiveness and believability and executing the message in appropriate style And next, they must make decision on the media they will use There are a number of vehicles to deliver reach, frequency and impact Each have its own advantage and limitation as showed the below table cá o th ực tậ p tổ ng hợ p Table 2.1: Profile of major media types Bá o Source: Marketing Management Millennium Edition, Tenth Edition by Philip Kotler 2002 This decision is made based on several factors such as: target audience media habit, product, message and cost Finally, marketers need to evaluate the effectiveness of advertising on sales and communication goal Though the fundamental research on ad effectiveness is small, it’s necessary to know potential effect on awareness, knowledge and preference as well as the ad’s sales effect In the consumer survey, the Nielsen Company evaluates the degree of trust for different types of advertising globally Accordingly, advertising from recommendation from people known is the most trustful sources for consumers In fact worth-of-mouth communication is the most effective way because people tend to put their trust in friends’ or neighbors’ recommendations In addition, other sources such as consumer opinions posted online or brand website also reliable for consumers with 70% and 69% respectively Television as one of the most popular means of advertising, win the 62% of consumers’ trust However, upon the different kind of products, the source of trustful advertising is different Therefore, manufacture/company is required to consider appropriate means of advertising to promote their products p tổ ng hợ p Figure 2.2: Degree of trust in Advertising tậ (Source: The Nielsen Company) th ực  Dimension of Advertising o cá o However, to grasp the full meaning of advertising, it is important to analyze its dimensions William F Aren in his “Advertising” book mentions four dimensions of advertising including communication dimension, marketing dimension, economic dimension and social and ethical dimension Bá Firstly, communication is the foremost dimension of advertising As shown in the graph below for advertising flow: Figure 2.3: Communication process Source Source Encoding Encoding Message Message Channel Channel Decoding Decoding Receiver Receiver (William F Aren, Advertising) As can be seen in the flow, the communication process begins when the source generate ideas in the first step, then they are encoded through message The message shall be transfer via channels The receiver shall decode the message as the final step of the communication Similarly, advertising process is also trigged by source as sponsor to generate ideas After ideas are encoded through message, it will be delivered by channels which might be radio, 10 The author analyzes the three successful elements used in the advertising for the following points: Inspire the Vietnamese with the long history of the country since its birth (Long Quan and Au Co who are the descendants from the line of the Dragons for the ancient Au Lac Since the birth of the Ancient Vietnam, the story of the countries continues with the revolution of Tay Son soldiers, Uncle Ho soldiers in the War with the U.S., and the on-going young generation of Vietnams Logic of Vietnam history has brought to the Bitis shoe which is considered to be for the future of Vietnam The strong and moving voice of the speaker who inspire the strong feelings to the audience Simple images focusing on the bare feet, straw sandal, rubber sandal and Bitis shoes As analyzed above, the advertising succeeds in conveying the message of the national history from the past to the present and the future for the product The advertising has contributed the broader distribution of the Bitis nationwide and also other neighbor countries such as China, Laos… Bá o cá o th ực tậ p tổ ng hợ p Recently, NutiFood also launched the impressive advertising with the kid riding the buffalo reminding us the legend hero Dinh Bo Linh, a kid standing on the mountain reminding us the hero Le Loi in the battle in Chi Linh mountain, a kid putting the stick into the paper wrapped boat reminding us the battle in Bach Dang river by the hero Ngo Quyen All the history legends have been presented in the advertising and this creates the strong emotion on the smart kids who can grow up from the history lessons This advertising has really appeal the audience’s interest especially for the mother who make the final decision on the milk for their children However, if the advertiser does not use the traditional history in a sound manner, this can result unexpected and negative impact Three year ago, advertising on medicine for the kids who not have good appetite for food The scene shows a prince who not want to eat and he denies all the food by the King and the Queen The advertising is made in Vietnam, but the custom, context of for this advertising is Chinese Actually, the advertising