用愛國主義行銷Vinamilk乳品與Viettel電信—以越南二個案為例 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學國際傳播英語碩士學位學程 International Master’s Program in International Communication Studies College of Communication National Chengchi University. 碩士論文 Master’s Thesis. 用愛國主義行銷 Vinamilk 乳品與 Viettel 電信—以越南二個案為例 Employing a Sense of Patriotism in Vietnam: A Study of Viettel and Vinamilk. Student: Mach Hong Uyen Advisor: Hong-Chi, Shiau. 中華民國 108 年七月 July 2019. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(2) 用愛國主義行銷 Vinamilk 乳品與 Viettel 電信—以越南二個案為例 Employing a Sense of Patriotism in Vietnam: A Study of Viettel and Vinamilk. 研究生：麥紅鴛. Student: Mach Hong Uyen. 指導教授：蕭宏祺. Advisor: Hong-Chi, Shiau. 國立政治大學國際傳播英語碩士學位學程碩士論文. A Thesis Submitted to International Master’s Program in International Communication Studies National Chengchi University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement For the degree of Master of Arts. 中華民國 108 年七月 July 2019. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(3) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Prof. Hong-Chi, Shiau for the continuous support of my research, for his patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge. His guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. I could not have imagined having a better advisor and mentor for my study. Besides my advisor, I would like to thank the rest of my thesis committee: Prof. Ting-Yu, Kang and Prof. Chun-Ming, Huang for their encouragement, insightful comments, and hard questions. I thank all of my classmates in National Chengchi University for their enthusiasm and support, my former teacher Prof. Trisha Lin and IMICS director Prof. Tsung-Jen, Shih for giving me a chance to be a member of IMICS Class 106 and program assistant Phoebe for her carefulness. Last but not the least, I would like to thank my family my parents for giving birth to me at the first place and supporting me spiritually throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. Thank you.. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(4) ABSTRACT In the era of globalization, it is indeed interesting to understand how advertisers employ patriotism to protect the domestic industries from the invading of imported products, especially in communist countries, for example, in Vietnam where the nation’s sustainability maintaining is the duty of every individual. Today, Vietnam is one of the most significant cases of the emerging markets universe which has implemented an open-door economic policy to actively integrate with the region and the world. The growing rapidly of foreign brands has forced domestic enterprises (both state-owned and private ones) to restructure and self-improve to meet the international standard. However, as a developing country, Vietnam always has to face with the financial difficulties which limit its local brands from producing competitive high-quality products. Hence, many of them focus on building brand image in which they tie their value to national pride instead of joining a race for quality with global competitors. In the other hand, it has happened many times that people turned their back on domestic brands because of being offended by their overusing patriotism. Therefore, the researcher would like to write this paper by applying patriotism, country of origin and other related theories to discuss the major issues of patriotic advertising in the context of Vietnam society. What patriotic elements could be found in selected case studies and how did advertisers create a story based on the national images? Keywords: patriotism, country of origin, advertising strategy, Vietnam, textual analysis, storytelling, dairy industry, telecommunication industry. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(5) TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I .................................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 1.. Research background ........................................................................................................... 1. 2.. Problem identification.......................................................................................................... 5. 3.. Research Questions .............................................................................................................. 7. CHAPTER II................................................................................................................................... 8 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................... 8 1.. Patriotism theory .................................................................................................................. 8 1.1.. General understanding .................................................................................................. 8. 1.2.. Vietnamese patriotism .................................................................................................. 9. 2.. Patriotic symbols ................................................................................................................ 11. 3.. Patriotic Advertising .......................................................................................................... 12. 4.. Country of origin theory .................................................................................................... 13. 5.. Vietnamese market before and after 1986 ......................................................................... 14. 6.. Vietnamese patriotic advertisement ................................................................................... 16. CHAPTER III ............................................................................................................................... 18 METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................................... 18 1.. Viettel and Telecommunication industry ........................................................................... 24. 2.. Sampling ............................................................................................................................ 28. 3.. 2.1.. Viettel case study ........................................................................................................ 29. 2.2.. Vinamilk case study.................................................................................................... 30. Textual analysis ................................................................................................................. 31. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(6) 4.. Narrative analysis............................................................................................................... 32. CHAPTER IV ............................................................................................................................... 33 FINDINGS .................................................................................................................................... 33 1.. 2.. Textual analysis ................................................................................................................. 33 1.1.. Overall review ............................................................................................................ 33. 1.2.. Landscape ................................................................................................................... 36. 1.3.. Person ......................................................................................................................... 42. 1.4.. Cultural narrative ........................................................................................................ 47. 1.5.. Icon ............................................................................................................................. 48. Patriotism advertising strategy........................................................................................... 50 2.1.. Musical appeal ............................................................................................................ 53. 2.2.. Personal appeal ........................................................................................................... 56. 2.3.. Adventure appeal ........................................................................................................ 57. 2.4.. Bandwagon appeal ...................................................................................................... 58. 2.5.. Potential appeal........................................................................................................... 60. CHAPTER V ................................................................................................................................ 62 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 62 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 67 APPENDIX 1 ................................................................................................................................ 77. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(7) LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1. Trade as a share of GDP in Vietnam, China and the World 2017 .................................. 2 Figure 2. Vietnam import value index from 1980 to 2017 ............................................................ 3 Figure 3. Vietnam import price index from 2011 to 2016 ............................................................. 3 Figure 4. Mobile phone user penetration in Vietnam, 2017 .......................................................... 