Digital Marketing Vietnam

Early 2004 a new milk brand from Korea called XO of NamYang Dairy Products Co., Ltd quickly became a top choice among young urban mothers for their children. Different from European and US competitors, XO did not bombard Vietnamese customers with TV and print advertising. With word of mouse marketing on major online forums (or BBS) for young mothers, XO put its price tag as premium brand of 255,000 VND/can-800gram, sometimes customers had to buy for nearly 300,000 VND as demand rocketed (20% - 30% higher than European and US imported). At that time, social media marketing is strange word anywhere and NamYang Dairy was lucky to have leagues of volunteers recommending forum’s members to try XO.

But NamYang Dairy did not enjoy the crown for long as some rumor on forums started spreading 9/2005 about some bad things for their kids. Through out yearend 2005 to first quarter of 2006 young mothers hold wait and see attitude toward XO milk. Second quarter of 2006 was a nightmare for NamYang Dairy as bad news flooded online forums and news websites. Many mothers collected articles and posts from Korea mentioned “harmful germs in Namyang Dairy Products’ baby formulas”. Vietnamese parents started thinking NamYang Dairy cheated its customers with premium price and hiding side effects. A boycott campaign initiated on a leading forum pushed NamYang Dairy into branding crisis. There is no chance for NamYang Dairy to bounce back again.

It is not in US or Korea but in Vietnam, consumers control your branding, so that marketers should start take social media seriously. It is a new battlefield that small and new marketers can play against the giants.