Brand positioning strategy and proposals for vietnamese enterprises

From there, what are the proposed solutions on brand positioning strategies for Vietnamese businesses to be drawn?Realizing that this is an up-to-date issue, we decided to choose the top

BRAND POSITIONING STRATEGY

AND PROPOSALS FOR VIETNAMESE ENTERPRISES

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS 3

INTRODUCTION 4

I Theoretical basis of brand positioning 5

1 Introduction to Brand Positioning 5

2 Types of brand positioning strategies 6

2.1 Positioning based on quality 6

2.2 Positioning based on value 7

2.3 Positioning based on features 8

2.4 Positioning based on customers and market segments 9

2.5 Positioning based on influencers and celebrities 9

2.6 Positioning based on the problem and the solution 10

2.7 Positioning based on emotions 11

2.8 Positioning based on the leading status 12

2.9 Positioning based on customer buying experience 13

II Case study: The brand positioning of Vietnamese enterprises 15

1 The status of brand positioning of Vietnamese enterprises 15

1.1 The current situation of Vietnamese enterprises’s brand positioning 15

1.2 Using the SWOT model to analyze the Vietnamese enterprises’s brand positioning 16

1.3 Assessment of the brand positioning strategies of Vietnamese enterprises.25 2 Brand positioning proposals for Vietnamese businesses 25

2.1 Improve protection of intellectual property 25

2.2 Promote the "Vietnamese people prioritize Vietnamese goods"campaign.26 2.3 Continue to promote the Vietnam National Brand program 27

2.4 Keeping up with the gobal trend: green production - green economy 28

2.5 Developing e-commerce to adapt to epidemic conditions and catch up with gobal trends 30

2.6 Determine the right marketing strategy for the situation of the enterprise 34

CONCLUSION 36

REFERENCES 37

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

SME Small and Medium Enterprise

BVQI Bureau Veritas Quality International

WIPO World Intellectual Protection Organization

CPTPP Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for

Trans-Pacific Partnership

EVFTA European-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement

IFC International Finance Corporation

ADB The Asian Development Bank

IT Information Technology

2

Perhaps never before has brand become a topical topic that is of special interest

to businesses, state management agencies, trade associations, journalists and evenstudents like nowadays Many seminars and conferences have been held, hundreds ofarticles and websites regularly mention different aspects of the brand, even the brand

of the province, the country is also discussed Is this a "new fashion" or is it really anecessity, an irresistible trend when we want to survive in the context of integration?For Vietnamese businesses in particular and the world in general, it has longbeen deeply recognized that a brand is a huge asset Brand is a means of recognizing,protecting and displaying the achievements of an enterprise It brings stability andgrowth of market share, enhances competitive position, creates reputation and profits.Therefore, businesses always preserve, protect and develop their brands with all thetalents, wisdom, sweat and tears of many generations They built famous brands allover the world And so, it is understandable that in many cases the brand value isdetermined to be much larger than the value of physical assets

Building well-known brands in the country and in the world is not easy, butrequires each business to have wise brand positioning strategies for their business Sowhat is the current situation of brand positioning of Vietnamese enterprises? In theprocess of brand positioning, what advantages and disadvantages do businesses face,challenges and opportunities in the future? From there, what are the proposedsolutions on brand positioning strategies for Vietnamese businesses to be drawn?Realizing that this is an up-to-date issue, we decided to choose the topic

“Brand positioning strategy and proposals for Vietnamese enterprises” as the topic ofour essay

I Theoretical basis of brand positioning

The term brand refers to a business and marketing concept that helps peopleidentify a particular company, product, or individual They are intangible, whichmeans you can't actually touch or see them Brands are considered to be among acompany's most important and valuable assets Hence, brand positioning also becomesmore and more important nowadays

1 Introduction to Brand Positioning

The term of brand positioning was first used by the famous brand strategistJack Trout in an article published in the magazine ‘Industrial Marketing’ in 1969 Itwas later analyzed by Jack and his colleague, Al Ries, with many interesting examples

in a book named ‘Positioning: The battle for your mind’ (McGraw-Hill 1981) Sincethen, the theory of brand positioning has been widely applied by brands around theworld in building brand strategies According to the authors, positioning is an activitywith a position in the minds of consumers The basic principle of positioning is not tocreate something new and different from others, but to manipulate what is already inthe minds of consumers, using existing connections