content shall be acceptable if the advertiser is more careful to take into account of Vietnamese tradition in the advertising Since it is launched in television, it causes negative impact on the audience  Education and Morality Beyond the basic functions of the advertising, education and morality are the core elements to for the advertising which can be adoptable to Vietnamese culture As we mentioned above, the audience especially for the olds expect to see the advertising which can convey the educational meaning for the young generations Small kids are the objects who like the advertising and they are the loyal audience for all advertising program From watching the advertising, they are easily affected and imitate the actions/behaviors by the adult Hence, in addition to the information, education and morality are required for any advertising in Vietnam In order to bring the full insights on the education and morality in advertising in Vietnam, the authors have reviewed a hundred of advertising clips in Vietnam for the past few years With content inappropriate with Vietnamese morality, the advertising is killing the product itself Case 1: Rejoice The mother is waiting for his son family coming back hometown However, she does not care about her daughter in law with very cold looking and attitude She hugs her son only Suddenly, the father feel very good smell from his daughter in law, he said: “Xuan is good daughter in law” 39 Case 2: Rejoice An arrogant girl looks down on another girl next to her: “Please find my ear rings Uhm, Let’s check…/ Em kiếm giùm chị bong tai Hừ, để xem ” and after finding the ear ring, the girl smile with smooth hair attracts the attention of men standing nearby All the behavior or the language used in those two case cause offensives for the audience For Vietnamese tradition, we always welcome the guess, especially the family members The attitude of a mother towards the daughter in law is not acceptable in Vietnamese context In addition, the father give very quick comment on her daughter in law “She is nice” just after smell her hair The content of this advertising provoke many negative reaction from the audience Regarding to the second case, Rejoice also had the similar advertising in Philippines for the same content The advertising effect of this advertising content in Philppines is questionable but for Vietnam it creates very bad and negative impact The behavior as well as the saying of the arrogant girl in the advertising make the audience feel sock This is very clear evidence for the advertising content which is not appropriate with Vietnamese morality p tổ ng hợ p The problem shall be more serious if the children imitate the behavior of the kid in OMO advertising A small boy cannot find the solution of his test in class He lies on the desk and sudden takes the handkerchief to sweep his sweat He opened it and said surprisingly: “OH, who wrote?” The teacher comes to check whether he is cheating or not and recognize the “Son, try hard” by the boy’s mother The attitude of the kid toward his mother is considered is not good for a student After this advertising is launched, many parents request the television to stop to avoid their kids watching and imitate this behavior o th ực tậ Meanwhile the consumer also have good response to some recent advertising which have convey the education and morality through the product such as: Đèn đom đóm Campaign by Dutch lady: “Nếu cho cho hạnh phúc, cô gái Hà Lan xin chia sẻ hạnh phúc qua chương trình khuyến học đèn đom đóm” (http://clip.vn/watch/cogaihalan,BOY) This advertising praises the fond of learning of poor kids, and give the lessons of giving and sharing happiness with others Bá o cá In addition to Dutch Lady, the Vinamilk also have very meaning message in their advertising of “6 million litter of milk” for the poor kids nationwide More than saying, only watching the advertisings, the kids have lessons on sharing with others especially the poor and less lucky kids and those advertising have been all supported by their parents  Creativity Creativity is very important factor to appeal the consumers for the advertising To be outstanding out of other advertising, the creativity plays an important role to hook the customer’s attention According to the author’s survey, 38.04% of respondents are appealed to the advertising because of creativity factor in the content Creativity can be interpreted by the content ideas, or the language, the sound… However, it is not to mention that all that all creative advertising are effective Creative TV advertising can create impression on the audience but it shall have no effect if it can not trigger consumers purchasing The author would like to analyze the case of the advertising for chew gum two years ago: Scene 1: A boy student eating chew gum comes to class late Scene 2: The teacher is standing on the board and does not notice the boy Scene 3: The