4 Figure 5. Coca Cola poster.............................................................................................................. 6 Figure 6. Screenshot of Dai Viet beer’s advertisement ................................................................ 17 Figure 8. Dielac Grow Vietnam advertisement ............................................................................ 21 Figure 9. Milo Vietnam advertisement ......................................................................................... 21 Figure 10. Vietnam Dairy consumption per capita ....................................................................... 22 Figure 11. Vinamilk total revenue and profit after tax ................................................................. 23 Figure 12. Number of Distributors vs Country of Origin in liquid milk market .......................... 24 Figure 13. 3G and 4G market share in Vietnam, 2017 ................................................................. 26 Figure 14. Average internet speed in Southeast Asian countries in 2017 .................................... 27 Figure 15. Logo and Slogan of Viettel.......................................................................................... 28 Figure 16. Content distribution in Viettel case study ................................................................... 34 Figure 17. Content distribution in Vinamilk case study ............................................................... 34 Figure 18. Ninh Binh in the early morning. .................................................................................. 37 Figure 19. Farms locates among mountain refers to the agriculture of Vietnam ......................... 38 Figure 20. The scene of Bitexco building, Ho Chi Minh City. ..................................................... 38 Figure 21. An un-known bridge from above ................................................................................ 39 Figure 22. Filming locations in Vietnam oi! TVC, Viettel ........................................................... 40 Figure 23. Mui ne sand bank in Binh Thuan ................................................................................ 41. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(8) Figure 24. A tea farm in Moc Chau plateau, Son La .................................................................... 42 Figure 25. Scene of kids in Vinamilk’s uniform singing “Stand tall Vietnam” ........................... 43 Figure 26. A kid is drinking milk products with home background ............................................. 43 Figure 27. Kids feeding with milk cow ........................................................................................ 44 Figure 28. Viettel 4G Campaign official poster........................................................................... 45 Figure 29. Conductor Duy Truong in the opening scene .............................................................. 46 Figure 31. Football match audiences wearing printed Flag T-shirt .............................................. 47 Figure 32. Fishing in the early morning........................................................................................ 48 Figure 33. 40 years stand tall Vietnam campaign official poster ................................................. 49 Figure 34. Giant national flag is flying on top of the northernmost point pole ............................ 50 Figure 35. A singing scene in Vinanilk TVC ............................................................................... 54 Figure 36. A singing scene in Viettel TVC................................................................................... 55 Figure 37. Vietnamese children in Ho Chi Minh pioneer organization’s uniform ....................... 57 Figure 38. A scene that deliver adventure appeal ......................................................................... 58 Figure 39. A scene at the theater ................................................................................................... 60 Figure 40. A scene of children singing about the country and looking forward .......................... 61 Table 1. List of 40 most valuable brands in 2018 ......................................................................... 19 Table 2. Frequency and Percentage of advertising content categories - Vettel ............................ 35 Table 3. Frequency and Percentage of advertising content categories - Vinamilk ....................... 36 Table 4. Emotional advertising appeals in two cases .................................................................. 52. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(9) CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.. Research background. Patriotism is a huge complicated concept which has been applied in many studies. It could be understood as the feeling of attachment and commitment to a country, nation, or political community (Baumeister, 2016). For a communist country, such as Vietnam, patriotism takes an important and special place in remaining the stability of the regime. It emphasizes that the connection between an individual and his community, his nation is strong and noble. The right always goes along with the duty. “One for all, all for one” is the basic notion and platform to maintain the communist political system. However, in the age of globalization, especially after the Cold war, people are more willing to accept the differences and innovations (Elliott, 2012), given that belonging to one and only community and ideological system is no longer important in maintaining the national strength. Integrating is the only way for a country to not get left behind. Vietnam in this context is an interesting case. Vietnam is now a member of 63 international organizations and has built a relationship with more than 500 NGOs (Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2019). One of the most outstanding manifestations of globalization in Vietnam is the rising rapidly of the economy. Vietnam’s exceptionally globalized economy is a result of its focus on exports for economic growth. According to the World Bank’s data in 2017, Vietnam’s trade as a percentage of GDP reached over 200%. Of the world’s twenty most populous countries, it ranked number one while Thailand ranked number two with 122% (Figure 1).. 1. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(10) Figure 1. Trade as a share of GDP in Vietnam, China and the World 2017 (theatlas.com). Though globalization has mostly been a boon for Vietnam, having such a globallyintegrated economy does carry risk. A survey on Vietnamese high-quality goods conducted in 2017 showed that such goods were favored by 51 percent of consumers, while they were usually bought by 60 percent of consumers. However, the figures unexpectedly dropped to 27 percent and 32 percent, respectively, in the 2018 survey (Tran, 2018). The most understandable reason has been the price of imported products (Figure 3). By signing successfully many trade agreements, Vietnamese companies are increasingly integrated with foreign markets, and imported goods are flooding into domestic market (Figure 2). In the face of such foreign invasion, the import tariff on many import items, especially from Asian countries, has been cutting down as small as it could be which has dislodged Vietnamese products from the home market (Hong Van, Bui Diep, 2017).. 2. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(11) Figure 2. Vietnam import value index from 1980 to 2017 (data.worldbank.org). Figure 3. Vietnam import price index from 2011 to 2016 (data.worldbank.org). Moreover, the competitors of domestic brands are not only global but also the new local companies with advanced technologies and “imported” human resources. The economic growth 3. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(12) brought about the reform of consumer behavior. The higher accessibility of imported products and the better living conditions give people the chance to approach with high-quality items. The young population and explosion of technology and information are also the factors which create smarter and more updated buyers community (Duangruthai and Leslie, 2018). Besides, the fast growth of people’s incomes leads to the risk of being saturated for many industries, for example, smartphone and telecommunication service. Till the end of 2017, smartphone users covered 84% of VN population and were predicted to reach the saturated point by 2020 (the Nielsen Vietnam, 2017). Figure 4. Mobile phone user penetration in Vietnam, 2017 (Nielsen Vietnam, 2017). Despite those challenges, many enterprises decided to take the chance and jump into the fight. According to the newest data published by Vietnam Ministry of Science and Technology, the number of startups was double from 1500 in 2016 to 3000 in 2018. It challenges the domestic. 4. