Forum "TALK TO CMOs": A dialogue between marketing theory and practice

16 Aug, 2021

“Talk to CMOs” – A forum that converges between academic and theoretical perspectives from the teachers and practical perspectives of Marketing experts/CMOs, co-organized by the UEH Institute of Innovation under the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) and Young Marketers took place officially in the last July. This annual forum will bridge the gap between academia and practice, bringing useful information and new ideas for teaching and training young human resources in Marketing. Additionally, it creates a driving force to promote other activities such as: improving research capacity, organizing seminars to share experiences, seeking new knowledge, cooperating in teaching between teachers and experts/CMOs, and many other interesting activities in the near future.

The first "Talk to CMOs" dialogue program took place from July 16 to 18, 2021, on an online platform to adapt to the developments of the Covid-19 epidemic. Although limited space, with the enthusiastic and interesting sharing of 05 CMOs who are managing famous brands and the participation of UEH teachers, the forum brought invaluable dialogues with real-life marketing situations.

The first Talk To CMOs program takes place on an online platform

SESSION 1: REFRESHING JOURNEY OF A VIETNAMESE BRAND

“Refreshing Journey of a Vietnamese Brand” is the first topic shared by Mr. Nguyen Phu Cuong - Marketing Director of Biti's.

Mr. Nguyen Phu Cuong - Marketing Director, Biti's

The dialogue revolved the 5-year journey of efforts (2015-2020) to help Biti's escape from the "heritage-brand trap" (traditional brand) and bring Biti's from a "consumer brand" to become a “lifestyle brand”, and is now becoming an “aspirational brand”, and the further, more inspiring destination is to mark itself as a “Vietnamese iconic brand”. And in that successful marketing story, Innovation is the keyword that creates a spectacular transformation in all three aspects: (1) The Product, (2) The Brand (3) The System.

Refer to Biti's Hunter Street case:

Refer to the case BITI'S KIDS | 2018:

SESSION 2: PURPOSE-DRIVEN MARKETING, A NEW MOVEMENT IN THE FIELD

The issues were discussed enthusiastically at the next dialogue with the theme: "Purpose-driven Marketing, a New Movement in the Field" by Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai – Vice President Marketing Home Care, Unilever.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai - Vice President Marketing, Home Care, Unilever

Attendees had the opportunity to learn and discuss a new trend: Purpose-driven Marketing, which is built on five main principles including (1) Purpose linked to PRODUCT; (2) Brand SAY & DO; (3) Product + Planet philosophy; (4) Keep purpose aligned to overall brand positioning and (5) Drive Participation… in character.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Mai said that the more companies and brands understood and effectively implemented targeted marketing activities, the more trust, competitive advantages and the potential for great post-pandemic growth recovery they would bring. In addition, when establishing the purpose for the brand, the speaker shared: "Marketers need to observe and understand the behaviors and needs of society in the new era, for example, after the Covid-19 epidemic, three new behavioral trends and attitudes will be established: Contactless culture, E-everything (everything is online) and Fear & Unity Factor. Marketers also need to be mindful that in today's hyper-connected world, Data Privacy has become a prominent issue, ringing the alarm bells for Responsible Marketing.

Refer to the Sunlight case:

Refer to the Lifebuoy case:

SESSION 3: THE STRATEGIC COMBINATION OF PRODUCT MARKETING AND BRAND MARKETING

The third dialogue session with the appearance of Mr. Huynh Nguyen Duy, Marketing Director of Highlands Coffee revolved the marketing approach of a Vietnamese brand in the F&B industry with the theme "The Strategic Combination of Product Marketing and Brand Marketing”.

Mr. Huynh Nguyen Duy - Head of Marketing, Highlands Coffee

Attendees were impressed with Highlands Coffee's bold yet courageous decision to re-brand as it expanded to serve customers down to the B&C segment and cut the menu from 150 dishes to 43 dishes, and finally, focused solely on 03 flagship products. This menu reduction not only made marketing and sales activities more focused, helped to better target customers, but also reduced a large amount of other operational work of the organization (R&D, supply chain, reporting accounting and finance, staff training,...). From here, a period of strong focus on product marketing of Highlands Coffee has begun. Regarding the journey from product marketing to brand marketing, Mr. Huynh Nguyen Duy shared, previously, the product acted as the "main hero" to tell the story for the brand, now the brand could stand up to tell its own story. With the campaign "Proudly born in Vietnam" and followed by "20 years of attaching the pride of Vietnam" launched in turn, marketing was invested methodically with the largest budget in the history of development, Highlands Coffee has succeeded in helping customers understand the Vietnamese origin of the brand and received great love from consumers.

