Reputation for ethics and engineering excellence put German companies in the Southeast Asia spotlight

For evidence of the success of German companies in Southeast Asia, one needs to look no further than the local media where German business is consistently creating positive news coverage about its growth and ambition in ASEAN’s emerging markets.

And now, with Germany’s dominance of European economic affairs through the euro zone crisis, the country’s global and regional reach continue to grow.

In Thailand and Vietnam, where we counsel several leading German companies, millions of consumers and businesses benefit daily from German technology and expertise.

Almost as soon as they can talk, the people of Southeast Asia are introduced to German consumer products, with global brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Porsche having enormous aspirational traction. Puma, Adidas, Braun, the list goes on.

Building on this awareness, German businesses have for decades sought to integrate themselves in the development of the communities they serve in the region, providing massive infrastructure investment, capital for enormous industrial developments and also intellectual property used in education and social upliftment.

One of the main drivers of the success of German companies in key markets in the region such as Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia has been the careful management of their reputations.

German companies are highly proactive in building and constantly enhancing their reputations in all walks of life, giving a consistent, ethical character to their communications and corporate messaging.

In one never publicized instance in Thailand a huge German company declined to invest in an energy project because of ethical concerns. Faced with sometimes violent opposition from the local community and fears that the local environment would be seriously impaired by the development, the company took a decision to forgo the very tempting cash windfall it would have enjoyed by going through with the project, and quietly withdrew.

For professional communicators the challenge in managing brand reputation for major German companies is to balance exposure and profile with the commitment to protect the brand from unnecessary scrutiny or even controversy.

One of the most compelling platforms contributing to the growing reputation of German businesses in the region is their focus on education and training of their workforces. Thousands of Asian students and employees have benefited from college, university and in-house training courses in Germany through exchange programs and scholarship opportunities.

However, while German companies are proudly German, they also largely seek to portray an international brand character that builds on the attributes of their home country yet is flexible enough to adapt rapidly and effectively to local business and social conditions.

Germany’s ties to the region are by no means limited to business and investment. For more than a century cultural ties have burgeoned between Germany and the countries of Southeast Asia. Right across the spectrum of the arts and entertainment and even cuisine, Germany is centre-stage in the capitals of the region.

These firmly established ties offer a unique opportunity for German corporations to further engage in their host communities and communicate their commitment to the long-term prosperity and sustainability of their ventures, not to mention promote the power of their brands to an avid and increasingly affluent target audience.

Vero Public Relations Brings in New Team Members to Leverage Future Growth

BANGKOK and HO CHI MINH CITY, January 10, 2012 – As part of the plan to further expand its business in Southeast Asia, Vero Public Relations recently hired two new staff members for its Bangkok office - Ekarin Petsiri and Bhawat Anuwong.

Ekarin Petsiri joined Vero Public Relations as a senior account manager. Ekarin spent the first seven years of his career life as a business news correspondent at the Bangkok Post and Reuters. Afterwards, he switched to the PR industry and became an Account Manager for MDK Consultant (Thailand) where he was charged with PR and marketing communications for key clients such as FedEx, Rolls Royce, Sun Microsystems and Jim Thompson.

Ekarin was also an AVP for Financial Communications and Investor Relations at HSBC (Thailand) where he looked after A-list clients such as Morgan Stanley, Bank of New York, Sumitomo Trust and Banking, Temasek and various other global financial institutions. Prior to joining Vero, he was a Senior Consultant at Weber Shandwick Thailand, a discipline of McCann Worldgroup Thailand, providing PR consultancy service to General Motors and Chevrolet Sales Thailand.

Bhawat Anuwong has joined Vero Thailand as an account manager. A seasoned PR professional, he has designed and implemented successful PR/marketing companies for local and multinational corporations in a wide variety of industries such as aviation, FMCG, chemicals, healthcare, energy and IT.
Prior to joining Vero, Bhawat was a Consultant at Weber Shandwick Thailand, where he was in charge of several major accounts such as Adidas, GE, Hitachi GST, Bayer, Dow Chemical, Bangkok Industrial Gas, Microsoft Online Service Group, Schering-Plough, and Sanofi Pasteur.

Networking Event: PR, Communications & Marketing Vietnam

Vero Public Relations is pleased to announce our 4th Communications and Marketing Networking Event, to be held Thursday, November 10th, 2011.

This is the leading event for Marketing, Communications and PR professionals to gather for sharing ideas and experiences about the communications industry.

We are excited to host our networking event at Chill Sky Bar – the hottest spot in HCMC with the best view of the city. We think that you would enjoy this event and enjoy the opportunity to network and yummy selections of free finger food together with a chance to win the lucky draw with many interesting gifts.

Time: Thursday, November 10th, 2011, 5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Venue: Chill Sky Bar - 26 & 27th Floor Rooftop, AB Tower - 76A Le Lai, Dist.1, HCMC.

This event is invitation only, please confirm your attendance via email or contact us
Ms. Ngân, +84 9 0204 7999, ngantram@veropr.com or Jessica +84 9 8924 8595, jessica.le@veropr.com

Welcome New Team Members

Vero Public Relations is pleased to welcome three new, outstanding members to our team.

