Ad agencies misjudge vietnamese
Advertising companies have come under fire in Vietnam
for underestimating the sophistication of the country's
urban teens and white-collar consumers. Instead of
sticking with straightforward ads that baldly explain the
product's function, companies need to whip up
campaigns that are more creative and pack an
emotional punch, as they do in more mature markets
like Thailand and Malaysia, according to a study
released in mid-January by ad agency Leo Burnett
Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City-based NFO Research.
"Vietnam's young, up-and-coming urban consumers
have changed faster than any consumers before them,"
Leo Burnett Vietnam Managing Director Phil
McDonald tells the REVIEW.
"There's a hunger to
catch up with what's happening around the world." But
some ad executives say that both local and foreign firms
are resisting innovation in favour of a hard-sell
approach. "The problem is that the clients don't really
understand brand behaviour," says Ravi Kohli, strategic
planning director of Vietnam Advertising, a
locally-owned agency in Ho Chi Minh City. Television
gets plenty of attention in Vietnam, where 96% of the
urban population own TV sets and families watch an
average of three hours per day, according to Leo
Burnett.
The Far Eastern Economic Review - January 23, 2003.
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