The advertising market has bucked the economic trend, remaining strong,with both Vietnamese and foreign advertising agencies seeing aconsistent increase in the number of huge deals with large corporations.
Inthe first half of this year Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company(Vinamilk) has spent 462 billion VND (21 million USD) on advertising, ora full fourth of its marketing expenditure.
Its spending onadvertising and sales in the first half of this year was more than inthe whole of 2011, but its turnover is down to 78 percent of that of thefirst half of 2011.
Amid the economic downturn, Vinamilk is notthe only giant company to spend more on advertisement and marketingthan in the past.
But international advertising agencies get thelion's share of the large accounts — Vinamilk hires US agency TBWA;Japanese-owned Densu Vietnam counts all Japanese corporations likeToyota, Yamaha, Ajinomoto, Canon, Aeon Mall as its clients; Americanfirm Lowe has the Coca-Cola, OMO, and Masan Consumer accounts.
"Weoften choose Japanese advertising companies for long-term campaigns,"Vo Thanh Tai, marketing director of Vinastar Motors, told Tuoi Tre(Youth) newspaper.
"We consider local companies, but they shouldprove their capabilities first. For smaller activities like events,customer meets, we have chosen local companies like Vietart and ReachSquare."
Robert Tran, director of Canada-owned Robenny StrategicConsultancy Corporation, said that multinational and local corporationsspell out their strategies and ask the advertising agency for ideas toimplement the strategies. Few Vietnamese advertising agencies canprovide consultancy like that. This is why they often lose.
DoKim Dung, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Advertising Association, said:"Thanks to their global presence, multinational advertising agencies winmost of the big contracts and there is no chance for local companies.
"Vietnamese corporations too like to use foreign agencies for their long-term campaigns."
He said local companies' financial ability was too limited to compete with their foreign rivals.
"Mostforeign advertising companies in Vietnam are very big with tens ofthousands of staff and turnover of 6 - 10 billion USD. They have alsoworked with global companies for tens of years.
But he pointedout one area where local agencies are competitive: "They have anadvantage in outdoor advertising, PR, and event management because theseneed a lot of bodies and a deep understanding of the local situation."
As a result they account for almost 100 percent of the three markets.
Companieslike Coca-Cola, Adidas, Nike and Vinamilk have started earmarking apart of their advertising budget for online marketing, and this isanother area where local companies have a chance of competing.
"Advertisingthrough Google, key words, or Facebook needs continuous updates tointeract with customers and this is an advantage for small companieslike ours," Le Xuan Hue, Director of HCM City-based SEM VietnamAdvertisement Company, said.-VNA
Inthe first half of this year Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company(Vinamilk) has spent 462 billion VND (21 million USD) on advertising, ora full fourth of its marketing expenditure.
Its spending onadvertising and sales in the first half of this year was more than inthe whole of 2011, but its turnover is down to 78 percent of that of thefirst half of 2011.
Amid the economic downturn, Vinamilk is notthe only giant company to spend more on advertisement and marketingthan in the past.
But international advertising agencies get thelion's share of the large accounts — Vinamilk hires US agency TBWA;Japanese-owned Densu Vietnam counts all Japanese corporations likeToyota, Yamaha, Ajinomoto, Canon, Aeon Mall as its clients; Americanfirm Lowe has the Coca-Cola, OMO, and Masan Consumer accounts.
"Weoften choose Japanese advertising companies for long-term campaigns,"Vo Thanh Tai, marketing director of Vinastar Motors, told Tuoi Tre(Youth) newspaper.
"We consider local companies, but they shouldprove their capabilities first. For smaller activities like events,customer meets, we have chosen local companies like Vietart and ReachSquare."
Robert Tran, director of Canada-owned Robenny StrategicConsultancy Corporation, said that multinational and local corporationsspell out their strategies and ask the advertising agency for ideas toimplement the strategies. Few Vietnamese advertising agencies canprovide consultancy like that. This is why they often lose.
DoKim Dung, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Advertising Association, said:"Thanks to their global presence, multinational advertising agencies winmost of the big contracts and there is no chance for local companies.
"Vietnamese corporations too like to use foreign agencies for their long-term campaigns."
He said local companies' financial ability was too limited to compete with their foreign rivals.
"Mostforeign advertising companies in Vietnam are very big with tens ofthousands of staff and turnover of 6 - 10 billion USD. They have alsoworked with global companies for tens of years.
But he pointedout one area where local agencies are competitive: "They have anadvantage in outdoor advertising, PR, and event management because theseneed a lot of bodies and a deep understanding of the local situation."
As a result they account for almost 100 percent of the three markets.
Companieslike Coca-Cola, Adidas, Nike and Vinamilk have started earmarking apart of their advertising budget for online marketing, and this isanother area where local companies have a chance of competing.
"Advertisingthrough Google, key words, or Facebook needs continuous updates tointeract with customers and this is an advantage for small companieslike ours," Le Xuan Hue, Director of HCM City-based SEM VietnamAdvertisement Company, said.-VNA
