PR Newswire Vietnam Marks First Anniversary – An Inside Look at Vietnam’s Economy, Media Landscape and PR Tips

In conjunction with PR Newswire Vietnam’s first anniversary of its establishment on June 14, 2019, our local team offers an inside look at Vietnam’s dynamic economy, its media landscape, and PR tips.

To mark PR Newswire Vietnam’s first anniversary, two of its team members, Mai Anh Le, Country Manager, and Vũ Thái Dũng (Vincent), Media Relations Manager, joins me to share their views on Vietnam’s dynamic economy and its media landscape. For background information, PR Newswire Vietnam was established on June 14, 2018, and grown to a close-knit five-member team based in Ho Chi Minh City focusing on business development and developing our local news release distribution network.

Vietnam’s Economy

According to a DBS Bank research report published in May 2019, Vietnam occupies an important place in the regional supply chain and enjoys an extensive network of free trade agreements. With strong foreign direct investment (FDI) from China and Hong Kong in the first four months of 2019, it is estimated that Vietnam has the potential to grow by about 6-6.5% in the medium term.

Vietnam recorded remarkable GDP growth of 7.1% in 2018. This makes it the second fastest amongst Asian economies. This economic growth is fueled by FDI especially in electronics manufacturing where Vietnam has captured market share from its regional rivals as seen below.

With an estimated population of about 97 million in 2019, Vietnam is the 15^th most populous country in the world. The 15-to-64 age bracket accounts for 70% of the population and is a key demographic for B2C brands. As many young people are moving to big cities where more jobs are available, Vietnam’s urban population is expected to grow by 2.6% annually from 2015 to 2020, the highest rate among its regional peers. “Vietnam is a vibrant country with a bright economic future. We have witnessed a remarkable improvement in consumer consciousness with greater awareness of innovation and quality. This provides an opening for new innovative products as well as high-quality services”, Mai Anh Le said.

Vietnam’s Media Landscape

Vincent Vu pointed to the Kantar Worldpanel chart published in 2018 as a start for international brands to understand Vietnamese audiences:

As population density and economic development levels vary between regions, the optimal media channels mix will be different. Therefore, companies should always plan their media mix based on their audience segmentation.

In urban areas, the time spent on TV is higher than online – the second largest channel. In rural areas, although smartphone penetration is increasing, the coverage of online channels is still less than half that of TV – 95% for TV vs 45% for the Internet in rural areas. In Vietnam’s four biggest cities (Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Danang and Can Tho), Newspaper (33 percent coverage) and Magazine (16 percent coverage) are still effective means of communication for brands to reach their objectives.

In terms of PR tips for companies new to Vietnam, the PR Newswire Vietnam team shared a few points:

(1) In Vietnam, 95 percent of internet users watch video on mobile. Video content is often consumed and shared socially on both private and public networks. It is vital for companies to communicate vivid multimedia messages that differentiate their brand while attracting attention and shares.

(2) For company-related information, local journalists tend to be meticulous fact-checkers to avoid errors that may affect the reputation of their newsroom or companies. Therefore, it is a good strategy to update company websites and share company news through press releases to facilitate such fact-checking and win additional media exposure opportunities.

There are over a thousand press outlets covering many industries in Vietnam and this number continues to grow. Business news is the most closely monitored type of news for the local press. The PR Newswire Vietnam team shared a list of some of the leading business media in Vietnam:

The PR Newswire Advantage

PR Newswire Vietnam has seen a significant increase in demand for news dissemination channels from global customers sending corporate news to the Vietnam market, as well as from Vietnamese companies sending news globally. In the past year, the team has also been very passionate about helping Vietnamese companies learn more about telling a global brand story. These activities include a Media Coffee session (offering attendees a chance to hear from invited journalists), a content planning workshop, training days to share global communications tips and agency sharing sessions.

Mai Anh Le shared that, “Our PR Newswire product range is well-suited to the needs of a globalizing company, from multimedia news releases to media monitoring services and media database to help them tell a compelling story in target markets across the world. In Dec 2018, our team was thrilled to facilitate the first Vietnamese companies, comprising leading homegrown jewelry and hospitality brands, unveil their videos on the Times Square screen in New York. In addition, a wide range of local companies, from world-class food manufacturers to Vietnam’s largest telecom company to innovative tech start-ups, have chosen to tap on our product range to speed up their globalization journey.”

“In terms of the number of Vietnamese journalists and media, our team has extended our distribution network across various industry verticals and media types. Well-known publications such as The Saigon Times, VN Express and VN Ngay Nay are our partners. In addition, the number of partnering media has increased by almost 100 percent on a year-to-year basis. This means that we can offer international companies better local language coverage to optimize their audience reach”, said Vincent Vu.

To learn more about telling your company’s story to a Vietnamese or global audience, please get in touch with our team at asia.marketing@prnasia.com.