teacher suddenly looks back the class and at the same time the boy walks backward from outside of class 40 Scene 4: The teacher does not realize the boy coming late but he thinks the boy going out the class and requests him to back his seat At first glance, it is a creative advertising with surprise behavior of the boy However, this creativity of this advertising content seems to be not appropriate with the Vietnam The student’s behavior is considered a very bad treat to the teacher and it is not accepted by almost customers In order to create the creativity in advertising, humor is also the option by many advertisers However, in some countries perception of humor is different American customers are favorable of the advertising but in Vietnam the humor can be understood as cultural forbiddance Indeed, talking about the creativity, it is necessary for the advertiser to be fully aware of response from the customers in Vietnam 3.3 Assess the importance of these factors to make successful television advertising p As analyzed above, there are many cultural factors embedded in one adverting such as color, language, shape, sound/music, the cultural norms, tradition and customs and creativity All those factors are very significant to appeal the customers The author has collected the questionnaire survey resulted from 92 valid questionnaires for the following result: cá o th ực tậ p tổ ng hợ Figure 3.9: Factors appealing customers in the advertising in Hanoi (Source: The author’s survey in July 2010) Bá o According to the questionnaire survey, creativity, sound/music, and Vietnamese content/context are the most appealing factor respectively Acknowledging the importance of those factors, the advertiser can evaluate and take it into consideration into the advertising campaign in Vietnam In addition to the appealing factor, the author also points out the reasons explaining why the audience doesn’t like to watch the advertising of foreign brand 41 Figure 3.10: The reasons why the audiences in Hanoi don’t like to watch advertising p (Source: The author’s survey in July 2010) tổ ng hợ As shown in the result, in order to create an effective advertising for the Hanoians, it is necessary for the advertiser or companies to take into consideration of those factors to adapt into our current living and requirements from the customers tậ p CHAPTER IV: RECOMMENDATIONS TO CUSTOMIZE ADVERTISING ON FMCGs IN HANOI MARKET th ực With an aim to creating an effective advertising in Hanoi market, the author would like to propose recommendations on the advertising companies as well as the FMCG manufactures: Bá o cá o 4.1 Advertising companies Firstly, the author would like to point out suggestions on the advertising companies In the context that there have been overload information from different means of communication in general and advertising in particular Develop an effective advertising is not easy task and it require great efforts on time, money and human Thus, the author recommends the advertising company should clarify the answers of the ten questions set below: What are the objectives of the advertising? Who is the advertising communicating with? What is the first factor to understand the customer? What is the product’s positioning? What are the functions, benefits of this product? What are the brand’s characteristics? Why the customer trusts the advertising? What is the only thing remaining in your mind after watching the advertising? What we expect our customers to take action after watching this advertising 10 What are the style and the voice of the advertising? As referred from the survey result, each TVC has 30 second to lay the impression on the audience about the products; however, the audience shall spend only first five second to decide to continue watching the TVC or not Hence, if the advertising company can determine the exact answer to these ten questions, they can expect for the effective advertising result 42 In the chapter III, the author points out the cultural factors to be taken into consideration for the advertising in Vietnam such as: color, language, symbol and shape, Vietnamese customs, norm and practices Therefore, it is necessary for the advertising companies to customize the advertising into Vietnam context The author would like to recommend those factors taken into consideration:  Color & Sound and Shape Regarding the color which has been considered as the inspiring element for the sight sense of the audience, it is suggested to utilize the color for the advertising under the Vietnam context As there exists the differences on meaning conveying by the colors of Orients and Americans; therefore, advertiser is required to choose the appropriate color on the special events, festivals such as Tet, Mid-Autumn, sports events including Sea Games, World Cup,… In addition, it is very necessary to choose the color theme for the TV advertising providing the color