Developing rebrand strategy for Saigontourist holding company

TRNGĐI HC M TP. HCM UNIVERSITÉ LIBRE DE BRUXELLES HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY SOLVAYBRUSSELSSCHOOL MBAVB4 CHAU HOANG NHUT DEVELOPING REBRAND STRATEGY FOR SAIGONTOURIST HOLDING COMPANY MASTER PROJECT MASTER IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (PART-TIME) Ho Chi Minh City (2011)  i  ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. HOANG THI PHUONG THAO for her patient guidance and expert supervision. From the beginning of this dissertation, Dr. PHUONG THAO has given to continue the encouragement to make this dissertation become possibility, sharp studying and successfully finishing. Greatly and sincerely thanks are given to SAIGONTOURIST HOLDING COMPANY and Mr. TRAN HUY THANG, Director of Sales & Marketing; Dentsu Inc. expert team and other professors, lecturers of Solvay Business School, Open University of Ho Chi Minh City and Board of Examining who have excellent and professional knowledge and advices supporting me during post-graduate program and have spared their precious time to read through and given comments on this dissertation. I also specially thanks to my colleagues, classmates and others who help me information, questionnaire development, contribution ideas and others. Hoping that all of you are more and more healthful and successful in your life. With all the appreciation. Chau Hoang Nhut MBAVB4 March, 2012, Ho Chi Minh City  ii  COMMITMENTS I confirm that this thesis is a presentation of my original research work which I have studied and researched. Wherever contributions of others are involved, every effort is made to indicate this clearly, with due reference to the literature, and acknowledgement of collaborative research and discussions. This work is done for the study purpose. Copying or using this paper for any other purpose must be subject to the written acceptance of the author. Chau Hoang Nhut  iii  TUTOR’S COMMENTS Candidate: CHAU HOANG NHUT Project title: Comments:  iv  TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 2 1.1. Background of Vietnam tourism industry and Saigontourist Holding Company . 2 1.2. Problem statement 4 1.3. Project objectives 5 1.4. Scope and limitations of the research 5 1.5. Methodology of the research 6 1.6. Structure of project 8 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 10 2.1. Concepts of a brand 10 2.2. Functions of a brand 10 2.3. Importance of a brand 12 2.4. Value of a brand 12 2.5. Concept of branding 13 2.6. Branding identity and image 14 2.7. Rebranding 16 2.8. Managing the corporate rebranding 18 CHAPTER 3 INTERNAL ANALYSIS OF SAIGONTOURIST HOLDING COMPANY 24 3.1. Company background 24 3.2. Vision, mission and core values of Saigontourist Holding Company 25 3.3. Key facts of Saigontourist Holding Company in 2011 26 3.4. Current branding of Saigontourist Holding Company 27 3.5. Challenges to Saigontourist Holding Company’s brand 28 3.6. Summary: Strengths and Weaknesses of Saigontourist Holding Company 29 CHAPTER 4 EXTERNAL ANALYSIS OF SAIGONTOURIST HOLDING COMPANY 31 4.1. Vietnam travel & tourism industry overview 31 4.2. Competitor brand evaluation 33  v  4.3. Customer perceptions about the brands of Saigontourist Holding Company, Accor group and Benthanh Tourist Service company 39 4.4. Summary: Opportunities and Threats of Saigontourist Holding Company 42 CHAPTER 5 DEVELOPING REBRANDING STRATEGY AND NEW BRAND BROADCASTING PROGRAMS FOR SAIGONTOURIST HOLDING COMPANY 43 5.1. SWOT ANALYSIS 43 5.2. Saigontourist Holding Company new brand broadcasting programs 48 5.3. Rebrand project planning 51 CHAPTER 6 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 53  vi  ABBREVIATIONS SHC: Saigontourist Holding Company WTTC: World Travel & Tourism council VNAT: Vietnam National Administration of Tourism GDP: Gross Domestic Product. VND: Vietnam Dong USD: US Dollar WTO: World Trade Organization SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats  vii  LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Research flowchart 8 Figure 2.1: Corporate rebranding framework 19 Figure 2.2: Corporate rebranding framework for Saigontourist Holding Company 21 Figure 3.1: Saigontourist Holding Company 24 Figure 3.2: Saigontourist Holding Company 2011 key facts 26 Figure 4.1: Vietnam: Direct Contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP 32 Figure 4.2: Accor group worldwide 33 Figure 4.3: Accor Group in Vietnam 34 Figure 4.4: Accor brands 35 Figure 4.5: Perceptions of Accor group brand 36 Figure 4.6: Perceptions of Benthanh Tourist Service company brand 37 Figure 4.7: Perceptions of Saigontourist Holding Company brand 38 Figure 4.8: Customer perceptions of the three brands 40 Figure 5.1: Saigontourist Holding Company SWOT analysis 43 Figure 5.2: Saigontourist Holding Company brand identity modification 46 Figure 5.3: New brand broadcasting programs for Saigontourist Holding Company 49 Figure 5.4: Estimated revenue to 2015 of Saigontourist Holding Company 52  viii  LIST OF TABLES Table 5.1: Customer segmentation and approaching method 44  1  ABSTRACT In today’s Vietnam travel & tourism marketplace, companies need to set up effective branding strategies in order to be competitive. Saigontourist Holding Company is considered the leader in Vietnam travel & tourism industry, with 36 years of experiences alongside with many valuable assets: human resources, infrastructures, support from local and national authorities… But in the next stage of competition in travel & tourism industry, some weaknesses of the company are revealed, and one of the weak point of Saigontourist Holding Company is the branding system with unclear branding structure, inappropriate brand name in non-tourism business, brand awareness in global marketplace is low… which caused a lot of difficulties when the company want to join the international travel & tourism market. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the internal and external factors of Saigontourist Holding Company in order to find out what should be changed in the current branding of the company. And after that, some modifications and change in the brand name, logo design, color design, slogans… will be conducted to suit the visions of Saigontourist Holding Company of doing business in the upcoming years both in domestic market and global market. [...]... identity design of Saigontourist Holding Company and competitors in Vietnam; the requirements of the new brand identity for Saigontourist Holding Company and respondents can also provide some ideas and suggestions for the rebrand project o Opinions of respondents about current brand structure of Saigontourist Holding Company as well as the main competitors of Saigontourist Holding Company in Vietnam;... internal data of Saigontourist Holding Company First is the background of Saigontourist Holding Company and some key facts in the performance of the company, in the next part, the problems in current brand structure 23 of the company is revealed Finally, the strengths and weaknesses of the brand of Saigontourist Holding Company is conducted 24 CHAPTER 3 INTERNAL ANALYSIS OF SAIGONTOURIST HOLDING COMPANY This... the company background of Saigontourist Holding Company, key facts in 2011 performance and challenges of the branding strategy in order to 3.1 Company background Figure 3.1: Saigontourist Holding Company Source: Corporate presentation 25 Ho Chi Minh City Tourist Company (Saigontourist) has been operating since 1975 In 31/03/1999, under the decision of The People's Committee of HCMC, Saigontourist Holding. .. conclusion, Saigontourist Holding Company is having a steady pace of developing in Vietnam to target revenue of 20,000 billion VND in 2015, the corporate still have many things to 3.4 Current branding of Saigontourist Holding Company reason for using a product branding strategy is because Saigontourist Holding Company has a wide range of services, and some of its hotels are established before 1975,... troubles that Saigontourist Holding Company is facing in such a new stage of market development and competition, a rebranding project is needed to create a crystal clear, consistent and modern image of the company Solutions that the rebrand project will conduct are summarized below: To analyze the current situation of branding in Saigontourist Holding Company To suggest a new branding strategy for Saigontourist. .. method and interview with persons in charge of the rebranding project is done in order to collect data for the research This research methodology may apply for other Vietnam companies This research is trying to suggest a rebranding strategy to Saigontourist Holding Company Therefore HR strategy, financial strategy and accounting are not considered, but some information in the research is collected from those... domestic limited liability and 9 partly foreign-owned companies 3.2 Vision, mission and core values of Saigontourist Holding Company Vision: A top tourism corporate of Vietnam and South East Asia, and aiming for international markets Not only doing well in the main business, Saigontourist Holding Company is also contribute to the community in order s Saigontourist Holding Company is working as a Vietnamese... to gain an in-depth view of the rebranding situation of a company, hence qualitative research was most suited Third is data analysis, in which the secondary and primary data necessary for the rebranding project of Saigontourist Holding Company are analyzed Secondary data: o A survey with 100 samples which reflects the customer perceptions about Saigontourist Holding Company and main competitors in... 3.2: Saigontourist Holding Company 2011 key facts 27 Source: Saigontourist Holding Company final report 2011 (Sales & Marketing Dept.) In term of revenue structure, most of them come from Subsidiaries and Foreign jointventure companies, because they have famous and prestigious brands in Vietnam domestic joint-venture and joint-stock companies, in hotel business, because of Saigontourist Holding Company. .. bring the new brand image of Saigontourist Holding Company to the public Evaluation o The evaluation stage of the Corporate Rebranding Model is described as an ongoing process It is suggested that all stages of the rebranding are evaluated upon completion, but also that the campaign as a whole is being evaluated After a framework of rebrand project for Saigontourist Holding Company is developed, the next . Corporate rebranding framework 19 Figure 2.2: Corporate rebranding framework for Saigontourist Holding Company 21 Figure 3.1: Saigontourist Holding Company 24 Figure 3.2: Saigontourist Holding Company. of Saigontourist Holding Company 25 3.3. Key facts of Saigontourist Holding Company in 2011 26 3.4. Current branding of Saigontourist Holding Company 27 3.5. Challenges to Saigontourist Holding. REBRANDING STRATEGY AND NEW BRAND BROADCASTING PROGRAMS FOR SAIGONTOURIST HOLDING COMPANY 43 5.1. SWOT ANALYSIS 43 5.2. Saigontourist Holding Company new brand broadcasting programs 48 5.3. Rebrand