The Power of Building Trends into Your Brands…

Senior Healthy Marketing Consultant, Sam Waterfall reports from Vietnam and shares 3 lessons we can all learn from this burgeoning economy.

In May 2010 The Healthy Marketing Team were in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Despite having read the reports and digested the ‘consultant diet’ of zip file after zip file of data, when we personally witnessed the speed of the economic growth in Vietnam we were AMAZED…

A quick look at the figures:

• Vietnam topped a recent A.T.Kearney Report; listed as No. 1 country for retail investment
• Retail outlet growth in excess of 10% per annum
• Sales growth in excess of 20%
• Asia’s 3rd largest % of working women: 73% (behind only China and Thailand)
• A GDP which has more than doubled since 2001

Viet Family: Strong values in faced paced Ho Chi Minh City

What do the Local Experts say?

We were privileged to speak to a group of over 150 Food & Beverage experts and while (for confidentiality reasons) I am not at liberty to reveal the survey results, I can reveal that this is a market which is driven to seek ever greater performance and achievement: a people massively committed to family values and their children’s success.

Despite recent annual inflation between 10 and 20% per annum, the primary household shoppers are fiercely protective of their shopping budget for family, children and health. With these fundamentals in place, the population believes it will be fit to compete - and that is exactly what it’s doing. Competition is intense among the population but beyond borders, Vietnam is a fast accelerating powerhouse of growth to rival its Asian neighbours.

Riding the trend curve by building in what consumers are looking for is a cost effective strategy for a brand instead of having to buy awareness through advertising and retail space.

3 Healthy Marketing Lessons for Food & Beverage Marketers in all countries

As we work with Clients worldwide, we help to grow brands or to renovate brands by aligning them with strong trends. The critical element is understanding the timing and lifecycle of the trend. Ideally you aim to catch them early and ride up the steepest part of their growth curve.

1. Let the power of the trend save you time and money…

It can be useful to think of the analogy of a trend being like a powerful wind. If our brand is a small sailboat or even a large cruise ship, moving with the wind will be far easier, faster and more energy and cost efficient then trying to sail into the wind.

In Vietnam, as I mentioned in the video, we observed the ‘natural’ trend gaining hold. Vietnamese consumers were scared by the recent milk scandals in China and value safe, toxin free foods from trusted brands. Building this into a brand proposition may help you to ride the growth curve ‘with the powerful wind behind you’.

On Trend. Women can Look Good and Feel Good with Passiona Coffee in Vietnam.

As we shopped the modern trade in Vietnam, we noticed another strong trend or ‘favourable wind’ serving to accelerate the growth of brands which had build it into their proposition: I also saw many brands on the ‘Look good, Feel good” trend - all benefiting from the strong desire among the many younger consumers to look as attractive as possible. Coffee is hugely popular in Vietnam and now it’s increasingly available in single serve portions targeted at fashionable women and striving men.

Safety, Health, Beauty, Taste - 2 Zero Coffee is trying to include many of the major trends.

2. If the timing is right, benefit from more than one trend…

The ’stand out’ example of the on trend product was 2 Zero coffee. Take a look at their website here and watch the TV Commercial - it’s hard to imagine stronger imagery of success, beauty, achievement being associated with a brand. As they say, 2 Zero is ‘not just coffee’ - it carries one story about health (reducing cholesterol, anti-constipation and preventing obesity) and second story about looks and beauty based on the ingredient collagen. In this way, the brand is riding the trends of safety, health, beauty and taste.

3. Why riding the trend curve works so well…

Harnessing the trend means you're not trying to convince or sell consumers

The reason that trends can help grow your business is simple. By delivering on trend messages, on trend benefits and on trend propositions, you are telling your consumers the story they are already looking out for and wanting to hear. You are not trying to ’sell’ them a new advertising message. You are not trying to convince them of something which they don’t yet believe.

As Victor Hugo observed, “An invasion of armies can be resisted but not an idea whose time has come.”  Observe the timing of the trends in your market and harness their power to grow your brand.

To discover the Healthy Marketing Team’s latest Trend Analysis for your market, or to book your free, no obligation initial consultation, contact sam@healthymarketingteam.com.