convey the message of the producers For example, the “green color” shall be dominated theme for the advertising of “natural products” such as Tra xanh khong do, or Lavi water hợ p Further, the sound of the TV advertising is highly recommended to utilize to create emotion into the customers and it shall create special impression on the product such as successful sample of Diana, Nescafe, or Kotex…as analyzed in the chapter III Bá o cá o th ực tậ p tổ ng Although not all the products can convey the message through the product shape such as Coca Cola or Saigon Special, it is advised to take it into consideration for the creative design of the advertising  Language Language appropriate with the target customers such as the man, the female, the old, the young, the teenage…It is necessary to use the tone, style as if you were talking with them only For example, the way you talk with your boss shall be different from the way you talk with your friends If the tone, structure, and the words are not suitable with their styles they shall easily forget +) Grammar To write an advertising message, there are some grammar principles can be flexible: - Word or phrase clipping - Preposition: sentence can be ended by a preposition - Slang: if appropriate to the target customers (Xiteen) - Shortened sentence not lengthy one - Repetition (such as Diana advertising, “being a girl” is repeated) However, it is advised to use “present tense” and “you” as the audience in the advertising as all the information is for the audience In addition, the active form in the sentence is recommended to use rather than passive form As the passive form shall weaken the information you are trying to convey to your customers +) Word choice With an aim to persuading the customers, it is suggested that the words “possible, maybe, hope, wish, trying, seems, however” should not be used Instead, you are recommended to choose “will” or “definitely” to describe the product/service for the customers Especially, the words with negative meanings are not advised to use in advertising such as “complicated” or “wrong”  Timing, frequency and channel selection The fact shows that if we not broadcast the advertising in a right time for the right customers, the advertising shall not work Choosing the right timing in the right context can 43 attract more attention from the customer For example: Coca Cola launch advertising Brrrrrum during the World cup 2010 or Nescafe – talking around the table have been broadcasted during the 1000 year anniversary of Thang Long Hanoi The effect of those cases is the good example on the advertising on the right time In addition, it is required to determine the timing to launch the advertising within the day Depend on the target audience, it is recommended to arrange the appropriate time schedule for the advertising For example, advertising on ready to drink milk should not be shown after 10:00 pm as the sleeping time of children Advertising on sensitive products such as condom, feminine protection, toilet detergents is advised not to be on TV during the dinner or lunch time In conclusion, depending on the target, we can determine the time for the following principles: - Approach to the target customers in the time they are interested in buying the product - Stimulate the buying demand of customers when the sale volume is reduced - Avoid the advertising by the competitors at the same time with the product ng hợ p It is not only the matter of time but it also related to frequency of the advertising It is not true that the higher frequency of the advertising it is the more effective the advertising is In some cases, with only three times appearing on TV, the advertising are till welcomed by the customers As the repeated advertising on the long time can cause the boring feeling to the consumers, it is recommended to adjust the frequency under the certain context and feedback from the audience/customers o cá o th ực tậ p tổ As resulted from our finding, there are so many Television channels and the Hanoi customers can have many choices to watch their favourite channel One thing should be noted that not the highest rate of TV watching is the right channel for your advertising “Segmentation” is not the new term in marketing, and in advertising it is required to have the segmentation for each channel Obviously, central television channel such as VTV3, VTV1 seems to have the highest watching rate in Vietnam, but it shall be waste of money and time if advertising on luxurious products like Coco Channel or Rolex watch are launched on VTV3 or VTV In fact, the target customers of those products are high-income people and their Tivi watching habit is not VTV1, or VTV3 but cable channels Therefore, whether the information can reach to the target customers is questionable As the result, it is very important to have segmentation for our target customers as well as for the target TV channels Bá Based