Hanoi (VNA) –ဣ Over the past years, the Government has adopted numerous policies to promote the Vietnamese culture, so that international friends will think of not only war, history, and heroic people but also diverse culture, creative industry, and beautiful nature when they mention the S-shaped country.

Each cultural worker, enterprise, and citizen should play a role in building a national cultural brand.

Positioning Vietnamese culture

With 25 years of experience in marketing and brand building, Tran Tue Tri has just released her book "Brand Vietnam-The Moment", offering her thought about this matter. Through the book, Tri wants to raise public awareness of the importance of building a strong national brand, and foster positive connectivity to promote initiatives on national brand building, thus asserting Vietnam's position and raising the national brand value. In an interview granted to VietnamPlus, the author stressed that building a national brand helps raise national pride and the value of each Vietnamese citizen when travelling abroad. Therefore, each Vietnamese citizen should fully understand the importance of national brand building, and be aware of what they can do to fulfill this mission, she said. "When talking to my international friends, I realise that for them, Vietnam is associated with war, and then pho and ao dai. I wish that they could also see the facelift in Vietnam as clearly as I do," Tri said. Tri expressed her wish that Vietnam will be known globally not only for its victories in the past wars, but also as a nation that has reaped many achievements in culture, sports and tourism, and boasts many other strengths. Sharing Tri’s views, painter Le Thiet Cuong also emphasised the importance of national cultural brand building. The painter said that he has visited many art museums around the world and noticed that Vietnamese handicrafts dating back from Ly-Tran dynasties are displayed there. Cuong said he felt proud at that time but also wondered why Vietnam has yet to build a brand for its handicrafts in particular and a national cultural brand in general. "Culture is a home pillar and a development base. We must think about how to turn heritage into assets and how to transform existing advantages into resources for cultural brand building. There is no better way to promote the image of a nation than through culture," Cuong stressed. US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper also affirmed that the country has substantial potential to turn heritage into assets, noting it is time for Vietnam to promote its “soft power” through cinema, music and  cuisine. The diplomat expressed his belief that one day, the world will also come to know Vietnam for its V-pop and V-fashion.

Turning heritage into assets

In this regard, Meritorious Artist Nguyen Xuan Bac, Director of the Vietnam National Drama Theatre, told VietnamPlus that he came to realise the need for  building a national brand many years ago. As a manager, he is also concerned about how to build reputation and create unique identities for the theatre. Meritorious Artist Nguyen Xuan Bac came to realise the need for building a national brand many years ago. (Photo: Vietnam National Drama Theatre) Bac expressed his wish that State management agencies will continue to help theatres in outlining development strategies as building a cultural industry through performances is the most effective, accessible and feasible approach, considering Vietnam’s abundant resources in the field. Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ta Quang Dong also regarded cultural brand building as an urgent task. "Since 2016, the initiative of building a cultural industry has been put forward. To establish a cultural industry, it is necessary to build a brand. Once a brand is identified, the country’s position and reputation will be elevated, thereby bringing economic and political benefits," he said. The official, however, admitted that Vietnam has not yet established standards for cultural brand identification, which challenges the building of the cultural industry. Currently, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism is studying the use of performing arts to introduce Vietnamese history while implementing a project to promote Vietnamese culture and tourism through cinema, he said./.