Warangkana Tempati joined Vero Public Relations as a communication strategist and media advisor in Thailand. A Master’s degree holder from Winchester University, England, Warangkana developed her career concentrating on communications, media and story-telling. She was a staff writer for Dow Jones newswires and the Bangkok Post. Her articles have appeared in The Asian Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Associated Press, Living etc, HELLO! among others. She also worked as an editor and regional program coordinator at the U.S. Embassy’s media-monitoring Open Source Center and regional communications manager for Southeast Asia at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.

Vi Nguyen joined the Vero Public Relations team in Vietnam. Formerly on the Park Hyatt Hotel’s public relations staff, Nguyen is graduate of Boise State University, USA. Also in Vietnam, Clara Ly-Le is the new creative manager for Vero Public Relations. A public relations graduate from Truman State University of USA, she has worked as an independent consultant and contributed to American Red Cross - North Central Missouri chapter's crisis management plan and Kirksville Missouri Economic Development's persuasion campaign.

BuzzCity appoints Vero Public Relations for corporate communications remit in Thailand and Vietnam

BuzzCity, a global mobile internet advertising network, has assigned Vero Public Relations to grow awareness of its expanding network among advertisers and publishers in Thailand and Vietnam.

In South East Asia, BuzzCity serves more than 2.2 billion advertisements on mobile devices every month. Worldwide, BuzzCity’s monthly delivery of mobile phone advertisements has surpassed 10 billion ads.

BuzzCity is seeking to form agreements with brands in Vietnam and Thailand, among other countries around the world. The self-service advertising platform is equipped with detailed targeting functions, providing local and international businesses with an efficient, measurable means of reaching Thai and Vietnamese consumers.

In the second quarter of this year, mobile internet advertising in Thailand grew by 82% and by more than 200% in Vietnam.

Facebook signs new deal in Vietnam.

Facebook signs new deal in Vietnam.
What Does this mean for Vietnam’s Marketers?


By Son Nguyen

HO CHI MINH CITY, April 18, 2011 – With the announcement last week that Facebook signed an agreement with Vietnam’s largest publicly traded telecommunication and software company, there are expectations that Facebook will gain additional momentum as the social media tool of choice in Vietnam.

By the end of 2010, the number of Facebook users in Vietnam reached 3 million and generated 1.1 billion page views.

But with Facebook’s new agreement in place with Vietnam’s Corporation of Finance and Promoting Technology (commonly known as FPT), many expect these numbers to grow significantly in the coming years.

Nonetheless, making use of the digital platform is not as straightforward as it appears. Below are some issues which each communication practitioner needs to think through before starting their own online campaign.

1. Nationwide vs. urban campaigns
First of all, of Vietnam’s population of 88 million people, 24 percent are online with most living in big cities. Thus, public relations and communications experts who are planning to execute communication campaigns on a nationwide scale should think twice about the effect of social network. Using public relations to embed client messages in traditional media remains among the best ways to reach out to Vietnam’s hinterlands.

2. Which channel?
After Yahoo 360’s closing in July 2009, Vietnam’s social network universe became divided. Within only 2 years, social network users have witnessed a surge of local players such as ZingMe or YuMe. Thanks to strong local insights, these websites rapidly gained favor with Vietnamese users, surpassing both Facebook and Yahoo in term of followers. To make it more complicated, Vietnamese also rely on local forums as a source of information. Webtretho, Phunuvaxehoi, Eva and YAN are a few examples, covering a wide range of topics from automobiles, houses to lifestyle and music.
With such a vast and fast-changing market like this, the very first thing every communication experts need to do is figure out which channel will reach their target the most effectively.

3. International vs. local
Thirdly, not all international social network sites work well in Vietnam. While Yahoo, Facebook, WordPress, Flickr and Blogspot have successfully set up their foothold, others such as Twitter or Tumblr are still struggling to penetrate the market. Thus, successful integrated online campaigns elsewhere might have to adapt themselves to thrive here.

4. Keep your conversation going
Another good point to consider when conducting online communications campaign is the responsiveness. Many Vietnam companies and organizations have launched their own micro-sites or web pages in recent years. However, only a few of them have managed to maintain those platforms as an effective channel to communicate with their target audience. Common mistakes include lack of a long term strategy for online communication, failure to attract enough traffic as well as tardiness in responding to comments or questions.

5. Back-up plans
Finally, social network sites are always a very sensitive topic when it comes to censorship and governmental intermittence. For example, in the months prior to the agreement with FPT, access to Facebook in Vietnam was extremely difficult. More precisely, it sharply decreased 70% of page views and one million users in January 2011. Therefore, when we talk about social network sites here, we must at the same time talk about back-up and crisis management plan.

6. On top of trends
Just like the economy, Vietnam’s social network sites evolve in a very fast pace. An effective channel today could be soon a fad by tomorrow. That is why public relations practitioners and marketers have to be sensitive with the way they leverage news and information. Instead of following current trends, they should speculate what will be the trend in the future and put together their strategic plans based on that. Or at least, they should plan flexibly.


(Son Nguyen manages campaigns for Vero Public Relations in Ho Chi Minh City. For more information visit www.veropr.com)

Vero Public Relations Wins Best Practices Award

The Business Software Alliance presented Vero Public Relations with a best practices award at a meeting in Hong Kong last week. The award, presented by the Business Software Alliance CEO, is for best practices in public relations and marketing, and was awarded to Vero Public Relations for campaign management in 2009. It's always great to be recognized for hard work. We thank the Business Software Alliance for their partnership!