on the result survey, the author would like to propose recommendations on specific FMCGs in Hanoi market as below: Table 4.1.: Cultural factors to be considered in FMCGs advertising in Hanoi FMCGs category Food (buiscuits, snacks, oils, candy ) Drinks (beer and beverage, …) Target customer group Children, female Color High importance (especially for the children) Male Importance Shape and symbols Moderate Sound/ music High importance (especially for the children) Vietnamese norms and practics, traditional value Importance Importance Moderate Importance High importance Moderate Language 44 RTD Milk/ Milk Power/ Children, female High importance (especially for the children) Personal Care (shampoo, hair treatment, soap, toothbrush,…) Home care (Detergent, fabric softeners, Female Importance High importance Importance Importance Moderate Female High importance High importance Importance Importance High importance Importance Importance Moderate Importance (Source: The author, 2010) ng hợ p As there are many FMCGs, the author would like to analyze the cultural factors in specific and basic categories as listed in the table 4.1 The importance of each factor depends on the specific products as well as the target customer and companies’s strategic plan Under the author’s evaluation, the color and the sound/music need to be highlighted in the advertising on children targeted products such as ready to drink milk or snack, candy,…Meanwhile, for personal care and homecare, female customers are the target as they are the shoppers Thus, it is required to grasp their attention by language, sound, norms, traditional values…Regardings drinks or beverage products, male are the target customers of this category, it is recommended to pay attention to shape, color, symbol… tậ p tổ As the result from the chapter II, creativity shall be advised for the advertising of those FMCGs However, depend on the product as well as the company marketing strategy, advertising company is strongly recommended to adjust in an appropriate context for the right time on the right channel for the right products targeted to the right customers ực 4.2 Companies to develop plan for one TV advertising Bá o cá o th The dissertation not only proposes the recommendations for the advertising companies, it also figures out the measures for the companies who intend to launch TVC advertising In deed, the fact shows that many companies invest huge amount of money into costly advertising without understanding the market trend suffers from failure With an aim to making full effects of the advertising to the target customer and being well recognized and welcomed by the customers, it is recommended to consider all those following steps as mentioned below:  Set up the target of advertising In order to promote an advertising program for one brand especially for international brand, the very first task is to define the targets In order to develop specific targets, it is advised to follow SMART model (Specific- Realistic-Achievable- Timely) for the advertising For example, the target is to build brand awareness of Bino to 60% of women aged from 22 to 35 year old in Hochiminh city for three months The advertising can be developed for different targets such as sale volume gaining, branding image building or brand reminding Therefore, one advertising program is required to follow the corporate marketing strategy  Market research analysis For the past few years, market research is no longer the new definition for enterprises; it has been an effective tool for marketing planning especially for international companies In different countries, market has distinctive features and different consumer trends It is suggested to clarify the local market digest, and requirements of local customers and forecast the future trend for the product The output of market research can be not only used for 45 marketing plan but also for the advertising program planning The Nielsen Company and TNS are the well-known market research companies who can help you to check the advertising concept and initiative is agreed by consumers or not by qualitative methods Through the research, you can analyze your brand, product as well as the customer’s thinking to point out the key point/core for your advertising Understanding the customers including their lifestyle, their living conditions, their concerns and their passion are the keys leading to the successful advertising It is not only the matter of understanding the product or the customers but it is also really important to know where our positioning among other competitors It is strongly recommended to watch out the competitor’s activities on advertising channels and the response from the customers to their products through the advertising to have wise strategy for our advertising campaign It is costly to conduct the market research by famous firms; however, it is necessary for the company to