Thus, a brand positioning strategy is an intentional process influencing theaudience’s perception More than a tagline or a fancy logo, brand positioning is thestrategy used to set your business apart from the rest For example, the brandpositioning of Close-up is fresh breath, Colgate is tooth decay prevention andSensodyne is toothpaste for sensitive teeth

The role of brand positioning is extremely important in branding, which candetermine the success of a brand By shaping consumer preferences, brand positioningstrategies are directly linked to consumer loyalty, consumer-based brand equity, andthe willingness to purchase the brand Effective brand positioning can be referred to asthe extent to which a brand is perceived as favorable, different and credible inconsumers’ minds These four following aspects can prove the inseparability betweenbrand positioning and business survival:

Market differentiation: Showing the uniqueness of the product in any industrycreates a major advantage When using brand positioning to celebrate how the productsolves a particular problem or need differently than other competitors, customers willtake notice

4

Easy purchase decisions: By clearly defining the product and how it canbenefit customers, businesses take the guesswork out of the purchase process Whenbusinesses give customers the answers to questions they are looking for, they will bequicker to trust and buy.

Value confirmation: A strong brand does not have to rely on pricing wars withcompetitors Instead, great brand positions establish the high value of their product,making customers want to buy it even if it is not the cheapest on the market In thefuture, businesses do not need to spend too much money to set up a brand strategy butthey still have a certain reputation for customers

Magnified messaging: A clear brand positioning statement gives businesses aspringboard for compelling creative storytelling By having a concrete vision, they canelevate each additional piece of marketing to further solidify their place among thecompetition Specific marketing programs such as brand building, pricing, advertising,and distribution all depend on the position of the identified brand in the target market Regarding the brand positioning process, it is often done during the initialbuilding process because it is one of the first steps to building a brand The secondcase is when the brand begins to show signs that it is not suitable for the market, tastes

or is too old, the business has to reposition To reach the goals, marketers typicallyfollow a positioning process consisting of the following five steps: First is confirmingunderstanding of market dynamics; Second is identifying competitors; Next ischoosing competitive advantages that define the market “niche”; Then definingpositioning strategy and creating brand positioning statements In short, establishingbrand positioning, businesses need to understand that this is a long term process, andneed to anticipate all changes that come in the future The process of brand positioning

is never easy, requiring strategists to have foresight, understand the market and thepurpose of the brand strategy

2 Types of brand positioning strategies

2.1 Positioning based on quality

Although there are many different methods for effective brand positioning,quality is always the top basic foundation factor Strong brands always have goodproducts Quality or perception of quality comes from consumers' perceptions Oncecustomers have gained the trust of customers about quality, businesses will reapsuccess when building a brand According to Al Reis (1994), the best way to assert

quality is to narrow the positioning of the product or brand The product or brandwould then be specific rather than generic, and product-specific brands would be said

to be of higher quality than generic brands

One of the businesses that successfully applied the brand positioning strategy

to this quality is Kinh Do cake brand One unique selling point in Kinh Do'smarketing strategy about products compared to other businesses is that in addition tomodern technology, Kinh Do focuses on product processing techniques, especiallyadditive formulations Thanks to that, Kinh Do's mooncakes have an attractive anddistinct taste The brand always boldly invests, continues to take the lead in qualityimprovement, manufactures its products with new technology on the world's mostmodern production lines, and improves the quality of mooncakes In terms of quality,since 2002, Kinh Do has been re-evaluated by the BVQI organization every 6 monthswith good results That's why Vietnamese often choose Kinh Do products as gifts for1each other on New Year's Eve to show our sincerity

2.2 Positioning based on value

This is a classic positioning criterion often used with many different productcategories, product characteristics or brand image elements are used thoroughly andconsistently to highlight the difference There are basically 2 different forms of valueincluding:

