Speakers at a training workshop on promoting Việt Nam’s image and brand organised in Vũng Tàu. —VNS Photo Bồ Xuân Hiệp

BÀ RỊA-VŨNG TÀU — Localities across the country should take advantage of multimedia platforms to diversify the content and methods of external information to promote the country’s image and brand to the world.

Speaking at a recent training workshop in Vũng Tàu, Đoàn Công Huynh, director of the Ministry of Information and Communications’ Department of External Information, said localities play an important role in producing external information to promote the national image and brand.

A national image or brand is what a person believes to be true about a nation and its people formed by various factors such as socio-economic development, cultural and historical values and products, he said.

Many cultural festivals, landscapes, destinations and traditional lifestyles of Việt Nam have been vividly broadcast worldwide through external media, he said.

With limitless multimedia capacity, external information providers must design quality products, from articles to broadcast programmes, to meet the demand of foreign audiences and overseas Vietnamese. 

Nguyễn Thanh Sơn, president of MVV Academy and an expert in branding and communication, said there are a number of factors that affect a country’s image and brand, including political stability, friendliness of the people, health and education, business environment, culture, arts and heritage, tourism activities and cuisine.

In the digital era, external information should adopt the latest digital technology trends, especially those on social media platforms and multimedia communication tools to diversify the ways of producing external information, he said. 

Press agencies should provide full, timely and accurate information on the orientations and policies of the Party and State while proactively countering hostile forces’ inaccurate information that distorts the image and brand of the country, according to Sơn. 

Experts recommended surveys be conducted among overseas Vietnamese about their interest in international and regional issues to help domestic press agencies produce external information.

The Ministry of Information and Communications said it would organise a pilot training programme about external information production for eight localities (Hà Nội, Hải Phòng, Quảng Ninh, Thừa Thiên Huế, HCM City, Đà Nẵng, Cần Thơ, Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu). 

The pilot programme will provide guidance for the localities on how to produce external information to promote the image and brand of Việt Nam based on criteria ranked by international organisations.

After the pilot phase through 2025, the training programme will be organised for all other localities across the country.

National brand of Việt Nam

The national brand of Việt Nam was valued at US$431 billion this year, up from $247 billion in 2019, $319 billion in 2020 and $388 billion last year, according to UK’s leading independent brand valuation and strategy consultancy Brand Finance.

The brand value of the top 50 Vietnamese enterprises also grew 36 per cent this year, more than that of Singapore, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, China, Japan and Thailand, according to Brand Finance.

Hoàng Minh Chiến, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Việt Nam Trade Promotion Agency, said the value of the national brand of Việt Nam has seen among the fastest growth rates in the world in the 2019-2022 period.

Việt Nam jumped from the 42nd most valuable national brand in 2019 to 32nd this year.

He attributed the results to the sound guidelines and policies of the Party and the State, and management by the Government in economic, political, diplomatic, cultural and social activities.

According to Brand Finance, Việt Nam has emerged as one of the top locations within the Southeast Asian region for manufacturing and has become an increasingly attractive destination for foreign investors.

Brand Finance measures the value of national brands based on three pillars: goods and services, investment, and society. — VNS