understand the target customers before launching pour money on a persuasive advertising campaign  Budget allocation Bá o cá o th ực tậ p tổ ng hợ p Budget allocation for advertising is the hardest plan for any company As the benefit of advertising is invisible and it cannot be measured by the sale volume of product if the advertising target is awareness raising To find the answer to this problem, many methods have been raised such as: percentage of sales approach and the objective/task method As for the percentage of sales approach, if the company decides to spend 25% of revenue gained from the previous year on the advertising, so what shall we with the budget? Experiences from many companies indicate that it is recommended to hire the professional advertising companies Especially in Vietnam where the advertising industrial is emerging one, foreign companies prefer to work with the international advertising company For the small and medium size company, they cannot afford huge cost quoted by the international advertising firms However, it is not the matter of the local or foreign advertising firm The company is strongly recommended to closely follow and help transfer their “soul” of the product into the advertising through 30s in television  Message generation It is strongly advised for advertising message to be in line with the brand strategy of the product Obviously, this factor is the utmost objectives of any advertising It shall be the meaningless if the attractive and creative advertising is not suitable with set targets After the study research, the author sets out the basics points for the message generation of the advertising: Inform the product’s benefits through the advertising Define the product positioning Brand building Differentiate from the other competitive products Inspire the emotion/ feeling of the customer  Advertising evaluation Advertising assessment is very crucial for the company as they shall know whether the TVC advertising on their product can realize their intention or not Thus, it is advised to evaluate the advertising before, during and after the official TV advertising launch Before the official advertising is introduced, the company is suggested to apply the qualitative method through the focus group discussion to measure and forecast the response from the 46 customers to the advertising Although this step is not compulsory, it is important to forecase the effects of the advertsing Thanks to this initial evaluation through focus group, the customers/interviewees share their thought as well as their attitudes towards the ads Therefore, the companies can notice the problems or key points need to be taken into consideation for the revision In addition, this check is necessary to reduce the risk of advertising program and ensure the effectiveness of advertising ng hợ p The advertising is not only evaluated before the TV launch, it is also required during and after the official launch To measure the success of advertising, it is necessary to refer to the objectives set before the advertising For example, the target of the advertising is to increase the sales revenues; we can refer to the sale revenue in the shop after the advertising From the record, it is easy to compare the effective before, during and after the advertising However, it is advised to check the advertising effect for a certain period such as two months or months tổ CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION ực tậ p Under the Vietnam context, television advertising for FMCGs is preferred as the channel can bring the information in the broad manner Thanks to the superior features to other types of advertising, TV advertising not only provide the information, convey the message, but also inspire the emotion of the audience through sound, image, color, shapes… cá o th However, there remain advertisings especially the international one which is not appropriate to Vietnamese context, customs, norms and practices As a result, those advertisings have coped up with strong and negative response from the customers Those advertising not only not meet the set target by the company, but it also damage and even destroy brand image and reputation Bá o With the objectives set for the dissertation, the author clarifies cultural factors need to be taken into consideration for TV advertising on FMCGs in Hanoi market In addition, the importance of these factors in the success of a TV advertising campaign has also been highlighted in the dissertation Through insightful analysis, the author shall help evaluate their effectiveness of cultural factors The dissertation points out the appealing factors for advertising for the Hanoians The cultural factors such as Vietnamese customs and practices, … evaluates the importance of those Through those analysis and in-sights, the author proposes recommendation to customize the advertising especially for the international brand into