Vietnam consumer boom ignites advertising
HO CHI MINH CITY - Perhaps it's the aroma, but when the baker's ovens open
at Vietnam's first hypermarket, chaos reigns as people
push and shove to lay their hands on French-style
baguettes and other loaves.
Jean-Pierre Germain, director of the Cora Bien Hoa
hypermarket some 30 km (20 miles) from Ho Chi Minh
City, said 8,000 baguettes were sold each day while the
in-house bakery operated around-the-clock to try to
meet demand.
Fresh-baked baguettes are the hottest sellers in the
hypermarket, but it will take more than a loaf of bread to
satisfy Vietnam's growing appetite for consumer goods.
After decades of dour communist control in Vietnam,
growing market liberalisation and personal wealth has for
the first time given consumers choice -- and advertising
has been key.
In the three months since Cora opened in a blaze of
publicity, up to 50,000 farmers and factory workers
surge through its doors each Sunday and 15,000 on
other days to buy anything from washing machines to
shoes.
``Consumers have been dreaming of this... They have
money to buy, they buy and they like to buy,'' said
Rene-Charies Dalac, Cora's director of non-food
products.
CONSUMERS TAKE INITIATIVE
Neon and painted hoardings have sprouted throughout
the country urging consumers to buy the latest products,
while the old party propaganda billboards extolling
workers to greater achievements have been increasingly
overshadowed.
Adverts for consumer products manufactured by such
multinationals as Procter & Gamble and Unilever are
common, while Coca-Cola and Pepsi have been fighting
out the cola wars since the United States lifted its trade
embargo against Hanoi in 1994.
State television stations devote more time to
commercials, which have become increasingly
sophisticated. The emphasis is now shifting to
Vietnamese themes from ads that had been produced for
other Asian or Western markets.
But a lack of production facilities and expertise in
Vietnam means film locations such as Sydney are
popular due to the city's large overseas Vietnamese
community.
Even the Communist Party mouthpiece, the daily Nhan
Dan (People), now runs ads and recently featured a full
page touting the ``Amazing Thailand'' tourism campaign.
Market research firm ACNielsen estimates total
advertising spending in Vietnam will hit some $100
million this year, against $111 million in 1997. Executives
said this reflected a slowing economy but predicted the
industry would soon recover.
``Vietnamese consumers are incredibly receptive to
advertising,'' said a foreign advertising executive.
``There's no doubt that there's a direct link between
adverts and sales.''
The first Vietnamese advertising agencies were formed in
1989 and were soon followed by international firms
looking to support their global clients as they pushed into
Vietnam.
Ingrained political mistrust of consumerism has seen
foreign ad agencies tolerated but not encouraged. With
the exception of U.S.-based Leo Burnett Co, which has
a trial contract, agencies are technically barred from
doing business but can open representative offices.
``We're with karaoke bars and discotheques -- socially
unacceptable. Advertising (to the Communist Party) is
still a sensitive issue,'' said the advertising executive.
But major foreign agencies have played a leading role in
shaping consumer tastes and trends, although contracts
and payments have to be conducted offshore.
Risks are high and most agencies have been subjected to
surprise inspections on alleged illegal business activities.
In April, about 20 uniformed police burst into the Ho
Chi Minh City offices of Bates Worldwide. For weeks,
some staff members were subjected to lengthy
questioning.
``We're in limbo. If we can carry on and do the best we
can to keep our clients happy, then fine,'' the ad
executive said. Like all foreign ad executives, he
declined to be identified.
CREATIVE BUZZ
The executive's office was typical of international
advertising agencies -- couriers dashed in to deliver
artwork, staff bustled and telephones rang endlessly.
Rock music blared from one room while two creative
staff -- one Vietnamese, the other Western -- discussed
whether the song would be sexy and emotive enough for
a planned ad campaign.
``We have some great Vietnamese talent that maybe in
five years will be leading the industry,'' the executive
said. ``Basically we are developing the next generation
of local talent.''
But tight censorship called for a sensitive approach.
``Here in Ho Chi Minh City there are bar girls, hookers
and wild living, but the average person is very
conservative so ads cannot be overtly sexy,'' the
executive said.
Nguyen Quy Cap, director of state-owned Youth
Advertising Co, one of the Vietnam's first ad agencies,
said a small market, home to 16 foreign agencies, posed
a threat to local outfits.
``If the government takes no measures to protect us we
will be very affected by international agencies,'' he said,
adding that local agencies could not meet the high
international standards at foreign outfits.
Due to the ban on direct business, foreign agencies place
media buying through their local counterparts.
``The fact is some foreign agencies...pay about 1-2
percent commission to the local agency,'' said Cap.
``This is cheating. Most of the work is done outside
(Vietnam) and...this is unreasonable because it does
nothing good to the industry.''
Reuters - December 06, 1998.
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