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Country desk · Vietnam
For Vietnamese brands going abroad for the first time
Vietnamese companies expanding beyond the region usually have competitive product, a growing home business and no international brand at all. That is a harder start than the Japanese or Korean position and a considerably cleaner one, because there is nothing to correct.
Tell me the product and the market See the services
- Typical client
- Exporter or emerging consumer brand
- Sectors
- Electronics, furniture, textiles, footwear, food, skincare
- Markets
- India, Europe, regional
- Right first step
- A defined project rather than a retainer
Why Vietnam companies call me
Vietnamese enquiries are usually earlier stage than the rest, and the useful advice is different because of it.
- Nobody outside Vietnam has heard of us. Which is genuinely an advantage. There is no perception to manage and no legacy positioning to unpick. Everything can be built deliberately.
- Our brand was designed for the home market. Name, logo, colour and packaging that work in Ho Chi Minh City may read very differently in Delhi, Berlin or Dubai. Checking this before launch is cheap and after launch is not.
- We do not know if the price will work abroad. This is usually the decisive question and it should be answered in week one rather than month six, because it determines whether the rest is worth doing.
- We want to test before we commit budget. Sensible, and the shape of the engagement should reflect it. A defined pilot rather than a full launch programme.
- Our English material was written by us. Common, understandable, and it costs credibility with international buyers in a way that is invisible from inside the company.
What usually gets built
An international brand platform
Built once, properly, before anything is printed. Name check, positioning, and the argument in English for a buyer who has never heard of you.
A brand identity and guideline set
Logo, type, colour, packaging grid and applications. Brand identity and guidelines.
Landed cost and price modelling
What is left after freight, duty, channel margin and tax, against the real competitive set in the target market. Launch programme.
A market website in English
Written for the buyer there, with the capability documentation international buyers actually check. Website design and build.
Marketplace and D2C setup
Where the category suits it, this is the fastest and cheapest route into a market. E-commerce and D2C launch.
A pilot, not a launch
Narrow scope, real conversations, an honest read at the end and a documented decision to proceed or stop.
Why this arrangement suits an earlier-stage company
A Vietnamese exporter testing a new market rarely has the budget for a European or Singaporean agency, and would be over-served by one anyway.
What is needed at this stage is judgement and a small number of well-made assets, not campaign volume. That is exactly what a senior individual can provide and what an agency structure is poorly suited to.
The honest limit: below a certain scale, consulting fees stop making sense against the size of the opportunity. If your realistic first-year ambition in the market is a few containers, I will tell you that rather than take the engagement.
Questions overseas teams ask
Do you speak Vietnamese?
I don't. We work in English. Vietnamese versions of anything your board needs are handled by colleagues on my team.
We have a small budget. Is it worth talking?
Yes, and be direct about the number on the first call. A defined project with a narrow scope is often affordable when a retainer is not, and I would rather scope to your budget than send a proposal you cannot buy.
Should we use our Vietnamese brand name abroad?
Sometimes and not always. Pronounceability, existing trademarks in the target market and unintended meanings all need checking, and the check is inexpensive. Doing it after packaging is printed is not.
How do we compete with Chinese suppliers on price?
Generally you do not, and building a strategy around trying is the common error. The workable positions are consistency where failure is expensive for the buyer, documentation and traceability where their own customers demand it, and segments where lowest price is not the deciding factor.
Tell me the product and the market
Two sentences. What you make and where you want to sell it. I will tell you on a first call whether the price is likely to work there, which is the question that decides everything else.
Tell me the product and the market See case studies
Kunal Waghmare · Padmavati Hills, Mokai Vasti, Bavdhan, Pune, Maharashtra 411021, India
office@quiamo.com · +91 90216 02686 · English