The position of the Vietnamese national brand has improved considerably thanks to the Government's facilitation for economic development and the significant contribution of enterprises.
Many large corporations of Vietnam such as VNPT, VinaPhone, MobiFone, Vinhomes, Vietnam Airlines, Vinamilk, and Habeco have fully acknowledged the value of brand in corporate building and development and their brands continue to be recognised as Vietnam National Brand by the National Brand Council in 2018.
Vietnamese enterprises have made great progress in building and developing brands, thereby gradually improving the competitiveness of domestically produced goods. However, according to a recent survey by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, only 20% of enterprises have invested in branding while the remaining others have not paid attention to brand building, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises.
One of the reasons for this situation is that enterprises have not defined correctly the importance of branding and they spend a small amount of their budget for this activity. Enterprises still think that branding is expensive and wasteful which is only suitable for large enterprises.
In addition, enterprises do not have long-term vision and they usually focus investment in branding in some specific periods. It is this mindset that has caused many Vietnamese brands to be inferior and weaker than foreign brands of the same form, quality and price.
Moreover, enterprises have only been paying attention to trademark registration in the domestic market while ignoring foreign markets, resulting in losses for enterprises.
There are many cases of products of well-known Vietnamese brands, such as Trung Nguyen coffee, Vinamit dried jackfruit and Bitis footwear, being copied abroad, causing great losses for enterprises in expanding markets and competing with foreign goods.
Even protected geographical indications such as Phu Quoc fish sauce, Phan Thiet fish sauce, and Ben Tre coconut candy, were also trademarked by foreign companies. Regarding agricultural exports, although Vietnam always ranks among the world's top exporters of rice, coffee, pepper and others, agricultural products bearing Vietnamese brands in the world market remain unfamiliar to customers.
In the context of increasingly deep integration, domestic enterprises face great competitive pressure from foreign companies with strong brands. If Vietnamese enterprises do not attach significant importance to brand building, they will not only lose the opportunity to penetrate foreign markets, but also encounter difficulties in dominating the domestic market.
Vietnamese authorised agencies also need to take more action in informing enterprises of the significance of brand and put forth appropriate directions for brand building.