Hanoi market and provides useful guildlines to build a successful TV advertising campaign as the ultimate objective of the research for the advertising companies as well as the companies/enterprises However, due to limited time, the author have not deeply studied the impact of each factor in detail, the survey scope is defined within Hanoi market so the output seems not fully reflected the current situation Furthermore, the sample for survey deems to be not sufficient enough to represent the overall information Therefore, some remain issues have been not pointed out 47 ng hợ p Despite of these restrains, the author has made great efforts to analyze the key appealing factor to lead to one successful advertising in Hanoi Hopefully, the output of dissertation shall somehow help the advertiser as well as the manufactures, companies to design the effective advertising which are appropriate with Vietnam context I will continue apply the learning from CFVG to continue in-depth research and in my career in the future tậ p tổ REFERENCES ực William F Arens “Contemporary Advertising”, page 6-70, International edition, 2005 th Jean-Claude Usunier and Julie Anne Lee “Marketing Across Cultures”, page 4-95, Fourth Edition, Prentice Hall cá o Phillip Kotler, “Marketing Management- An Asian Perspective", page 589-592, International Edition, Eleven Edition, 2002 Bá o www.nielsencompany.com Nielsen Vietnam, Pocket Reference Book 2009 & 2010 D.Vakratsas & T.Ambler, “How advertising works”, Journal of Marketing vol.63, 1999 GroupM, TYNY December 2008, Estimated Net Expenditure including agency commission TK, “TNS Media surveys viewers on TV habits”, 02nd April http://en.vietnamplus.vn/Home/TNS-Media-surveys-viewers-on-TV-habits/ 20104/7757.vnplus 2010, Jonna L Holland, James W Gentry (1997), "The impact of cultural symbols on advertising effectiveness: A theory of intercultural accommodation”, in Advances in Consumer Research Volume 24, eds Merrie Brucks and Deborah J MacInnis, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 483-48 48 APPENDIX ng hợ p 10 (*) Vũ Phương Nghi, "An investigation into current Vietnamese Gen Y advertising appeal preferences", London Southbank University, 2010 p tổ Phiếu Trả Lời Câu Hỏi th ực tậ Thân gửi bạn, thực khảo sát ý kiến người ảnh hưởng yếu tố văn hóa quảng cáo mà bạn xem cho sản phẩm công ty quốc tế Việt Nam Thông tin bạn cung cấp sử dụng cho báo cáo nghiên cứu Rất mong bạn dành thời gian giúp điền phiếu trả lời câu hỏi Xin chân thành cám ơn! Thông tin cá nhân bạn Dưới 20 tuổi 21-30 tuổi 31-45 tuổi Trên 45 tuổi a) b) a) Giới tính bạn sNam Nữ Công việc bạn là: Nhân viên văn phòng b) c) d) e) a) b) c) d) e) Bá o cá o a) b) c) d) Kinh doanh tự Dịch vụ Nội trợ Khác……………………………………………… ……………………………… Thu nhập bạn bao nhiêu ? 1-2 triệu/tháng 2-4 triệu/một tháng 5-7 triệu tháng 7-10 triệu tháng Trên 10 triệu 49 ng hợ a) b) c) d) e) a) b) c) d) Bạn xem tivi lần ngày? Hiếm có thời gian xem Dưới tiếng Từ đến tiếng Hơn tiếng Khác Bạn nhớ mẫu quảng cáo cho chương trình quảng cáo kéo dài phút? Khơng có Từ đến ba mẫu quảng cáo Từ bốn đến năm mẫu quảng cáo Tất quảng cáo Câu trả lời khác Bạn dành thời gian xem chương trình quảng cáo ti vi ? Khơng đến thời gian quảng cáo chuỷển kênh Dưới 15 phút ngày Từ 15 tiếng đến 30 phút Trên 30 phút p a) b) c) d) e) tổ Bạn có thích xem chương trình quảng cáo (của cơng ty nước ngịai)? a) Có (Bạn vui lòng trả lời tiếp câu câu trở đi) o cá o th ực tậ p b) Khơng (Bạn vui lịng trả lời câu Bạn thích xem chương trình quảng cáo cơng ty nước ngồi phát sóng Việt Nam vì? a) Các quảng cáo nội dung sáng tạo b) Quảng cáo có hình ảnh bắt mắt (mầu sắc) c) Âm thanh/âm nhạc hay sống động d) Gần gũi với sống người Việt Nam e) Ngôn ngữ Việt, dễ hiểu nội dung, phong cách f) Hình ảnh / biểu trưng sản phẩm hấp dẫn g) khác……………………………………………………………………… Bá 10 Lý khiến bạn khơng thích xem quảng cáo ? a) Không hiểu ý nghĩa quảng cáo b) c) d) e) Hình ảnh/âm khơng gần gũi than thuộc với người Việt Nam Ngôn ngữ không tự nhiên gần gũi sáng với người Việt Nam Nội dung không phù hợp với phong tục tập quán người Việt Nam Lý ban:……………………………………………………………………… 11 Bạn có bị ảnh hưởng định mua sắm quảng cáo tivi ? a) Khơng b) Ít c) Trung bình d) Cao e) Khác…………………………………………………………………………… 12 Hãy nói tên sản phẩm bạn nghĩ đến mầu sắc này: Gray/Nâu   Yellow/ Vàng   50 Blue/Xanh nước biển   Purple/ Tím   Green/ Xanh   Brown/Xám   Red/ Đỏ   Black/Đen       Pink/ Hồng 13 Bạn muốn có quảng cáo sản phẩm nước ngồi có a) Diễn viên người Việt Nam b) Bối cảnh dựng phim Việt Nam c) Ngôn ngữ gần gũi với người Việt d) Khác………………………………………………………………………………… ng hợ p XIN CHÂN THÀNH CÁM ƠN CÁC BẠN ! APPENDIX II: TRANSCRIPTS OF FOCUS GROUP DISCCUSSION I Bá o cá o th ực tậ p tổ Group members 1: Mrs Vu Hong Phuong, 32 years old, office staff Mrs Nguyen Ngoc Tuyen, 59 year old, retired teacher Mr Nguyen Van Tien, 59 year old, teacher Ms Nguyen Thi My Ngoc, 26 year old, translator Mr