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(13) industries which mostly rely on the government supports and are said to be backward with the traditional operation, for example Telecommunication, Banking or Tourism. Facing those difficulties, besides renewing brand image, calling for support from domestic consumers is a popular strategy. Since 2009, the Vietnamese government has launched a long term campaign called “Người Việt dùng hàng Việt” (Vietnamese people use Vietnamese products). This message became strongly effective from 2014 to 2015 due to the tension between China and Vietnam in claiming South China Sea territory. Patriotism again boomed out along with boycotting import products (Chinese products) movement. People again think about how to globalize the economy effectively but not counterproductively. It is easy to see that calling for boycotting is impossible and it manifests a negative nationalism which should not be promoted. Therefore, using patriotism was the most suitable strategy in any situation. As a researcher pointed out that patriotic advertising is strategic protection of national industry as the national media channels always have lower prices or more promotion for advertisements which encourage audiences to buy domestic products or to deliver a national value (Jing, 2001). Actually, advertisements can engage with an impact on wider national discourses (Jilian, 2009). In other words, “advertising not only reflects many of the desires of the society in which it operates, but also helps to shape social values, preferences, attitudes, and even behaviors of consumers” (Hongmei, 2008). Therefore, understanding the manifestation of patriotism in advertising is necessary, especially in the context of globalization and cosmopolitan. 2.. Problem identification. Last year, researcher conducted a research concerning on some Vietnamese young consumers about the Boycott Chinese products movement and its patriotic affection. Through online. 5. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(14) interviews, most of them agreed that the movement did not affect their purchase decision. It only created a short term effect in the context of China – Vietnam tension. Along with the boycott movement, the government campaign called for using domestic products, in their opinion, was not impressive enough as they cared more about the price and quality.. Figure 5. Coca Cola poster It includes Vietnam flag and the tagline “Vietnam is the champion” (Coca Cola Vietnam Facebook fanpage) Many economists point out that Vietnamese consumers have four characteristics: they have the power to buy, they put themselves as the priority, they are adaptive and they always desire to connect with the world (Nielsen Vietnam, 2016). It could be explained by the fact that Vietnam has a young population as the median age is 30.9 by 2017 (the Worldometers, 2019) and they are becoming prevailing in consumer force and gearing toward modern lifestyle (Mai et al., 2003). Alongside the acculturation caused by comprehensive integration with developed countries on a global scale, the young population is less likely to be influenced by traditional values (Cho, Ching, and Luong, 2014) which create the differences between the local and global brands. On the other hand, in terms of accessibility, diversified Chinese goods are invading Vietnam market as China. 6. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(15) is the biggest trading partner of Vietnam in 2017 (the OEC, 2017). In terms of quality, Japanese, Korean, Thailand and American-made items still remain unbeatable. Therefore, taking full advantage of being Vietnamese could be the most effective marketing strategy. However, there are tons of patriotic advertisements and not all of them could catch people’s eyes. It makes me wonder what content could be a successful patriotic advertisement.. 3.. Research Questions. By analyzing the chosen advertising campaigns, researcher want to shed light upon the aforementioned phenomenon and its implications. Accordingly, two research questions are proposed below: RQ1. What are patriotic symbols used in these case studies? RQ2. What are their narrative strategies employed in these case studies? A combination concept between textual analysis and narrative analysis in advertising method would be applied to answer those questions. This concept is inspired mostly by two other content analysis studies: “Representation of Vietnam in Vietnamese and U.S. War films: a comparative semiotic study of Canh Dong Hoang and Apocalypse now” developed by Nguyen in 2009 and “Visual representation of patriotism: a case study of Chinese national education television advertisements in Hong Kong” developed by Kwok in 2015.. 7. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(16) CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW. 1.. Patriotism theory 1.1.. General understanding. In Vietnamese, patriotism means “chủ nghĩa yêu nước” and nationalism means “chủ nghĩa dân tộc” which are both positive and have similar meanings while in some capitalist countries those concepts are totally different (Pham, 2014). It has been argued that patriotism could be understood as the positive nationalism which is distinct from negative or malign nationalism (Gustafsson, 2014). Therefore, in this research, to avoid the unexpected misunderstandings, the researcher would like to use the word patriotism only. The word patriotism is developed from the Greek “patria,” or fatherland (Bar-Tal & Staub, 1997). Stephen Nathanson in 1993 defined patriotism as involving “special affection for one’s own country; a sense of personal identification with the country; special concern for the wellbeing of the country; willingness to sacrifice to promote the country’s good”. Later in 1994, Druckman introduced another definition of patriotism in which it was understood as a “strong attachments and loyalty to one's own group without the corresponding hostility toward other groups. In other words, patriotism entails a citizen’s feelings of attachment to one’s nation”. Combining these two definitions, I, personally, understand patriotism as love of one’s country, identification with it, and special concern for its well-being and that of compatriots. In comparison with nationalism, patriotism reflected one’s love of country and its major symbols and was politically a more neutral form of national attachment (Davidov, 2010). This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural,. 8. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(17) political or historical aspects during national emergencies, tragedies, crises, or wars, patriotism often has a mawkish and romantic feel (Tearns, Borna & Oakenfull, 2003). One of the most primary procedures for promoting patriotism among people is to have them learn some bit of history of the way a nation was born, who are the heroes, which leaders rule the country, and so on by using books, songs, films, movies, photos, etc.,. (Karmakar, 2016). 1.2.. Vietnamese patriotism. In Vietnam, patriotic emotion associated with the spiritual consciousness of the country, the homeland, the national pride, a product of thousands of years of building and defending the country (Hoang, Tran, 2014). The Vietnamese national values are explicitly shown in the national motto “Socialist Republic of Vietnam: Independence – Freedom – Happiness”. The national history is connected closely with the protection of the country from invaders and the past means that Vietnamese absolutely understand the painful position of slaves. Firstly, independence and freedom are the most important values which are transferred by Ho Chi Minh thoughts such as “Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom” (Nguyen, 2016). Besides, the national values are also obviously expressed in the goal of socialism in Vietnam which states “prosperous people, strong country, democracy, justice and civilization” (Nguyen, 2016). In other words, the “prosperous people” is the most important notion which could be only obtained once the country is independent and free. Therefore, Vietnamese people from the moment when they were born, are taught that “study and practice to build a strong Vietnam” is a sacred duty which represents the patriotism. Patriotism, in fact, deeply rooted in Vietnamese society. From the 3rd century BC till now, Vietnam had more than 20 Wars of Independence and more than 100 revolutionaries (Le, 2018). The very first manifestation of patriotism is proud of noble origin. “Con Rong Chau Tien” is the. 9. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(18) most popular fairytale in which Vietnamese people are the descendants of Lac Long Quan – a Dragon – and Au Co – a fairy. They are strong, beautiful, and undefeatable. The early period of Vietnamese history, the patriotic feeling was associated with the loyal to the King (Le, 2014). Therefore, the image of “one’s nation”, somehow, was not clear. The father of the new Vietnamese political system platform based on a form of civic patriotism – socialist patriotism, developed by Marx and Lenin - is Ho Chi Minh. Socialist patriotism promotes people living within Marxist-Leninist countries to adopt a "boundless love for the socialist homeland, a commitment to the revolutionary transformation of society and the cause of communism" (White, 2004). On August 19, 1945, the Vietnamese people rose up in a general uprising to eliminate feudalism and colonialism and open a new era of national development. Their victory was the result of a prolonged, difficult struggle under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President Ho Chi Minh (VOV5, 2018). It is important to understand the role of Ho Chi Minh in employing the sense of patriotism in the Vietnam War. Ho Chi Minh, before becoming the great leader of Vietnam, he had studied in France as a young scholar which lead him to becoming an adherent to Marxism-Leninism, and he personally admired the French Revolutionary motto of "liberty, equality, fraternity" (Lacouture, 2018). He had traveled from London to France and then China and some other countries in 30 years to see how the communist system in the world was (Ho Chi Minh Museum, 2004). He also believed in the role of patriotism as he had said: “In the beginning, it was patriotism and not communism which impelled me to believe in Lenin and the Third International” (Warbey, 1985). Therefore, after the collapse of the Indochinese Communist Party in 1941, the Vietnamese Communist movement since the 1940s fused the policies of proletarian internationalism and Vietnamese patriotism together. Ho Chi Minh was responsible for the incorporation of Vietnamese patriotism into the Party. The incorporation. 10. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(19) of Vietnamese patriotism into the Communist Party's agenda fits in with the longstanding Vietnamese struggle against French colonial rule (Huynh, 1989). Nowadays, for all the Vietnamese generations, the love of the motherland, the native country is a particularly sacred and deep feeling. It is also associated with human love, faithful friendship, the mother and motherhood. It is defined as a “noble tradition” as every Vietnamese, descendant of the dragon and fairy, all have a “passionate patriotism” (Ho Chi Minh, 1954).. 2.. Patriotic symbols. In advertising, the symbols usually have originated in one culture and cannot be decoded the same ways by members of other cultures (Mooji, 2010). Basically, symbols are words, gestures, pictures, or objects that carry a particular meaning recognized only by those who share a culture (Mooji, 2010). Besides, there are many different definitions of symbols, for example, according to Alain and Natividad in 2001, symbols are originally an object, a sign or a word used for mutual recognition and with an understood meaning that could only be grasped by the initiated. They are “signs that are freely created, represent some content, and are transmitted by tradition” (Alain and Natividad, 2001). Another one was developed by Cerulo in 1993 claimed that symbols and signs are used "to direct public attention, integrate citizens, and motivate public action”. It has long been recognized that social life is an important repository of symbols, whether in the form of totems, golden ages, flags, heroes, icons, capitals, statues, war memorials or football teams, which are - at the core - symbolic markers of social groups. Symbols of a community provide shortcuts to the collectivity it represents” (Gabriella, 2005). Symbols only have value for those who recognize them and not only stand for or represent something also allow those who employ them to supply part of their meaning” (Alain and Natividad, 2001).. 11. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(20) National symbols often do not only represent the general concept "nation," but also condense the knowledge, values, history, and memories associated with one's nation (Butz, 2009). Moreover, it is clear that national symbols also hold the potential to represent a strong emotional feeling for one's nation (Firth, 1973). This general definition of national symbols is largely focused on the abstract meaning and emotion associated with one's nation and suggestive of the idea that primary function of the national symbol is to bring to mind the concepts and emotions associated with one's nation (Billig, 1995). Normally, the national flag and national anthems are the basic symbols of a nation's sovereignty and dignity and concentrated expressions of its patriotic spirit (Kolst, 2006). Flags are the most basic projection of national identities, first through draping foreign embassies and decorating diplomats’ limousines (Cerulo, 1993). Besides, we also have national customs, foods, flowers, animals, sports team…and other signs which are used to represent the nation’s culture, economy, history, policy, achievement and so on. As a nation with a longstanding patriotic history, Vietnam also has its own national symbols system. Some of them are officially recognized by the international community, some others are unofficial but still widely admitted as the representations of Vietnam (Nguyen, 2009). Accordingly, in this study, those national symbols would be listed into two main categories: official national symbols conducted through Vietnamese government website and unofficial symbols which listed by recognition level from trustworthy sources.. 3.. Patriotic Advertising. Patriotic appeals are used in order to publicize the products. From the marketing perspective, patriotism is an emotional factor that compares, evaluates, and determines individuals' choices among national and international products (Sharma, Shimp, & Shin, 1995). Advertisers try to. 12. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(21) justify certain patriotic actions or signs to persuade their audiences to choose and buy their products as an expression of patriotism, of love for the country (Kolst, 2006). Emotional attachment to one's country might lead to a reduced desire to seek information about other countries and, as a consequence, their products (Balabanis, et al., 2001). As one of his researches showed that in Turkey, patriotism was the main motive for consumer ethnocentrism. Another researcher also found that roughly 20% of the patriotic messages carried an explicit sales pitch to promote consumer patronage (Tsai, 2010). The most common type of patriotic strategies in advertising is using national symbols such as the national anthem and flag to induce and increase people's levels of patriotism (Cerulo, 1993). Research about magazine advertising in life during WWII pointed out that “appealing to citizenconsumers’ sense of patriotism, advertisements often framed consumption of their products and services as a means for citizen consumers to fulfill their patriotic duties” (Brasted, 2018). In television commercials during international sporting events, individuals who have a strong attachment to their country may produce positive responses to promotional messages (Kim, Yim, and Ko, 2013).. 4.. Country of origin theory. Country of origin (COO), is the country of manufacture, production, or growth where an article or product comes from. Country of origin labelling is also known as place-based branding, the madein image or the "nationality bias" (Yi, 2004). Country of origin of a product could be defined into several possible concepts: It can refer to the place from which the merchandise was directly received that is the last border crossing or port entered before reaching its final destination; the country of consignment (i.e. from where the goods were sold or the country of original growth or extraction (Field, Clark and Sundstrom, 2008).. 13. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(22) For many decades, the effect of country-of-origin image on consumers’ purchase behavior has become a widely studied phenomenon (Yi, 1994). The “Made In” image is the picture, the reputation, the stereotype that businessmen and consumers attach to products of a specific country. This image is created by such variables as representative products, national characteristics, economic and political background, history and traditions. It has a strong influence on consumer behavior in the international market, as it is associated with mass communication, personal experience, and views of national opinion leaders” - Nagashima, 1970. Patriotic strategy in advertising is a manifestation of country of origin’s effect in which advertisers employ nation’s image to differentiate their products from others. It labels the products by national pride which would motivate consumers to buy domestic items not only for their demand but also for the good of the nation. In other words, it is the need for local companies to exploit patriotic advertising as a means of promoting citizen consumerism and counter competition from international brands (Wasswa, 2017).. 5.. Vietnamese market before and after 1986. Until the French colonization in the middle of the 19th century, Vietnam's economy was mainly agrarian and village-oriented. French colonizers, however, deliberately developed the regions differently, designating the South for agricultural production and the North for manufacturing. Though the plan exaggerated regional divisions, the development of exports--coal from the North, rice from the South—and the importation of French manufactured goods stimulated internal commerce (Pham, 2016). When the North and South were divided politically in 1954, they also adopted different economic ideologies: communist in the North and capitalist in the South. The destruction caused by the 1954-1975 Second Indochina War (commonly known as the Vietnam War) seriously strained Vietnam's economy (Balazs, 2008). Across Vietnam, the situation was worsened by the country's 3 million military and civilian deaths and its later exodus of 2 million. 14. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(23) refugees, including tens of thousands of professionals, intellectuals, technicians, and skilled workers. Between 1976 and 1986, for annual growth rates for industry, agriculture, and national income and aimed to integrate the North and the South, the plan's aims were not achieved: the economy remained dominated by small-scale production, low labor productivity, unemployment, material and technological shortfalls, and insufficient food and consumer goods (Balazs, 2008). In 1986 Vietnam launched a political and economic renewal campaign (Doi Moi) that introduced reforms intended to facilitate the transition from a centrally planned economy to form of market socialism officially termed "Socialist-oriented market economy". Doi Moi combined economic planning with free-market incentives and encouraged the establishment of private businesses in the production of consumer goods and foreign investment, including foreign-owned enterprises (Cima and Ronald, 1989). By the late 1990s, the success of the business and agricultural reforms ushered in under Doi Moi was evident. Besides the fast growth of the domestic economy, the new law on Foreign Investment initiated in 1987 enabled a surge of the first wave of foreign direct investments (FDI) flowing into Vietnam, which then reached 10% of GDP in 1994 (World Bank, 1999). Vietnam was the largest FDI recipient among developing countries and economies in transition in proportion to the size of its economy (World Bank, 1999). Looking at the domination and development of international brands in Vietnam introduced in the background section, it is hard to say the patriotism has worked effectively in protecting the local brands. China, France, and America are used to be Vietnam’s enemies. This fact does not seem to affect the recognition and purchasing decision of local customers as a large number of Chinese, French and American items are invading the market. For example, KFC has been in Vietnam for 22 years and has become one of the leading fast chain foods with 140 restaurants in 21 cities and provinces (KFC Vietnam, 2019). In 2018, Campaign Asia announced Vietnam’s top. 15. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(24) 100 brands list, a part of Campaign Asia-Pacific's Asia's Top 1000 brand report. Unsurprisingly, international brands, such as Samsung, Apple, Lotte, Gucci, dominated the list as only 12 domestic brands were mentioned (Campaign Asia, 2018). As being affected by the war, Vietnamese people were aware of foreign brands much later than most of the other nations. Despite that, Vietnamese consumers are representing surprising adaptability with the invading of imported items. It could be an advantage in general but also a threat, especially for the local market.. 6.. Vietnamese patriotic advertisement. Even though Vietnamese society is significant patriotic, employing patriotism in advertising is not always effective. Since 2014 when the tension between Vietnam and China became a hot issue, many brands have launched their marketing campaign calling for protecting the nation. For example, a Format shopping building fulfilled its windows with 48 national flags or a body shower gel companies announced to donate 1000 VND per product (about 0,04 USD) for the military activities in the South China Sea (Nguyen, 2014). However, only some of them could impress the audiences and many of them got unexpected feedbacks. Dai Viet Beer is a typical case for the unpredictable consequence of overusing patriotism. The consumers argued that the brand was too new to defined themselves as the beer of the country. They also called for boycott Dai Viet by the reason that drinking beer should not be promoted as a way to represent strength and vigor which could affect young people's perception and lead alcoholic evils. The most common patriotic message used is persuading people that the product is the pride of Vietnam and buying or using it is showing the love and belief with the country. They also convince consumers that buying “made in Vietnam” products means protecting the domestic economy, helping local businessmen who are their compatriots (Siamagka and. 16. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(25) Balabanis, 2015). Using national symbols, signs and other contents which could demonstrate the nation and be familiar with target audiences, with or without explanation, also catch people’s attention easily (E. Bankole, 2018).. Figure 6. Screenshot of Dai Viet beer’s advertisement It’s slogan means " Beer of Vietnam" and the hashtag “Vietnamese vigor” (Daiviet beer Youtube channel). 17. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(26) CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY In this research, textual analysis method will be used to first analyze the patriotic symbols and text. Frequency counts frequency of certain calculated elements in these advertising campaigns will be applied to answer RQ1, while a narrative analysis theory would be applied to deploy RQ2. (Rose, 2007). In 2017, Forbes Vietnam, again, released its third annual list of the 40 most valuable brands in Vietnam. Dairy giant Vinamilk and military-run telecom firm Viettel remained the top two as they were in the two previous years (Forbes Vietnam, 2017). Forbes estimated Vinamilk’s brand value at $2.28 billion, much higher than the $1.7 billion last year, and Viettel at $1.39 billion (Table 1). It is easy to understand as according to the World Atlas website in 2018, food processing and service industries are one of the six largest industry in Vietnam, while the other industries were dominated by foreign giants (i.e. Samsung in electronic industry). If we look at the chart below provided by the General Statistics Office of Vietnam in 2016, there are not many differences when Service sector stands still the biggest economic sector. Food processing remained the same from 2016 to 2018 which dominated by agricultural and sea products that are canned and shipped overseas, the sector accounts for 40% of Vietnam's export and directly contributes 15% of the GDP (World Atlas, 2018). Therefore, combining those evidences, the researcher decided to pick Vinamilk and Viettel as the case studies for this research to see how those two top brands employ the sense of patriotism in promoting brand image and increase the sale.. 18. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(27) Figure 7. GDP Value-added of Economic Sector in 2016 (General Statistics Office of Vietnam). Table 1. List of 40 most valuable brands in 2018 (Source: Forbes Vietnam). 19. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(28) 1. Vinamilk and Vietnam dairy industry Vietnam dairy industry is evaluated at around 4.1 billion US dollars with the increasing growth rate of 16 % during the period 2011-2015 (EVBN, 2016). The dairy market in Vietnam has advantages of the young demographics, raising concerns of health and fitness, and increasing basic income level. Currently, the dairy sector in Vietnam is featured with ten big players and highly consolidated entrance. However, the upstream dairy market still stands a high chance of development, due to the under-developed raw milk producers. Especially, these products: powdered milk, cheese, and fresh cream in Vietnam are heavily dominated by foreign suppliers who fulfills more than 70 % of the total volume (Ngo, 2018). In general, milk was supposed to be a drink for kids which help to grow their high and strong. Because it contains calcium that supports their physical growth. Most of milk advertisements in Vietnam are about moms feed kids milk so that they could be stronger and higher than their friends or for pregnant women who want their kids to have good growth from the inside (Figure 8 and 9). This stereotype might be originated from the poor economic condition in the past when people mostly lived with low income. Hence, milk and products made from milk with high price were not daily foodstuffs which were only for special people such as the kids, the sick or the elder people. Another possible reason started from eating habit of Vietnamese people as they do not usually eat bread, wheat or kinds of food which could be combined with milk. Cheese, yogurt or butter was introduced by France during the colonized period. EuroMonitor International (2016) has reported the rising trend of health and wellness in Vietnam with a noticeable increase in the usage of dairy products. The residential higher awareness of wellbeing has led to a positive effect on the consumption of milk. Especially, among the young. 20. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(29) generations, the habit of drinking milk has come to a regular basis as people believe that milk is an important calcium supply (Ngo, 2018).. Figure 8. Dielac Grow Vietnam advertisement (Brand’s websites). Figure 9. Milo Vietnam advertisement (Brand’s website) 21. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(30) In 2016, according to the annual dairy report published by EU-Vietnam Business Network, a Vietnamese consume was on average 20 liters of milk per year and was projected to be on average 28 liters by 2020. In 2017, it already reached 26 liters (Figure 10). However, even considering the significant 40% growth, Vietnam would still be consuming less milk per capita than Thailand (35 liters) and Singapore (45 liters), meaning there is still potential for the future. Figure 10. Vietnam Dairy consumption per capita (Euromonitor, 2014). In fact, in 2016, the survey indicated the significant amount of imported milk consumed in Vietnam. Because of the internationalization, the legislation is easier on trading milk, which also promotes the consumption of foreign brands, and creates more rivalries in the domestic dairy market. For example, the import tax for imported dairy products from Australia and New Zealand to Vietnam is reduced from 7 % to 5 % in January 2016 (EuroMonitor International, 2016). Moreover, this competition is not only between local and global brands but also between domestic products, between the new and the old. In many years, Vinamilk always dominates Vietnam dairy market with approximately 50% market share in 2017. However, the rising rapidly of other brands, for example, TH True Milk, a young but strong player, could be a challenge which it has to face. TH True Milk was established in 2009. From 2016 to 2018, the average revenue growth of TH True milk is 20% while Vinamilk only reaches 14% (Tran, 2018). To benefit from. 22. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(31) the trends and the current situation in the market, the local companies in the dairy sector have to reshape their strategies of investment and development. Generally speaking, Vietnamese consumers have been quite open to try new dairy products as dairy is the most successful FMCG category with new product launches achieving an average 20% penetration rate and 50% repurchase rate (Kantar WorldPanel Insight Handbook 2016). It opens many opportunities for new entries. However, dairy products in Vietnam have not yet become a commodity, investments in branding and marketing such as awareness campaigns and advertising to promote dairy consumption are important. Vinamilk was established on August 20, 1976, on the basis of three dairy factories from the old regime: Thong Nhat Dairy Factory (formerly known as Foremost factory); Truong Tho Dairy Factory and Dielac Powdered Milk Factory (formerly known as Nestlé factory (Swiss). So far, it is the largest dairy company in Vietnam. Vinamilk products such as powdered milk and condensed milk are also exported to the Middle East, Cambodia, the Philippines and Australia (Vinamilk annual report 2017). Figure 11. Vinamilk total revenue and profit after tax (Vinamilk annual report 2017). In this positioning map developed by Viet Capital Securities in 2012 (figure 11), we can see that Vinamilk are more accessible than other brands. It would seem like one of the most 23. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(32) effective strengths as Vietnamese consumers mostly have medium income. However, the gaps between Vinamilk with other competitors is not big enough to maintain its number one position (Hanoitimes, 2018). Figure 12. Number of Distributors vs Country of Origin in liquid milk market (Viet Capital Securities 2012). 1.. Viettel and Telecommunication industry. The telecommunications sector in Viet Nam has been considered an important element in the ‘Doi Moi’ economic reforms that started in 1986, and the economy has achieved a remarkable result through structural reform initiatives that depart from the traditional state monopoly method. The telecommunication market of Vietnam now includes many different types of service, of which there are two main types that are mobile telecommunication service and internet service. Different 24. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(33) to dairy market, telecom market does not have to face the threat from foreigner brands as 95% of the market share belongs to local companies and the strongest player, Viettel is a state-owned enterprise and operated by the Vietnam Ministry of Defense (Nikkei, 2017). Over the past 10 years, telecom services in Vietnam have improved. The revenue of local telecom businesses has seen stable growth thanks to an increasing number of new subscribers despite continuously decreasing tariffs (Vietnamnews, 2017). The total revenue in the country’s telecom sector in 2016 rose 7.5 percent over the previous year. Vietnam's telecom market posted a 127% increase in total revenues to 213 trillion dongs ($9.38 billion) during the first half of 2017, with major contributions from Viettel, with 55% of industry revenues, others players are Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (31%), and Mobifone (9.9%) (Nikkei, 2017). It seems like the Telecommunication industry in Vietnam is developing without difficulty. In fact, the local telecom market is facing with the saturation as, by the end of June 2017, subscriber density reached 124 subscribers per 100 people (Vietnamnews, 2017). In other words, Vietnam’s telecommunications service market has reached the saturation and would be hard to attract new subscribers. This problem could lead to the increasingly fierce competition among telecom providers for their revenue and market share. In contrast, the market for internet service is mushrooming which is out of a population of 96 million, 67 percent are internet users, and 64 percent of them are active mobile internet users (Digiatalinasia, 2018). Data demand is growing exponentially as consumers switch to smartphones, tablets and wearable devices. Consequently, the need for high-speed data network capacity is also raising which forced telecommunication operators to spend substantial amounts on high-speed connectivity and upgrading 3G networks to 4G (LTE) networks. However, in comparison with the global network, Vietnam industry has caught up with the trend much slower. Vietnam's internet. 25. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(34) speed only ranked number 75 in the world, lower than Malaysia and Thailand and it’s ten times slower than Singapore (Figure 13) with a download speed of 5.46 megabytes per second (Ha, 2017). By the end of 2009, while Sweden became the first country successfully put 4G internet service into practice giving a signal for the next generation wireless platform in the world (International Telecommunication Union, 2010), Vietnam finally started commercial launch 3G internet service in 13 provinces, 8 years later than Japan (Vietnam Post and Telecommunication group, 2009). Vinaphone was the first operator to launch the service, in October 2009, followed by MobiFone two months later. It was not until 2017, Viettel officially released 4G service.. Figure 13. 3G and 4G market share in Vietnam, 2017 (APPOTA Vietnam mobile report Q2 2017) For decades, Vietnam telecom industry relied on a simple business model: build the biggest network they can, then charge customers for the demands they make on it. Back then, most revenues came from voice traffic, and the phone company could charge a premium for long26. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(35) distance calls. However, with more people communicating via services like Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp, revenue from voice calls is falling, even as customers expect more from the network. Consequently, telecom operators have to quickly adapt to consumer’s growing need by not only upgrading their service but also impressing their users. Creative that plays on patriotism and pride is always going to be a winner in Vietnam and hard to compete with by non-local players. When brands put in the effort to localize, whether it is the product or content, they will experience a greater brand connection with customers. Therefore, instead of announcing to launch new internet Technology normally, Viettel impressed consumers by an emotional and meaningful 4G grand opening campaign in 2017. Figure 14. Average internet speed in Southeast Asian countries in 2017 (Vnexpress.net). 27. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(36) Figure 15. Logo and Slogan of Viettel (Viettel’s website) Viettel Group (full name in Vietnamese: Tập đoàn Công nghiệp Viễn thông Quân đội) is Vietnam's largest mobile network operator. It is a state-owned enterprise wholly owned and operated by the Ministry of Defence. Viettel is among the largest telecommunications companies in Vietnam with a default advantage of having strong connection with the government. Notably, in 2017, Viettel acquired VND250.8 trillion ($11.04 billion) in revenue, and VND44 trillion ($1.94 billion) in profit, signifying increases of 9.4 and 12 percent, respectively (Appota, 2017). Viettel’s profit is nine times higher than that of VNPT and eight times higher than that of MobiFone. Viettel’s profit made up 60 percent of the total profit of state-owned economic groups (Nikkei, 2017). However, according to the companies' annual reports, Viettel’s profit growth in 2017 was only 1.7 percent while VNPT increased 21 percent, 11 times bigger. Economists argued that Viettel is holding a very huge part of the pie that could not be easy to expand in the context of saturation.. 2.. Sampling. To explore what is patriotic strategy that employed by two selected brands, it is important to figure out which are their most successful advertisements portraying the sense of patriotism. By using. 28. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(37) purposive sampling method in which the sample is chosen based on the characteristics of a population and the objective of the study (Crossman, 2018), official advertisements that were posted on three major commercial channels (Facebook, website, YouTube) were skimmed through to sort out the qualified samples. Those samples had to be announced as the official advertisements, widely used and included the patriotic content. Accordingly, until the end of 2018, there were 5030 photos and 638 videos posted on Viettel official channels. Similarly, 706 photos and 1034 videos about Vianmilk were skimmed. The result showed that advertisements from Vinamilk “Stand tall Vietnam” campaign and “Hey! Vietnam” campaign of Vittel was qualified as they are the only campaign that employed patriotic sense as the key strategy. Processing the purposive sampling again for all advertisements belonged to those campaigns to exclude unrelated samples, there are two billboard advertisements and two television video commercials are qualified.. 