Richard Moore brands PVcomBank

In the past Vietnamese companies have left branding by the wayside, what changes are you seeing now?

Upon Vietnam’s joining the WTO, many foreign brands entered the country and local companies realized the power of media in marketing. This does attract attention, but does not create a relationship with customers.

Today is a different story. Now Vietnamese consumers recognise and prefer strong brands. What’s more is that many local companies are also more familiar with how to build a strong brand, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises. We have had a chance to work with young customers who have a deep knowledge of branding and account for a healthy market share of the food and brewery markets. Some are agriculture industry pioneers.

How important is a brand in this new era of rising competition.

Companies need brands that are not only flexible to penetrate new markets but also build and maintain a relationship with consumers. If companies do not pay close attention to branding, they will appear inconsistent and without effective brand identity, marketing budgets are easily wasted. Most important to successful branding is professionalisation.

Recently your company signed with PVcomBank, what will be the biggest challenges in building its brand?

In recent years many banks have changed their logos. They became more colourful. PVcomBank was established at a time that many other bank brands were already familiar to and even popular with consumers, so building their brand is an exciting challenge.

This project will require us to use all of our deep understanding of brand management and experiences as a brand advisor. It is also important that PVcomBank leaders have a consistent vision alongside an innovative strategy. We first looked and evaluated the bank’s core values through discussions with senior leaders and aim to develop a brand that harmoniously combines colour, design and language. Our goal is a consistent message to consumers that clearly translates the spirit of the institution.

What about this project are you most proud of?

We worked with Professor Le Van Lan to incorporate Vietnam’s culture and history into the brand and in doing this we were able to see the determination of the bank’s leaders and staff to accomplish this goal. This is a promising start to the sustainable development of the bank in the future.