Nguyen Vu Long, 35 year old, IT expert Mrs Trinh Ngoc Huong, 29, year old, office staff Mr Le Viet Hung, 38 year old, sale man Ms Nguyen Le Ngoc Minh, year old Mr Le Viet Dung, 63 year old, retired 10 Ms Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh, Author Content: The author explains the objective for the group discussion and expresses strong appreciation to the active participation of family group members for this discussion Do they often watching TV Advertising?How often? (minute/day) [Ms Tuyen] My family members have the habit of watching TV during the dinner time, and there are many advertising on TV at least minutes Those ads are on TV especially between my favourite flims [Ms Ngoc] For me, except for the dinner time, I don’t like to watch TV So, I am not much interested in the advertising on TV [Mr Long] I change the channel all the time when I heard the advertising tones, uhm they not make me really interested 51 Do they like those adverts? Which one they prefer, adverts in home countries or adverts in VN? (Please be noted that they are same company adverts) [Ms Tuyen] Uhm, sometimes, I don’t understand the meaning of the advertising By the end, I till don’t know what is the purpose of the advertising I remember along time ago, there has been advertising on Rejoice with the stories between one arrogant girl and another girl Frankly, I don’t know why the stories of girl have something to with the shampoo I am a middle age, so you can claim me as very hard to please old woman, but anyhow, it shall be better if advertising context is familiar with Vietnamese Personally, I like to watch the advertising produced in Vietnam rather than in foreign countries hợ p [Mrs Phuong], 32 year old with year old daughter: “I like to watch TVC advertising especially when my daughter has meal The sound, image of the advertising attract her and she can eat more In addition, I can know about new products as well its information for more options My husband does not care much about it Regarding the foreign advertising, basically I like it as it is very creative but the meaning in their messages are unclear and sometimes translated English is not natural language ng How they think about these adverts?What are the factors you think u will affect to the success of the advertising? Bá o cá o th ực tậ p tổ [Ms Ngoc] I think it is the color, language and creativity [Mr Tien] For me, education and morality are the most important [Mr Long] Music is the factor which can play an important role [Author]: “When you see the “red” color, what kind of products you think about?” [Ms Ngoc]: “Coca Cola, Nestle coffee, KFC” When asking about the green color, they talked about Green Tea degree,… Mr Tien, when asking about his impression on color choosing, this 59 year old man said: “I don’t want to use products which are too colorful Maybe the young like but not me.” Mr Tien, our interviewee shared: “The red color represents for the luck, happiness, powerful and high ranking position This color is used in important family events such as wedding ceremony, new house or lunar Tet” Mr Hung, 51 year old share: “Sometimes, I watch the adversiting by some international brands but it seems that the product is sold in other countries but not in Vietnam.” Why they like/don’t like these advert? Mrs Tuyen, as retired teacher shared with the author: “Firstly, the language must be understandable for the audience with no “slang” I don’t know about the young but for our generations, using slang language is irrigating and even offensive.” [Mr.Hung] I don’t like the advertising context which is not close with Vietnamese people Shall their impression on TV adverts affect their shopping decision? buy or not buy? [Mr Hung] whose wife, Huong, 28 year old working for a foreign company who is always obsessed by her dry and damaged hair She spends much money on shampoo and hair conditioner Her husband complained that “If you see the shampoos in our house, you will be sock As whenever she heard in TV adverting on new hair treatment products, she goes to supermarket to buy” 52 [Mrs Dung] I am retired and go shopping everyday and basically advertising affect to my purchasing decision I am very careful to buy the suitable product with the reasonable price If I don’t like the advertising, I shall not buy the product [Ms Huong] I am easy going person, and it doesn’t matter if the advertising of the product is good or not because it shall not affect to my purchasing decision Do they think that International/global manufactures shall take into consideration of Vietnamese cultures in their adverts? [Mrs Tuyen] Content of the advertising is recommended to The morality, educational value and Vietnamese norms and traditions [Mr Tien] The language and the interpretation of the advertising shall be considered Bá o cá o th ực tậ p tổ ng hợ p [Ms Ngoc] The right colors them on the right time and right target customers 53