2.1.. Viettel case study. At the beginning of 2017, to deal with this difficulty, all three major Vietnamese telecoms groups decided to launch 4G services in big cities and Vietnam’s first provider of the fourth-generation wireless mobile telecommunications technology was Viettel. Accordingly, the campaign “Việt Nam ơi” (Hey! Vietnam) belonged to Viettel group which aimed to introduce 4G services was one of the most outstanding and emotional advertising campaigns in 2017. Similar to Vinamilk, they also tapped into national pride to win over local audiences with their creative campaign “Vietnam oi”, which showed how their technology bridges gaps in a song and theatre performance with 108 performers from 54 ethnic groups across all generations throughout Vietnam, from north to south. Its message associated with national solidarity emphasized that when technology is moving forward, no one would be left behind.. 29. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(38) The TVC Vietnam oi is officially posted on two main social media channels: Facebook and Youtube. So far, it obtanied a total of more than 17 million views and 2000 shares and became the most viewed Youtube ads for the first 6 months of 2017 according to some local marketing agencies (Younet Media, 2017). From these two case studies, official poster and TVCs would be selected to be analyzed. Thereby understand how these leading brands deliver value to their audiences with their product ranges how they communicate across traditional and digital touch points and touch the hearts of their audiences.. 2.2.. Vinamilk case study. From August 2016 to middle of 2017, according to Brands Vietnam magazine, to celebrate 40 years anniversary of, a campaign called “Stand tall Vietnam” was launched by Vinamilk. The message of the campaign, in fact, is the name of Vinamilk’s foundation which first introduced in 2008 aiming to support the government in improving Vietnamese children’s physical presence. However, more than a birthday party, the campaign strongly affirms that, as a national brand, Vinamilk’s development is associated with national prosperity. Basically, it could be divided into 3 phases. First, activation activities mostly focused on charity projects in 40 provinces which supported 40.000 poor children not only free 40.000 cups of milk but also other study commodities. Its attempt on helping society attracted media attention as it was mentioned in more 200 articles through more 50 media channels. After that, the second phase impressed audiences by an emotional TVC named “40 years stand tall Vietnam” which could be seen as the spotlight of the campaign. Many famous KOLs and social media channels and platforms were used to promote the TVC and its theme song. Besides television, the main commercial channels were Youtube and Zing MP3 (local music channel) which later got nearly 28 million views in total. The TVC became. 30. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(39) not only the Vinamilk‘s most viewed ads ever but also one of the 10 most viewed advertisements of Vietnam in 2016 (the Brands Vietnam, 2016). Finally, the campaign ended with a 40 years anniversary ceremony. Put aside other strategic elements which contributed to the success of the campaign, this research only focus on analyzing its advertisements content. It could be said that TVC “Stand tall Vietnam” is a typical case study about how patriotism factors are employed skillfully to enhance the brand’s image.. 3.. Textual analysis. Textual analysis is a research tool used to understand language, symbols, and/or pictures present in texts to gain information regarding how people make sense of and communicate life and life experiences (Allen, 2017). In general, the textual analysis would be conducted when the researcher consider questions like question like: “what is the meaning of the text?” and “How does the how does the text influence, reflect, or reject the views of society?”. Data are gathered and analyzed to provide a deeper understanding through the description and interpretation of messages found within the text (Allen, 2017). In this study, the researcher would like to employ textual analysis method to examine the occurrence of selected terms in the data. By coding explicit terms, the researcher wants to find out the frequency of the chosen symbols and then explains their meaning in coordinating with its text. According to Guo’s (2004) notion of the nation, ‘a named human population sharing an historic territory, common myths and historical memories, a mass, public culture, a common economy, and common legal rights and duties for all members’. Otherwise, as mentioned above, symbols could be a word, a picture, a sign or a gesture that represents the community’s common knowledge. Hence, the researcher would like to apply a coding instrument (appendix 1) in which. 31. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(40) patriotic symbols were classified into four different forms: landscape (identified and unidentified), person (influencer and non-influencer), cultural narrative, and icon (national icon and brand icon). Besides, it is important to specify that two case studies would be analyzed separately. The results of this method would help to answer the research question number one: What types of patriotic content are used in the case studies?. 4.. Narrative analysis. The narrative analysis could be understood as a genre of analytic frames whereby researchers interpret stories that are told within the context of research and/or are shared in everyday life (Riessman, 1939). It aims to identify the kinds of stories told about the phenomenon and the kinds of the story representing the phenomenon in a specific context. The narrative analysis normally focuses on text, media text, picture, film, music or an environment (Pradl & Gordon, 1984). Accordingly, the researcher hopes to understand how brands’ story and image are constructed across dimensions of time and narration. If the textual analysis focuses on specific objects, the narrative analysis would follow the story told by those selected patriotic elements to understand the relevance and its meaning between the visual contents and audio contents in the same timeframe. In sum, it helps to answer the second research question: What are their narrative strategies employed in these case studies?. 32. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(41) CHAPTER IV FINDINGS This chapter aims to outline the results of two analysis sections. The first section presents the overall findings of textual analysis in which follows the coding instrument (Appendix 1) in a relationship with patriotism theory. The second section applies the definition of advertising appeals to describe the advertising strategy demonstrated by mentioned content in the first section.. 1.. Textual analysis 1.1.. Overall review. By counting the frequency and percentage of content categories in each case study, the results are demonstrated in two tables (Tables 2 and 3) and two figures (Figure 16 and 17) in response to the research question number one. As mentioned above, the research question number one attempts to understand what types of patriotism contents are employed. It is easy to see that using well-known or familiar elements is the key concept of both two case studies. The identified landscapes, influencer or iconic figures are the most popular contents. However, there are differences between the two samples in selecting and setting up those elements. In Figure 15 and 16, the distribution of codes was found to be strategized differently. Two major contents that appeared the most in all samples are landscape and person. However, Viettel focuses a lot in employing the person (n=23, 60.53%), while the major code of Vinamilk's advertising is landscape (n=29, 43.94%). The contribution of those codes also has a big difference between the two cases. If in Vinamilk case, all codes are employed almost equally, the cultural. 33. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(42) narrative and icon in Viettel advertisement both account for a small number of total (n=2, 5.26%) which equates to only 1/12 of the landscape codes. Figure 16. Content distribution in Viettel case study cultural narrative 5%. icon 5% Landscape 29%. Person 61%. Figure 17. Content distribution in Vinamilk case study. Icon 21%. Landscape 44%. Cutural narrative 12% Person 23%. 34. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(43) Specifically, looking into the sub-codes in table 2 and 3, it results in both contradictory and similarity. Both of two samples tend to employ the identified landscapes in an attempt to remind the audience about the beauty of the country and also, bring them the image of familiarity. On the other hand, in all the scenes that focus on people, either influencer or non-influencer accounts for a similar number of percentages in Viettel ads when there is no influencer in Vinamilk case. Similarly with the brand icon, if Viettel does not put a lot of brand’s sign in the ads, Vinamilk keeps repeating its name, icon, and slogan. Table 2. Frequency and Percentage of advertising content categories - Vettel Code. Code frequency. Code Percentage. Landscape. 11. 28.95%. Identified. 10. 26.32%. Unidentified. 1. 2.63%. Person. 23. 60.53%. Influencer. 12. 31.58%. Non-influencer. 11. 28.95%. Cultural Narrative. 2. 5.26%. Icon. 2. 5.26%. Country icon. 1. 2.63%. Brand icon. 1. 2.63%. 35. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(44) Table 3. Frequency and Percentage of advertising content categories - Vinamilk Code. Code Frequency. Code Percentage. Landscape. 