Sharing with TG&VN reporter, Dr. Cu Van Trung, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Education Consulting and Training Joint Stock Company, felt positive, confident and excited about the assessment of the world's leading brand valuation and strategy consulting organization Brand Finance on Vietnam's national brand. According to this organization, Vietnam continues to be a bright spot in the picture of building and developing a global national brand. This is also the national brand with the fastest growth rate in value in the world - 74% in the period 2019-2022.
What do you think about the business picture and brand factors in Vietnam recently?
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| Dr. Cu Van Trung, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Education Consulting and Training Joint Stock Company. (Photo: NVCC) |
It can be seen that the assessment of an independent and highly reputable organization - Brand Finance - in an advanced country like the UK is important data, a reliable parameter for investors, international organizations and countries around the world to have a good, complete view of Vietnam in terms of national branding and the current operations of Vietnamese enterprises.
As a Vietnamese citizen, I, like everyone else, share a positive, confident and excited feeling about such an assessment. However, we should not be too subjective or overly happy, but consider this as a great encouragement from an international organization that has a realistic view of the development of the country and Vietnamese enterprises at the present time.
The assessment of Brand Finance is based on very strict criteria, scoring based on 4 main areas: Brand of national goods and services; Investment (attracting domestic investment and direct investment); tourism and talent. In the 3 years from 2019 to 2022, on all aspects as in the criteria of this organization, Vietnam has achieved good and optimistic results.
Despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam's economy still achieved positive growth, controlled inflation, and agricultural exports remained a bright spot in international trade. Investment attraction and the investment environment still maintained their advantages, being attractive and offering many incentives to businesses and corporations from other countries.
In parallel, over the years, the Vietnamese Government has always made efforts to reform the administration and improve the country's management capacity. In particular, the campaign against corruption and negativity launched by our Party has brought many good results, creating trust among domestic and foreign investors.
Not only that, Vietnam is also a country with a long coastline, great tourism potential, many places recognized by the world as famous international landmarks. In addition, we also have a long-standing, rich culture, with many sediments in both tangible and intangible, and friendly and gentle Vietnamese people. All of these parameters bring Vietnam high scores in the evaluation criteria of Brand Finance.
How to build and maintain a corporate brand is still a big question for businesses, large, medium or small. What advice do you have for them on this issue?
Vietnamese people do not have much experience in building and maintaining brands in general and corporate brands in particular. Many businesses even "carelessly" violate the brands, logos, and symbols of international organizations and businesses.
According to the criteria of Brand Finance organization, national brand and "carrying" business brand are both a culture, value of Vietnamese people, about the country, the nation, the historical flow, the most prominent of which is prestigious products, with high technology application, meeting international standards.
A product of any large or small enterprise that wants to build a brand and establish itself in the international market, in addition to good and quality products, must also "inlay" (breathe life) into it the character, spirit and identity of the Vietnamese people.
We can see that big, developed countries not only have products in industry and agriculture with national brands, but also have products in services, movies, music, entertainment, football, sports, etc. That is soft power, soft power, "carrying" the values of a nation, a country, creating the brand, unique characteristics of each country, nation.
In 1996, Korea recognized the importance of National Branding. At that time, to promote and advertise the image of businesses and the country, they established a Council to promote this issue with the participation of nearly 10 Ministers from various departments and many experts in the field of communication and brand promotion.
With such a systematic, long-term and persistent approach, this country has aroused the spirit and strength of businesses and people, so they have succeeded in bringing their national image and brand to the world as we have seen today.
Vietnam has also built a National Brand Program for nearly two decades, with the goal of building and developing a national brand, through supporting businesses to develop strong brands in the market. I expect that the program will enhance national competitiveness, raise brand status, and promote the image of Vietnam as a country with high-quality goods and services in the domestic and international markets.
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| Simulated image of Vietnam map made from chips produced by FPT. (Source: Vnxpress) |
In your opinion, what are the weaknesses of Vietnamese enterprises today when building brands? What should enterprises do to overcome them?
Short-termism, quick profiteering, and lack of strategic vision are weaknesses that have crept into the operational mentality of some Vietnamese enterprises. Although this is the golden period for Vietnam in building corporate and national brands, this issue requires persistence and longevity, and cannot be achieved overnight.
Most of our businesses have not thought too far ahead, have not considered the long-term story of image and brand. This is also understandable and consistent with the habits of Vietnamese people. Furthermore, talking about brand building is talking about financial issues, having to invest, having to spend money to advertise products. Some large businesses also have to spend a lot of time to integrate internationally such as Viettel, Vinamilk, Thaco, Vingroup, FPT...
People need to accompany businesses and the Government in building a national brand. Each citizen should be an inspirational ambassador about Vietnam, about a very new socio-economic image of Vietnam to international friends when conditions permit. Only then can we write the story of Vietnam like other Asian countries - Japan, Korea, Taiwan (China) - today, to tell about the miracles we have achieved in the past. |
In short, the story of building a national brand and an international brand is very long-term, costly in terms of money and effort. In other words, this is a story about “beauty and lyrics”. To build a brand, a business must have real “beauty”, really good products, then “lyrics” will be the highlight.
Brand Finance believes that Vietnam has promoted all aspects of soft power relatively well, especially the integration of Vietnam's national brand and leading product brands. So, what do businesses and people need to do to help Vietnam increasingly improve its soft power and national brand value, sir?
International experts believe that the time for a country to take off in general and for a National Brand to spread in particular is about 120 years in a country's development cycle. Therefore, people and businesses need to be more aware that this is the "golden time" for Vietnam to elevate the position, brand and image of the country as well as its products.
We have gone through nearly 40 years of innovation, integration and national development. Currently, Vietnam's position and strength are basically many achievements - something that the Party and State have repeatedly affirmed.
A dynamic, innovative, creative enterprise with good and valuable products; in addition to its own capacity, the enterprise needs to attach responsibility to the nation and people when integrating into the international economy.
High ratings from independent organizations such as Brand Finance are a solid guarantee for organizations such as credit, banking, insurance, and investment to target Vietnam.
The “Heart and Spirit” of our country has been shaped, more importantly, at this time, the people, businesses and the Government need to be stronger and more confident in promoting our brand and image in the international arena. At the same time, we need to continue supporting young businesses with good products, sustainable and stable business but without experience in penetrating deeply into the world market.
Uniting, agreeing and guiding each other to "take the exam" to enter the "Great University" - the world economic community - is the fastest way for Vietnam's soft power and national brand to be increasingly firmly positioned, creating a deep impression on the world.
In my opinion, national branding through the business path is a prominent and unique feature. Therefore, businesses must clearly see that it is their responsibility and honor to consolidate and preserve their products and images when stepping out into the world.
People need to accompany businesses and the Government in this matter. Each citizen should be an inspirational ambassador about Vietnam, about a very new socio-economic image of Vietnam to international friends when conditions permit. Only then can we write the story of Vietnam like the Asian countries - Japan, Korea, Taiwan (China) - today, to tell about the miracles we have achieved in the past.
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