Price/Quality (value for money): is the value that can be immediatelyassociated with specific levels in cash That is to bring more benefits than customersspend to get products and services Vietjet Air is one of the low-cost airlines inVietnam Despite providing low-cost flights, this business still maintains a strongbrand position VietJet Air has developed a wide domestic flight network and has aplan to develop a route network in the Asia-Pacific region The highlight of the airline

is that it always offers many choices, not only a means of transportation, VietJet isalways creative, bringing passengers many interesting and fun things on flights.VietJet was also voted "Asia's Best Low-Cost Airline 2015" by Travel Awards, as well

as "Most Favorite Airline in Vietnam" by Economic Times

Emotional value: Besides quality or material benefits, enterprises cancompletely position their brands through touch points with consumers' emotions Biti's

"Đi để trở về" marketing campaign series has done that well With the iconic message

"đi" (go) associated with "experience", Biti's has unified all seasons of the campaign

1 According to Kinh Do Corporation

6

with a familiar tagline "go to return" Biti's has captured the right frequency of manypeople when they have to choose between family on one side and work, friends on theother, to decide whether to go home for Tet or not “Đi để trở về” not only bringsunimaginable marketing results with more than 170 million brand mentions but alsogoes hand in hand with increasing sales (reaching 300% of sales target within 7days).2 Capturing the demographic of customers, their concerns as well as theirconcerns, the campaign has carved deeper into consumers' minds an image of Biti'sthat is not only close but also psychological.

2.3 Positioning based on features

This positioning method is based on the features of products and services tocreate a difference for the brand This strategy is based on product functions andattributes but goes further by describing the benefits that customers get from using theproduct The message should be specific, clear and highlight the new feature of theproduct This strategy helps customers answer the question “What benefits does thisproduct bring me?” A product benefit strategy establishes a short-term competitiveadvantage and leads to market leadership, with rapid results However, this methodstill has a limitation that it is difficult to make a difference Because when competitorshave similar and superior products, it will lose its effectiveness Therefore, feature-based positioning only applies to a few special products that are difficult to imitate.The game in this product feature-based brand positioning strategy is reallyfierce with the participation of technology product manufacturers Surely many peoplestill remember the moment Steve Jobs performed the legendary "Slide to Unlock"action as well as the Zoom action to print images with his finger on the iPhone 2Glaunched in 2007 before the admiration of thousands of people Many people believethat this launch is the first shot that kicks off the explosion of interactive product lines,smartphones, smart screens, etc Apple is definitely not the one pioneer in the use oftouch screen technology, but they are undoubtedly the most successful adopters of it.Since then, the market of iPhone as well as Apple has gradually expanded withearnings before interest and tax in 2009 which was one and a half times that of otherphone products But so far, touch screen technology has been almost ubiquitous,applied in many other devices such as game consoles, tablets A series of technologycompanies are competing with each other more and more fiercely and continuously

2 According Brands Vietnam’s statistics

launching new products that are more modern, easier to use, to capture the fertilemarket called this smart interactive device.

2.4 Positioning based on customers and market segments

This is a method of brand positioning that is neither based on the productsprovided by the business nor based on the outstanding features of the product, butfocusing on market segments or niches The strategy gives a specific customer profile(age, gender, behavior, .), from these detailed characteristics, businesses can usethem to create more accurate, effective and efficient advertising campaigns Becausethe market is segmented into small segments, businesses can focus their resources oninvesting and developing products and business models, thereby increasing theircompetitive advantage The fact that enterprises can create products/services of highvalue to consumers, and better meet the needs and requirements of target customerswill definitely be a strong point for businesses to create a competitive advantage withtheir competitors other units One of the best supporting models for this positioningstrategy is the STP model, which includes stages: Segmentation, Targeting,Positioning In which, businesses need to perform well in the stage of customersegmentation analysis and market selection

One of the brands that successfully applied the brand positioning strategy based

on customers or customer segments is Agribank (Vietnam Bank for Agriculture andRural Development) This bank represents its target customer segment directlythrough the brand name Indeed, in terms of total assets, Agribank is currently thelargest bank in the Big4 including Agribank, BIDV, Vietinbank, Vietcombank, thanks

to its "champion" in customer deposits (nearly 1.5 million billion VND) This proves3that Agribank is a bank that not only holds a huge market share in rural and suburbanareas but also wins the trust of customers