29. 43.94%. Identified. 22. 33.33%. Unidentified. 7. 10.60%. Person. 15. 22.73%. Influencer. 0. 0%. Non-influencer. 15. 22.73%. Cultural Narrative. 8. 12.12%. Icon. 14. 21.21%. National icon. 4. 6.06%. Brand icon. 10. 15.15%. 1.2.. Landscape. The landscape is defined as everything you can see when you look across an area of land, for example, hills, rivers, buildings, trees, and plants. Many psychologists have pointed out that interacting with nature restores directed attention and improves performance in attention- and memory-related tasks (Hartmann and Apaolaza, 2013).. In this research, two case studies. employed effectively the sense of natural beauty to make an impression on the audience.. 36. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(45) Firstly, in the “Stand tall Vietnam” TVC of Vinamilk, the opening is a combination of six different special country landscapes filled with different meanings. There is a saying that “Vietnam has golden forest and silver ocean” which refers to three-quarter of the area covered by mountains and the long coastline of the country. Therefore, to demonstrate the personality of Vietnamese nature, it has to be the beach, mountain or river (Figures 18 and 19).. Figure 18. Ninh Binh in the early morning. It is a famous tourist place which is a great combination of river and mountains (Stand tall Vietnam TVC, Vinamilk). Without the caption, it is still easy for audiences to define those places and their names through special hints. For example, only in the northern mountain areas that people could build farms in the middle of high mountains (Figure 19). And the building in Figure 20 is a symbol of Ho Chi Minh City. Moreover, many of them are special because of their profound connection with national pride. The attractions appearing in the TVC, for example, Ha Long bay, Hoan Kiem lake, the ancient capital Hue, and the northernmost Lung Cu are not only famous with local people but also international friends. They represent the nature, tradition, history, development, and freedom. 37. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(46) of the country. In other words, Vinalmilk tried to cover all elements defining the meaning of “nation”.. Figure 19. Farms locates among mountain refers to the agriculture of Vietnam (Stand tall Vietnam TVC, Vinamilk). Figure 20. The scene of Bitexco building, Ho Chi Minh City. It is a symbol of industrial achievement (Stand tall Vietnam TVC, Vinamilk). 38. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(47) Moreover, conducting a high-angle shot help to impress people with special angles which they could not easily archive from a normal point of view. Showing something people are already familiar with but by an impressive and unique technique could, therefore, quickly catches their eyes and draw their attention into a story. In fact, most of the landscape scenes in this TVC are filmed from above to represent the high and mighty of the country which is merged with the campaign’s message: “40 years stand tall Vietnam”. Additionally, even though there are numbers of unidentified places in Vinamilk TVC, they are recognizable by regional characteristics. Therefore, they can restore people’s memory and patriotic emotion – the feeling of closeness.. Figure 21. An un-known bridge from above (Stand tall Vietnam TVC, Vinamilk) Unlike Vinamilk, as Viettel’s intention in this campaign is showing off the power of nextgeneration wireless mobile telecommunications technology - 4G, they focus on how to figure the wireless mobile network in the most convincing and touching approach. To illustrate this idea, they held a cross country performance in which the artists would stay in different locations and were connected by 4G devices. Therefore, the landscapes used in the TVC are not only about celebrating the country’s beauty but about drawing 4G’s coverage all over Vietnam. The TVC is filmed mostly at four identified locations: Son La, Ha Noi, Binh Thuan, and Ho Chi Minh. Each 39. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(48) location has its own meaning and could represent different parts of Vietnam geography clearly. The map in Figure 22 could help to visualize their locations. Repeatedly, both Ho Chi Minh - the biggest city in the southern Vietnam and Ha Noi city - the biggest city in the northern were shown in Viettel TVC. In this case, the link built by the music performance emphasizes the inseparable connection between two cities representing for national solidarity, the core social foundation of a communist country (Young, 2019). It coincides with the tagline of Viettel 4G campaign: When technology is going ahead, no one would be left behind. Figure 22. Filming locations in Vietnam oi! TVC, Viettel. The third landscape used in the TVC is Binh Thuan which has the most beautiful coastline and also top beautiful beaches in Vietnam. As a coastal province, the large white sandbank is the 40. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(49) most significant and attractive feature of this land. Ever since the territorial water tension in the South China Sea among Vietnam and other neighbors in 2014, coastline and the island’s safety has become the delicate issue, drawn society’s concern. Back to the case of Vinamilk, it could be seen that the image of the sea, the beach also appeared with the same meaning.. Figure 23. Mui ne sand bank in Binh Thuan (Vietnam oi! TVC, viettel) The next is Son La, a northern border province covered by high mountains and forest accounting for 85% of total land area (Sonla.gov.vn, 2017). With the other two neighbors, Son La is as seen as the roof of northern of Vietnam with the biggest plateau – Moc Chau plateau, and hundreds of natural beauty sides (Sonla.gov.vn, 2017). The geographical specialty that contributes strongly to the development of tourism and promotes Son la to become the tourist center of the Northern, on the other hand, limits the industrial, educational and technological development of this place. With the cultural diversity coming from 12 ethnic groups living scattered in the highlands, building and maintaining the community connection is the priority.. 41. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(50) Figure 24. A tea farm in Moc Chau plateau, Son La (Vietnam oi! TVC, Viettel) Putting all of those explanations together, it is easy to see the difference between two case studies. Vinamilk focuses on celebrating the mighty proud beauty with a collection of cross country attractions. Meanwhile, Viettel tries to create a geographical connection from the north to the south, from the mountain border to the coastal area.. 1.3.. Person. A scene defined as person code focus on a person or a group of people’s action that express their emotion or story within the text. The person could be an influencer or a normal individual. As mentioned, there are some differences in how two cases try to employ the role of person. “Stand tall Vietnam” TVC is a type of music video performed by a group of children wearing Vinamilk’s uniform. They sing about the country at different locations and landscapes. As the major code in Vinamilk case is landscape, the symbolic meaning of person has less importance and impression in drawing the audience’s attention. It is not the first time Vinamilk employs the image of kids to promote their brand identity. Taking a quick look at all of its advertisements on social media channels, the majority of them emerged the scenes of kids drinking 42. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(51) milk with pleasure. Saying that children - the nation’s future - should drink milk to grow high and smart in order to contribute to peace and prosperity of their Father-land, Vinamilk successfully popularized itself as a humanity brand.. Figure 25. Scene of kids in Vinamilk’s uniform singing “Stand tall Vietnam” (Stand tall Vietnam TVC, Vinamilk). Figure 26. A kid is drinking milk products with home background (Stand tall Vietnam TVC, Vinamilk) In general, an advertisement aimed at children has been associated with the idea of innocence and reliable which is a powerful selling mechanism in advertising (Myllylä, 2017). It seems to be perfectly merged with dairy products’ image: pure and safe. In Vinamilk’s TVC, aside 43. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.

(52) from presenting scenes of the singing kids, the advertisers were continuously implementing a repetition of brand identity in which showing the kid drinking milk enjoyably or feeding the milk cow, the brand’s visual representation. They create a theme of innocence and happiness, involve the audience into a positive atmosphere that strengthens consumers’ sympathy.. Figure 27. Kids feeding with milk cow Milk cow is the visual representation of Vinamilk’s liquid milk product (Stand tall Vietnam TVC, Vinamilk) In contrast with Vinamilk, Viettel takes full advantage of the different types of people to emphasize the popularity of 4G technology. Person is the focal point in 4G campaign poster (Figure 28). It was an image of three people representing three major ethnic communities: ethnic minority, northern Vietnamese and southern Vietnamese distinguished by clothes. They are running forward handing a 4G mobile phone with happy and satisfied facial expression. Besides illustrating the slogan of Viettel 4G campaign, this image also aligns with its tagline: “4G, super speed, everywhere, for everyone”.. 44. DOI:10.6814/NCCU201900676.