Building a brand from storytelling about agarwood

The motto "Awaken the soul"

Her chance to come to agarwood and the Aquilaria tree is a combination of her love for traditional culture, her concern for the gradually forgotten identity value, and her desire to create a product that is symbolic of Da Nang and Vietnam. She has witnessed many types of agarwood being commercialized, counterfeited or produced but losing their inherent spiritual value. That made her even more determined to revive the pure and noble beauty of agarwood. Her journey began with the Vietnamese Aquilaria tree - a tree that only crystallizes agarwood in adversity.

The brand slogan "Awake your spirit" has been her guiding principle since the early days: Awaken the spirit, awaken the purest and deepest values ​​within each person. She wants Dana to not only be a place to sell agarwood, but also a place to awaken the soul, evoke awareness and connection between people with each other, with nature and with themselves.

Starting a business with agarwood, she was walking on a rocky road. The biggest difficulty was not only in finance or the market, but also in changing consumer perception. Many people think agarwood is a luxury, only for the upper class or for religious purposes. Meanwhile, she wanted to build agarwood as a product that is close, healing, connecting, and inspiring a beautiful life.

Starting a business with agarwood, she was like walking on a rocky road.

In addition, finding qualified raw materials, ensuring manual production processes and especially the technology to preserve natural scents all require high costs and difficult techniques. She faced cash flow pressure, had to self-study marketing, branding, online sales, and many times faced doubts from the market when introducing spiritual cultural products to young people, where agarwood is a strange thing.

Meticulous and careful with every step of choosing ingredients, Ms. Tuyen always wants everything to be under control.

She learned how to tell the story of agarwood under a new, more youthful, and deeper perspective, and the slogan "Awake your spirit" is the message she sends to consumers: Live mindfully, find peace in the midst of a noisy life with the original scent of nature.

Looking back on the journey, she finds her efforts difficult but worthwhile. In 2022, Dana Elite won first prize in the "Startup Idea" contest organized by the Women's Union of Thanh Khe District, Da Nang. In 2024 and 2025, all of the company's product lines will meet 4-star OCOP standards. The company currently has a system of 11 stores spread across major cities such as Da Nang, Hanoi, Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City, along with more than 50 affiliated stores and agents. Dana Tram Huong has also expanded its presence on e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, TikTok, website, Facebook... and is increasingly winning the hearts of consumers.

Looking back on the journey, she finds her efforts difficult but worthwhile.

She not only sells products, but also conveys a cultural experience, a philosophy of life. Her customers are not simply buyers, but companions with values: Towards goodness - Towards purity - Towards peace. Each gift from Dana Tram Huong is a positive message, the scent not only spreads but also awakens the spirit, just like the slogan "Awake your spirit".

Ready to share experience in developing OCOP products

Ms. Tuyen's products are displayed at many fairs.

From her own entrepreneurial journey, Ms. Tuyen has drawn many lessons and practical experiences for young people who are starting their entrepreneurial journey with traditional products, especially products associated with Vietnamese cultural identity. According to Ms. Tuyen, the most important thing is to clearly understand the identity and know how to retell the story in a new way, touching the emotions of young people.

In the near future, Dana Elite aims to expand its product line using agarwood, such as the "Fragrance and Color of Five Elements" agarwood jewelry set (soon to be recognized as a 3-star OCOP), agarwood watches, natural agarwood perfumes, high-end gift collections... serving both domestic and international markets.

Building a brand from storytelling about agarwood

The company is promoting exports to Japan and Taiwan (China) - where the culture is similar and the value of agarwood is highly valued. At the same time, Dana Elite will build a unique experience space where people can enjoy agarwood tea, inhale the pure scent and watch the skillful hands of skilled craftsmen creating products from the Aquilaria tree. From there, agarwood will not only be an OCOP product but also become a highlight of experiential tourism.

Some Dana Elite agarwood products

As a business recognized by the community and the OCOP system, Ms. Tuyen always believes: Small business does not mean small vision. Dana Elite wants to become a bridge for agricultural and rural start-up models to have the opportunity to learn, access the market and build brands.

She is willing to share her experience in developing products that meet OCOP standards, designing products, inspiring communication, and even supporting female startup groups - those who were like her, starting out with only passion and a lot of confusion. "I believe that when each person keeps a small fire burning, the whole community will shine brightly" - Ms. Tuyen shared.

And agarwood - a symbol of peace of mind and stability - is what she wants to spread in that journey of connection.

Core elements that help Dana Elite achieve success:

- Maintain traditional values ​​but innovate.
- Manual but scientific.
- Spiritual but close.

"Starting a business with traditional products is not just about making a beautiful product but also about telling a real story, spreading emotions and values. Start with kindness, with heart. Then learn a lot from marketing, technology to management to "wrap the old soul in a new way of doing things".

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/xay-dung-thuong-hieu-tu-cach-ke-chuyen-ve-tram-huong-20250413235254275.htm