2.5 Positioning based on influencers and celebrities

The influencer marketing strategy utilizes the significant power of celebritiesand influencers in the decision-making process of the current and target potentialcustomers Apart from endorsements, celebrities have a wide reach (on and off-line)and can get your products and services in front of millions of people within your targetcustomer pool But influencer marketing is more than likes and retweets It’s morethan a cult following and accompanying numbers game An influencer’s true power istwo things: trust and credibility Like the classic celebrity - the ones we imagine is

3 According to Agribank’s record on 2020

8

your friend, the one we believe in and trust - the influencer has built a foundation oftruth between themselves and their specific audience This strategy, albeit effective, isoften applied when the company has a sizable budget for brand positioning, or they’vealready built a relationship with a person of influence However, this influencer-basedbrand positioning carries risks when that influencer gets into scandal or causes distrust

of his or her following circle At that time, the brand will also be affected and causeserious damage

One of the most recent examples is when Shopee was asked by customers toremove the image of this brand's influencer - Comedian Hoai Linh, immediatelybecause he was accused of disbursing charity money There were no photos andvideos of Hoai Linh on Shopee's official website, application and fanpage anymore.Previously, Shopee used Hoai Linh's image for the 6/6 Super Sale campaign takingplace from May 24 However, after this incident, the images related to the comedian

on the brands encountered negative feedback from the public, including Shopee.Meanwhile, Clear Men does a great job of positioning the brand based on thisstrategy Since 2009, this brand has successfully invited soccer superstar CristianoRonaldo to promote a shampoo product for men Ronaldo has been a brandambassador for Clearmen for more than a decade and has built with Clear Men theimage of a strong man, personality, passion for sports, ready to live for passion

2.6 Positioning based on the problem and the solution

Customers always have some unsatisfied problems As the name suggests, thispositioning strategy shows customers that their headaches will soon be solved whenusing a product or service Although customers already have a lot of options for aparticular need, they still want a new, better, superior option or simply as good butcheaper is better This method is based on in-depth research into customer segments,studying their style, psychology or ethnicity This approach exploits the insight aspect

of the customer to pinpoint their problem and provide a solution Specifically, withthis positioning, the brand will clearly show customers that "The brand will help themsolve the problems they are facing" However, it is precisely providing solutions tospecific problems that cause the brand's products to narrow the market to a group ofcustomers with similar problems This has both positive and negative results Like thepositioning method based on customer segments, this positioning method will helpbusinesses come up with specific marketing strategies and effectively focus on the file

of customers who have problems that need to be solved But besides that, when themarket shrinks, it will also lead to the revenue of businesses not being abundant.This positioning strategy will be particularly relevant to Fast MovingConsumer Goods industries, where products can clearly see their benefits to thecustomer's problem Unilever has been very successful in this positioning strategywith a series of famous brands such as Omo, Sunlight, Clear… washing powder,removing stubborn stains and making them white like new Communication products

of these brands often raise the problems of customers such as not being able to removestains from clothes, not being able to wash greasy dishes or clothes that don't last longand suggest the optimal solution from the product

2.7 Positioning based on emotions

Emotions are the shortest path from heart to mind Therefore, the goal of everybrand should be to create an emotional connection with their customers Most famousfor Dr Maslow’s development of the hierarchy of needs, he postulated that humanshave a set of needs that they attempt to satisfy in a specific order, with the most basiclevel consisting of the need for food, air, water, sleep, etc As we move up in thehierarchy, these needs evolve from purely functional to purely emotional; this is inpart where the phrase “higher order needs” comes from It stands to reason that ifemotional needs are higher order needs, then emotional benefits are higher orderbenefits Continuing the thread, emotional benefits have a greater magnitude of value

to customers than purely functional benefits and, therefore, are more integral tocreating a successful brand Emotional connections are much more difficult to breakand will insulate enterprises from losing customers to a competitor that may be able tomatch their product’s functional benefits How customers feel about a brand is oftenrooted in needs or wants, in other words, the method of hitting emotional orpsychological factors will be a very effective way of positioning Emotions can comefrom wants, needs, feelings, interests, etc In fact, this positioning strategy is veryeffective

Recently, the name Vinfast has almost covered all social networks andtelevision programs because of the successful launch at the Paris Motor Show This is

a spectacular launch of Vingroup to show the world that Vietnam can produce its owncars This marketing strategy has brought national pride to international friends In thecontext of globalization of all fields, where the production is no longer important, butinstead where the soul of that product is kept and the default customer remembers

10

where that product comes from Because of this, Vinfast has limited the disclosure ofexternal information and instead focused on "national pride" as a product of theVietnamese brand.

