Product branding: Is it too much of a "playground"?

(Baonghean) - In the past 5 years, the work of registering and establishing intellectual property rights has been of interest to businesses in our province and has changed. The Provincial People's Committee has also amended the mechanism towards gradually increasing the level of support and making transparent the conditions and criteria to facilitate businesses' access. Thanks to that, from a few established brands, up to now, the total number of objects protected by intellectual property rights in Nghe An is 618, including 11 inventions, 5 utility solutions, 33 designs and 569 trademarks.

According to Decision No. 24/2015/QD-UB of the Provincial People's Committee, the average support level for a business to build a brand is about several hundred million VND/product/business, and the total annual budget that the province spends for businesses in science and technology innovation initiatives (including support for technical improvement solutions, trademark registration, etc.) is several billion VND. However, following the process, especially the ups and downs of brands and major brands in the province, it can be seen that building a brand is a long-term race and is still almost too much for Nghe An businesses. Recently, some enterprises producing construction materials or cosmetics, detergents have spent a "huge" amount of money, continuously advertising on major media in a short period of time, so they have not long after taken over the market share, putting the remaining enterprises in a weak position... According to the representative of the provincial enterprise, these enterprises even spend up to 10% of their revenue on promotion while Nghe An enterprises only spend less than 1%, which is obviously not equal. Therefore, it seems that enterprises have not escaped the vicious circle: There is no revenue to develop and promote the brand, and because there is no brand, the products produced are sluggish, and outside enterprises are just waiting to... take over.

Indeed, "difficulty binds ingenuity", many businesses, although knowing the value of their brand, are "powerless" when weakened, and are taken over or merged with larger financial capabilities at low prices. A few years ago, Truong Xuan Cooking Oil Company, although its products were not inferior, was operating at a loss and after being taken over by a large cooking oil company, it "revived". Recently, Nam Ngu Fish Sauce Joint Stock Company is planning to buy fish sauce produced by Van Phan as raw materials when setting up a new factory in Nghe An. These businesses, in addition to investing in basic production technology and spending a lot of money on advertising, quickly became known to many people, while our fish sauce production companies and cooperatives, although the quality of their products is not inferior, due to unattractive designs and little advertising, have not been able to expand their market. Similarly, according to customers' assessment, the quality of Trung Do Joint Stock Company's granite tiles and ceramic tiles is not inferior to similar products of Viglacera or Prime...; the designs are increasingly diverse, but due to low advertising budget, it is not possible to introduce, promote much and expand the market very difficult...

Medium and large-sized enterprises are like that, small enterprises and craft village products, brand development is even more difficult. Although the number of enterprises registering trademarks and intellectual property protection in our province is increasing, many units after being registered for protection cannot promote the value. For these enterprises, registering a trademark is a success; but further development, application of solutions, initiatives, replication in production, bringing more and more branded products and new brands to the market is a new stage that requires more effort and investment, so it must be considered.

In fact, registering a trademark for a product is quite simple, but building and registering a brand is not just about designing and printing a logo and product label, but most importantly, it requires in-depth investment, innovation in infrastructure and equipment to improve production technology and level, with an amount of up to billions of VND. A representative of Van Phan Fish Sauce Joint Stock Company in Dien Ngoc Commune, Dien Chau said: "At the time the company registered the Van Phan fish sauce trademark, it only cost less than 2 million VND (later supported by the state), but the important thing after that was to pursue a policy to make the quality better and better by changing the management model, reorganizing production, which cost tens of billions of VND to recover to the current level".

Another aspect that also affects the ability to develop the brand of Nghe An enterprises, according to Mr. Phan Trong Thich - representative of Viet Bamboo Company participating in the Nghe An Science and Technology Fair 2015, because the enterprise invested entirely new, the product set of pure Vietnamese bamboo tables and chairs has a rather expensive price (16 million VND/set); consumers are not familiar with it, so it is difficult to sell it to the market widely. The company has only produced a few sets mainly to participate in the fair. However, this is a product that crystallizes a lot of effort and intelligence of the enterprise, so right after completion, the Company registered for industrial property, and at the same time tried its best to participate in any fair organized by the province.

Because of their position and position, Nghe An enterprises on the one hand continue to fight to protect their brands; on the other hand, boldly change production processes, improve product quality, service quality... Trung Do Joint Stock Company continuously invests in technical equipment, innovative experiences to reduce input costs and product prices; prioritizes technological innovation to diversify product designs; boldly invests in product lines that the market is lacking and must import (high-class ceramic roof tiles); Van Phan Fish Sauce Joint Stock Company changes from the fish sauce production process by cooking and processing to using natural sunlight in the traditional way (from 6 months to 1 year); Nghe Tinh Petroleum Joint Stock Company innovates production and business activities, maintains reputation, actively coordinates with functional agencies to fight and protect brands...

In addition to the above solutions, the above enterprises also participate in submitting documents for evaluation of quality awards as a basis for introducing and promoting products; increasing social and charitable activities to help the poor; paying attention to the rights of employees in the enterprise and fulfilling obligations to the budget...

However, objectively, brand building is a strategic task for businesses, determining the existence and development of businesses. For Nghe An, most businesses are small and medium-sized, brand building is a long-distance race that is quite difficult and expensive, so it is not easy at all. Only businesses that are truly determined can do it. To develop a brand, along with the basic solution of improving product quality and management quality to create a foundation for a strong brand, businesses must overcome difficulties, allocate funds and have a suitable roadmap for promotion and introduction work every time the business has an event or new product. Only then will the brand truly become a "golden goose", helping businesses overcome difficulties and constantly grow, standing firm in the market mechanism.

Quynh Thuan