Refer to the case Proudly born in Vietnam:

SESSION 4: RETAIL MARKETING BEST PRACTICE

At the fourth dialogue session of the program, Ms. Le Thao Trang - Marketing Director of Mobile World, with the theme "Retail Marketing Best Practice", had an open, multi-dimensional conversation, expressed her thoughts, sentiments and valuable lessons throughout the process of accompanying Mobile World Group (The Gioi Di Dong, Dien May Xanh, Bach Hoa Xanh, An Khang Pharmacy).

Ms. Le Thao Trang - Marketing Director of Mobile World

Ms. Thao Trang said that marketing activities for the retail industry had the following characteristics: Continuous and dense schedule of activities; No distinction between product marketing and brand marketing; Need a smooth and fast marketing operating system "from central to local"; and Diversified products, multi-sectors, multi-customer groups. Marketing activities for the retail industry had an important role in product promotion policies so that promotional activities were implemented quickly and synchronously at all points of sale. The application of technology is extremely important in the flow of information.

With retail, branding must always go hand in hand with driving sales. For marketing campaigns of the retail industry, it is necessary to reconcile the interests of all partners, retailers, between the individuality of each party and the generality of the whole. At the same time, for sustainable development in the retail industry, it is necessary to pay attention to the Marketing 7Ps mix model consisting of 7 elements: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Process, Physical Evidence. Among these, People is vital.

SESSION 5: DIGITAL COMMERCE: UNLOCK THE BUSINESS GROWTH

At the last dialogue of the program, Ms. Nguyen Nhat Quynh - Country Managing Director, Shiseido Vietnam brought a presentation of many statistics and facts, updated trends with the theme "Digital Commerce: Unlock the Business Growth".

Ms. Nguyen Nhat Quynh - Country Managing Director, Shiseido Vietnam

Consumers of all ages in Vietnam is connecting on online platforms. In that flow, Social commerce - a form of commerce combining Social media and E-commerce has become a new trend in business activities. According to Ms. Nhat Quynh, for a brand to be successful in Social commerce, it is necessary to ensure 04 basic factors: (1) Availability, (2) Findability, (3) Repeatability, and (4) Buyability. Technology will be the "shell", creating favorable conditions to promote 04 elements on Social commerce. However, the "soul" is always the desire and love of each marketer in creating brand love and preferences.

With the current development of Data, Ms. Nhat Quynh believes that the demand for human resources in the fields such as Data Analysis, Business Intelligence, and Revenue Growth Management will increase significantly in the future.

After nearly 3 days of accompanying each other in all 5 dialogue sessions to share practical experiences, the program "Talk to CMOs" has come to an end with many positive feedbacks from the teachers and guests, contributing to the success of this series of activities.

Mr. Dinh Tien Minh, Head of Marketing - UEH School of International Business - Marketing, commented that we had a program that was not only successful, but outstanding. It was a very useful exchange program between academia and practice.”

Ms. Le Nhat Hanh - Director of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) Program, UEH School of Management shared: “This is one of a few programs that I attended fully and with great attention, because the shared experiences are too great, too valuable."

Attendees took photos with the program

In addition, the Organizers received many proposals for future programs with topics related to practice and training in the field of Marketing such as Brand Communication, Internal Communication, The relationship between brand building activities and the overall business strategy of the enterprise, Internationalization of Vietnamese brands/products, The relationship between brand strategy and the sustainable development of enterprises, The sustainable development of a retail system, Business trends on e-commerce platforms and future changes,…

With the hope of spreading enthusiastic and methodical inspiration from experienced and professional Marketing experts, the annual program "Talk to CMOs" will bring meaningful dialogues, forging core values in the business in a professional, kind and far-reaching manner.

News, Photos: UEH Institute of Innovation, Young Marketers, Department of Marketing and Communication.