2.8 Positioning based on the leading status

Positioning strategy is based on the leadership of the product, of the brand Thebusiness will base its distinctiveness on the market and claim to be the leader in thatfield Usually, the statement will be shown right in the brand's slogan It can be saidthat this is a strategy that needs to integrate some of the above positioning methodsbased on the properties that the business claims to lead Some aspects that businesseschoose to position their leadership position include: Leading in market share, leading

in quality, leading in price, leading in service, leading in technology, etc In order totruly lead in the field of their products, enterprises need to understand that: thestrength of the organization is due to the strength of the product and the position thatproduct has in the minds of customers Therefore, focusing on product development isextremely necessary After having the number 1 position, enterprises should cover themarket with many brands (multi-brand strategy) Each brand is uniquely positioned tooccupy a certain area in the customer's mind As the times change, as new productscome and go, people do not do much to improve the position but introduce a newproduct to respond to changing technology and tastes This also helps to control theway of the opponent to get ahead and put pressure on the business itself to alwaysimprove and try to keep its leading position

“Kangaroo - Máy lọc nước hàng đầu Việt Nam” (Kangaroo - The leadingwater purifier in Vietnam) - the familiar slogan of the Kangaroo water purifier brandhas left a deep impression in the hearts of customers over the past 10 years Kangaroo

is not the first company to make water purifiers in the world, but the phrase

"Kangaroo water purifier" has occupied a solid position in the minds of Vietnameseusers since a 5-second advertisement The advertising campaign at that time waslaunched by Kangaroo with the product range expansion strategy, the vision tobecome the number one enterprise in the household goods industry, leading the waterpurifier market However, many experts believe that, when businesses say "We arenumber one", customers will understand in many ways such as the most popular brand

or the highest sales (thanks to low prices or wide distribution) This brand has becometoo greedy when launching a series of other products, from water heaters to mobilephones with the "leading Vietnam" position Even more unconvincing when Kangaroo

continues to take another step with the "leading Asia" position With such marketingmoves, the road to nail products with a clear image into the minds of Kangaroocustomers will be very difficult.

2.9 Positioning based on customer buying experience

Last but not least, this is the only strategy listed that doesn't come from theproduct The positioning method based on the customer's buying experience will focus

on the customer above all else Businesses can build their own buying process,making them feel special This strategy needs businesses to focus on developing theCustomer Journey model Customer Journey simulates the process by whichcustomers experience a brand over time or the journey that connects customers withthe brand Describing the Customer Journey helps businesses accurately capturetouchpoints and what customers think, interact with the brand, and ensure consistency

at all touch points and across all channels

Source: Brands Vietnam

Figure 1: Customer Journey Map

Building a Customer Journey Map will help businesses understand theTouchpoint points and the desires of customers to interact In addition, CustomerJourney Map ensures consistency and seamless experience across all touchpoints andacross all channels This map tells us whether the customer experience lives up to thebrand promise If there is a deviation, the Customer Journey Map can help businessescorrect and provide specific solutions With timely resolution, businesses will buildsolid and long-term relationships with customers A good example is how MobileWorld takes care of its customers From the dedicated service attitude of the security

12

guard to the thoughtful advice of the staff or the initiative to call customers to receivefeedback All are aimed at giving customers the best experience.

