“Make in Vietnam” animation ecosystem towards sustainable development

NDO - From the first Vietnamese cartoon character reaching billions of global views on YouTube every month, to a rich ecosystem of consumer products, books, animation and programming training academies... are the marks of Sconnect Vietnam after 10 years of entering the creative industry full of potential and challenges.

An ecosystem of animated characters created and developed by Sconnect Vietnam.

Currently, the creative industry is a major growth sector of the world economy . The creative industry has been developing strongly in countries with cultural and creative export strategies such as the US, UK, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, etc. and generating 5-8% of GDP (gross domestic product). In Vietnam, the latest figures estimate that the creative industry accounts for about 3% of the national GDP (General Statistics Office, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism). A decade of "starting up" with digital content In recent years, more and more Vietnamese enterprises have participated in the creative industry and achieved many remarkable achievements both in domestic market share and international export. Choosing to make animation and nurturing the dream of "putting Vietnam on the world animation map", Sconnect Vietnam Technology and Service Investment Company Limited (or Sconnect for short) is a prominent name with many creative products rich in humanity and the ability to develop a surrounding ecosystem. Founded in September 2014 with an initial team of only 8 people, Sconnect started by editing video content and publishing it on the cross-border digital platform YouTube. Despite its small and young staff, with almost no experience in exploiting and creating digital content on the Internet, the founders of Sconnect still firmly chose the "slow but sure" path of good content to conquer audiences in high-standard markets, saying no to bad, toxic content that lacks sustainability. According to Mr. Ta Manh Hoang, founder - CEO of Sconnect Vietnam, exporting digital content to demanding markets such as the US and Europe at that time was considered a bold move. Some people also wondered why they didn't start right from the Vietnamese market. Mr. Ta Manh Hoang explained: “At the beginning, we researched the standards and regulations of children's content and found that in the US and Europe there were very clear standards, we just needed to learn and follow those standards. In Vietnam, digital content is a very new field, there is no clear system of standards for children's content producers to comply with." In order to be published and conquer the audience, the production team learned the standards of cross-border platforms, researched the tastes of audiences in target markets to be able to build content that is welcomed by American parents and children. The channel system gradually grew, multilingual and gradually conquered international audiences. From the first 1 million views, the system gradually reached 100 million views per month, then gradually increased to billions of views per month. From English content, up to now, Sconnect's content products have been released in 20 languages.

Sconnect staff are mostly young, dynamic and passionate Vietnamese, with the ability to undertake everything from computer graphic design to handmade prop production. (Photo: Sconnect Vietnam)

After 2 years of operation, Sconnect's staff has increased to 64 people. In addition to developing editorial content, realizing that the animation field has a lot of potential for development, Sconnect has researched and officially produced animation for children, starting with animation production using 2D and Stopmotion technology. In 2018, after successfully releasing the animated film Wolfoo that attracted viewers worldwide, Sconnect Vietnam has planned a sustainable development roadmap and animation is the core product. The company has gradually prepared resources for the acceleration phase of expanding multi-industry development, from the core product of animation and expanding the exploitation of intellectual property rights of animation IP (exploitation of intellectual property assets). After the Wolfoo animation, Sconnect has continued to create and develop many animated character sets such as: Wolfoo; Doodles; Fairy Tales; Max's Puppy Dog; Tiny - Clay Mixer; Luka... and many other animated products. By the end of 2023, Sconnect owns and develops 18 animation IPs (intellectual property assets). In 2024, Sconnect aims to develop 10 more IPs. Sconnect is also one of the few animation studios in Vietnam and the region that applies a variety of animation production technologies: 2D, 2D Frame by Frame, 3D, Stop motion, Paper formation, Live Action, etc. Creating and expanding the creative ecosystem

After 10 years of development, from 8 members, Sconnect now has nearly 1,000 employees with facilities located in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, the US, the Czech Republic, the UK, and Hungary. From an editorial content production enterprise, Sconnect has built a creative business model, focusing on the main industries: Content production, Games, IP commerce, content distribution, entertainment services, creator support services, animation outsourcing services,education and training, and building an animation investment fund.

The Wolfoo animation brand is used on a variety of educational, entertainment, and consumer products... (Photo: Sconnect Vietnam)

When expanding production, one of the biggest difficulties is the shortage of high-quality human resources. To meet the human resource needs for its own development needs and contribute to the overall development of the market, in 2021, Sconnect launched the Sconnect International Animation Training Academy (Sconnect Academy, now SAMA) to train animation production. After 3 years of operation, SAMA has provided more than 3,000 workers to the labor market and the rate of graduates having jobs immediately is up to 100%. Currently, SAMA is training 7 majors in animation production and game design. Not only creating animated videos that "capture the hearts" of millions of children around the world, in 2021, Sconnect invested in developing an online educational game product from the Wolfoo cartoon character set. Each game is a small lesson for children to learn while playing, close to life and easy to do. To date, Sconnect has programmed and published 140 games for children under 8 years old, with more than 3 million game downloads per month. Similar to animation, Wolfoo Game continues to conquer American and European parents who encourage their children to "play games to learn, learn while playing". Good and safe content for young children is recognized by international education experts. As of mid-August 2024, Wolfoo Game has received 54 Teacher Approved badges approved by teachers and education experts from Google. Adding to Sconnect's animation ecosystem is a system of playgrounds modeled from cartoon characters loved by children. In 2022, Sconnect opened the first educational playground in Vietnam - Wolfoo City (now the Wolfoo World playground system), recreating images in the movie in real life. It is expected that by the end of 2025, Wolfoo World will develop more than 30 amusement parks nationwide, helping to diversify the Wolfoo product ecosystem and diversify Sconnect's business areas.

After 10 years of development, Sconnect owns an "asset" of about 50,000 videos. The content is translated into 20 languages ​​and released globally, attracting the most viewers in North America, Europe, China, Japan, India and other populous countries. Currently, the company owns more than 500 channels with over 4.5 billion views/month on YouTube, 3 diamond buttons and more than 400 gold and silver buttons.

In 2023, Sconnect was also awarded the first 2 Vietnamese Records in the field of animation, which are "The unit owning the largest number of copyrights for Vietnamese animated films" with 127 copyright certificates and "Wolfoo - Vietnamese animated film released in multiple languages ​​on Youtube with the most episodes" with 3,700 episodes and being translated into 17 languages. Up to now, Wolfoo has produced more than 4,000 episodes and an average of 20-25 new content each month. In 2024, with the goal of promoting Vietnam's animation industry, Sconnect has initiated the establishment of an Animation Investment Fund, with the aim of supporting and developing high-quality animated film projects. Sconnect will cooperate with animation studios and creative teams to develop new animated IPs, and coordinate with international content distribution platforms to expand the market. This fund will play an important role in making animation a spearhead industry of the digital economy, enhancing the position of the Vietnamese animation industry in the international market.

Nhandan.vn

Source: https://nhandan.vn/he-sinh-thai-hoat-hinh-make-in-vietnam-huong-toi-phat-trien-ben-vung-post826383.html