Vietnamese food products have significantly increased their presence in world markets, but they remain unknown because they lack brand identification and consciousness in the consumer’s mind. Urgent action would be required to change this situation.
 
Vietnam is blessed by its beautiful and fertile landscape with rich environments and climates, an abundant and varied harvest and a versatile food processing capacity. Vietnam is able to deliver any quality and any quantity of the finest produce throughout the year. However, Vietnam’s food products have not been recognized by the world. There is a big gap between what Vietnam is capable of and what the world knows about Vietnam. For example, Europeans still don’t have a particular perception of food products from Vietnam, because the country mainly exports raw material or non-processed products rather than building up overall brand marketing and distribution strategies.
 
Vietnam needs to expand and upgrade the value chain for its food products especially those produced for export. But this would require a lot of investment in terms of technology, human resources as well as capital. As assessed by international experts, while many localities and businesses embarked on building their own brands, the limited resources at their disposal, both in terms of personnel and finance, meant that the newly-generated brands remained small and non-competitive in the global market.
 
Therefore, it is necessary to fill the gap by mapping out a strategic direction for brand building and promoting the image of the country’s food industry. The Vietnam Food Branding program will help to favor Vietnamese producers and traders and build a modern image for the country as a global food production powerhouse.
 
In 2015, a team of colleagues from VIETRADE, CBI, MUTRAP, government authorities, industrial associations and international experts came together to tackle a clear challenge: How to develop and implement a national food branding strategy for Vietnam? The organization board launched an extensive program of interviews, workshops, focus groups, expert panel discussions, desk research, cultural immersions and surveys and produced a way forward plan to define a strategy and create the brand.
 
Experts have spoken to many stakeholders in Vietnam like companies, associations and trade bureaus. The program also established an organizing committee and a secretary board under VIETRADE. Experts have recommended and defined a central concept to position the country as a global player. The final option has been chosen: “Vietnam, the food basket of the world”. They also analyzed the branding structure of other countries, such as Thailand, Italy, Peru, etc. and recommended the structure for Vietnam’s food branding, “Foods of Vietnam”. Under the umbrella brand comes the brands of sub-sectors and under that, brands of micro-sectors. This slogan, together with an official visual brand identity expressed with meaningful graphics, would promote the image and increase recognition of Vietnam’s food products in the world market.