In the 4.0 era, the customer journey is becoming more and more complexthanks to the combination of digital platforms, especially for multi-channelbusinesses Customers can actively search, compare, select and exploit informationmore carefully before making a buying decision They start interacting with the brand

on many platforms, in different ways and from different starting points, for example:from marketing campaigns, Google search, social networks like Facebook, Instagram,pages e-commerce such as Lazada, Shopee, To connect with customers, companiesare gradually implementing digital transformation, expanding interactive channels toquickly reach users Especially for an e-commerce platform, the customer experiencebefore and during the purchase process is extremely important Because in theshopping process, businesses cannot be there to guide customers little by little That'swhy all online shopping operations must be optimized as simple as possible but stillensure transaction information Moreover, payment methods must be diverse to becompatible with the method customers are using We can see e-commerce platformsare always racing in technology and constantly upgrading to provide the best customerexperience

Amazon has been and is becoming the leader in the online retail market with itsexcellent customer experience system This brand concept, one of the three levels ofcustomer experience, is how convenient and easy it is for customers to achieve theirgoals Specifically, the less time the customer takes, the less effort, the less concern, the better the experience you bring to the customer Amazon helps customers achievetheir goals, which is the first level of customer experience (helping customers reachtheir goals) The next is to serve them to achieve success as easily and with the bestemotion possible This brand believes that everyone contributes to the customerexperience, not just the product person, not just the customer service person, humanresources, marketing And finally, Amazon always tries to be prepared for negativefeedback and complaints They believe that "customer complaints are a gift" If youdon't learn anything, you can make the same mistake over and over again If it can belearned, it can be fixed and the customer experience is improved in such a way

II Case study: The brand positioning of Vietnamese enterprises

1 The status of brand positioning of Vietnamese enterprises

1.1 The current situation of Vietnamese enterprises’s brand positioning

In 2020, the sudden COVID-19 pandemic profoundly impacted all industriesand sectors; There's also a way for businesses to reach customers The pandemiccontains many uncertainties and becomes a catalyst for the digital economy to groweven faster and requires firms to change their branding mindset to the right way in thenew context

Therefore, in the early 2000s, the brand of Vietnamese enterprises has notappeared in the ranking of international organizations By 2020 the total brand value

of 50 Forbes Vietnam enterprises reached more than 12.6 billion USD, with manyenterprises becoming national brands such as Minh Long I Co., Ltd Vinamilk, Viettel,Mobile World, VPBank, PNJ, Nutifood, Saigontourist, Kido, SSI, Success - Bien Hoa,Duy Tan, Vissan, Biti's, Thien Long, Viet Tien

According to a report by Brand Finance, in 2020, Vietnam will be one of thecountries with the fastest national brand value growth globally (up 29% compared to

2019, to $ 319 billion) Specifically, Vietnam's national brand value has increased bynine places, to 33rd place in the Top 100 most valuable national brands globally Fromonly 30 enterprises in 2008, by 2020, Vietnam's national brand program has 124enterprises, with 283 recognized products, of which many brands have resonated inthe regional and world markets

With Vinamilk, the motto and slogan of the business is not only a statementthat expresses the value of the company but also brings commitment and sends brandtrust through each period: "International quality – Vinamilk quality," "Enjoy life,"

"For future generations to excel," "Beautiful life" "Rising in Vietnam," "Vietnam'sbelief", Currently, the slogan "Vietnam's No 1 fresh milk" is always committed tobringing quality, healthy milk

As for Viettel, Viettel entered the telecommunications market and rebranded forthe first time: the slogan "Say it your way" was born Their philosophy at that timewas to pioneer innovation but listen, understand customers Recently, the slogan "Say

it your way" was shortened to "Your way," that core value is expanded not only in thefield of telecommunications and raised to a new level; customers are empowered,inspiring customers to fulfill their desires

14

1.2 Using the SWOT model to analyze the Vietnamese enterprises’s brand positioning

1.2.1 Strengths

Vietnam's national brand value ranking has continuously improved

In the past 4 years, Vietnam's national brand value ranking has continuouslyimproved and is in the strong brand group thanks to the Government's efforts onreforming the business investment environment, improving import and exportachievements, supporting product and business brands and positive forecasts of GDPgrowth Vietnam moved up nine ranks to 33rd with $319 billion in the world’s top4

100 nation brands from its previous 42nd in 2019, up 29% year-on-year in value or

$72 billion This year, Brand Finance highly appreciated Vietnam's handling of thehealth and economic crisis, and emphasized that this is a good time for countries such

as Vietnam to boost economic growth

Meanwhile, according to Brand Finance, 2020 has put the nations of the world

to the test – from the economic impacts of COVID-19 on nations’ GDP forecasts,inflation rates, and general economic uncertainty, to diminished long term prospects.Brand Finance estimates that the total brand value of the top 100 nation brandsdropped from US$98.0 trillion in 2019 to US$84.9 trillion in 2020, with almost everynation feeling a significant impact of the health crisis on their respective economies.Brand Finance’s top 10 most valuable nation brands contract 14% on average The USclaims the top spot at $23.7 trillion, but China continues to close the gap with its value

at $18.8 trillion, down 14 percent and 4 percent, respectively Brand Finance saidrelations between the two powers remained "very fragile" due to the trade war that hasaffected both economies over the past few years Although the brand's value fell 6percent to $4.261 billion, Japan rose from fourth in 2019 to third this year Globally,Argentina was the country with the biggest drop in brand value, with 57% to $157billion

Brand positioning helps businesses find a position in the market, increase revenue, create jobs for workers

According to the report, 124 enterprises with 283 products were recognized asnational brands in Vietnam in 2020 These are the enterprises that meet the VietnamNational Security Program's criteria and are typical enterprises representingVietnamese brands The total revenue in 2019 of these enterprises reached over VND

4According to Brand Finance

1.4 million; total export revenue reached more than VND137 trillion, total statebudget payment was over VND 200 trillion, creating jobs for more than 471,000workers The social activities of these enterprises reached a value of over VND 9.5trillion and social insurance payments of over VND 20 trillion

This time, enterprises with products reaching the National Brand have affirmedtheir leading position in their field of operation, maintaining a high growth rate interms of profit and revenue, maintaining the domestic market, and developing theexport market

name

brand value

(millionUSD)

Total revenue 2020

(billionVND)

Total employees

Total state budget payment

(billionVND)

1 Vinamilk Food &

Figure 2: Enterprises achieving Vietnam's national brand in 2020 and their contributions to the Vietnamese economy 5

In addition, these businesses also support people in the COVID 19 pandemicsuch as Vinamilk, Viettel, VNPT,

Vietnamese labor is creative, sensitive and very dynamic in bringing ideas to the market.

5 According to Vinamilk, Viettel, VNPT, Vinhomes cooperations

16

Vietnamese workers have been judged to be industrious, intelligent, creative,skillful, eager to learn and friendly According to a study by Master Le Anh Hung(Center for Conformity Certification (QUACERT), General Department of Standardsand Quality Measurement), Vietnamese enterprises' current situation of innovationactivities ranked in the highest order of product/service innovation, reaching 3,631.The second is process innovation scoring 3,553 points; The third is marketinginnovation scoring 3,512 points, and the lowest is organizational innovation scoring3.07 points The dynamism and creativity are not only proven in the workforce oflarge enterprises Currently, the labor of small and medium enterprises also showstheir creativity when coming up with practical and highly applicable ideas Forexample, in the case of Mr Tan The Ha (Ho Chi Minh City), we all know and mostlikely have experienced the problem of flooding due to the increasing tide, thedescending that makes it challenging to live and produce business Therefore, Mr Haohas created a "manhole against high tides" that solves two problems: adapting tovarious foundations and treating so that water does not discharge directly into thealready overloaded public wastewater system This technical solution of Mr Hao wasgranted an exclusive license to Useful Solution in 2007 and won many technicalresearch awards From there, it can be seen that the creativity and acumen ofVietnamese workers will contribute to helping businesses position their strategies tosucceed in the future, both domestically and internationally.

1.2.2 Weaknesses

Vietnamese businesses are not aware of the importance of brand positioning

Enterprises often focus on developing the production scale in the early period

to increase productivity and output, gradually shifting to focusing on quality andimproving added value Therefore, awareness of the role of brand positioning is oftennot given the proper attention Moreover, the process of positioning and brandingVietnam also faces many difficulties, especially the small scale of production, foodquality and safety issues, processing capacity and participation in the global valuechain of enterprises is limited Developing a brand and creating a foothold requires along-term investment to accurately assess the brand's value in the total value of abusiness

Enterprises do not pay attention to intellectual property protection

Many Vietnamese enterprises still do not have high awareness aboutintellectual property protection In our country, so far, only a few large enterprises

such as FPT, Viettel, Viglacera There is an international trademark registrationdepartment The rest of the small and medium-sized enterprises only focus on formingbusinesses, raising investment capital without thinking about registering intellectualproperty protection rights or being afraid to register According to the Department ofIntellectual Property statistics, only 18% of small and medium-sized enterprisesunderstand intellectual property correctly, and only 6% of small and medium-sizedenterprises have an intellectual property enforcement department Many businesses donot even list the intellectual property Reclaiming their rights and brands is difficult,especially, proving will be very complicated and time-consuming when those brandsare only famous within the territory of Vietnam without being famous in othercountries.

A prime example of the difficult foreign market is Trung Nguyen Coffee Thecompany has been in talks with Rice Field to bring products to the U.S However,before the two reached a final agreement, the partner registered Trung Nguyen coffeetrademark protection with the U.S authorities and the World Intellectual ProtectionOrganization (WIPO) Trung Nguyen has neglected and is at risk of not using hisbrand in this new market The absence of awareness of the importance of intellectualproperty protection means that Trung Nguyen has spent a lot of time and money toaccess and expand the market

The size of enterprises is small, spontaneous, limited financial resources lead

to difficulties in brand positioning

Small and medium enterprises often account for a large proportion, evenoverwhelming in total sales According to the Vietnam Academy of Sciences statistics,currently, 96.7% of registered enterprises operating in Vietnam operate under thismodel Their contribution to total output and job creation is very significant Even so,these businesses are all vulnerable to economic fluctuations About 20% of exports bysmall and medium-sized enterprises are limited due to the lack of scale, technology,and level of business sophistication to increase productivity and expand markets, andlack the expertise and capacity to come up with breakthrough ideas In addition, theirbusinesses are heavily dependent on input materials from imports (especially fromChina) Therefore, competitive price pressure is also a direct influence on the brandingmotivation of these businesses It shows that the positioning and branding of thesebusinesses should be a matter of concern

18

1.2.3 Opportunities

Government support for business in Vietnam

The Vietnamese Government has made efforts on reforming the businessinvestment environment, expanding bilateral and multilateral relations, supportingexport and import along with the efforts of enterprises in branding Supporting thenational branding of high-quality Vietnamese goods and services, trusted byconsumers, in line with international commitments and new-generation free tradeagreements; promote the circulation and synchronous and flexible implementation ofsolutions to stimulate Vietnamese consumption; there are mechanisms to regulate andcirculate the distribution of goods, in order to ensure the supply of essential supplies

to serve the needs of people in the context of Covid-19 epidemic

A typical example is the Vietnam National Brand Program6 After nearly 18years of implementing this program, not only brands having quality products arehonored, but awareness and action to build and develop brands are much moreenhanced In the period from 2020 to 2030, Vietnam has specific objectives such as:Contribute to increasing the value of Vietnam National Brand on average of 20% peryear according to statistics and assessments of prestigious rating organizations in theworld; Each year an increase of 10% of the number of enterprises listed in the list ofenterprises with the highest brand value of prestigious rating organizations in theworld; 90% of enterprises across the country are aware of the role of trademarks inproduction, business and investment Thus, businesses can take advantage of7Vietnam National Brand leverage to build their brand as well as build the image ofVietnam as a reputable country with high quality goods and services

Ministries also organize conferences, meetings, exchanges and contacts withbusinesses to support them in providing more directions to build brands For instance,the seminar "Communication strategy for startups: Brand positioning - marketdevelopment" organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology on July 24, 2020 ,and recently a webinar on "Upgrading strategies, changing revenue" sponsored by theMinistry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam in collaboration with the E-commerceDevelopment Center on August 12, 2021

The continuously expanding market enables businesses to have access to more groups of customers with various needs

6Approved by the Prime Minister under Decision No 253/2003/QD-TTg dated November 25, 2003

7Approved in Decision No 1320/QD-TTg