VietNamNet Bridge – The online ad market has not yet developed in Vietnam not because of the poor technology infrastructure and the lack of the workforce, but because of the lack of people’s confidence.

Contrary to all predictions, online ads still cannot “feed” ad firms, because businesses still budget their money for traditional ad channels like TV or print newspapers. The low expenses, high efficiency and the large information coverage all still cannot help make online ads become more popular.

Online ads still remain unconvincing to customers

Nguyen Thi Bich Phuong, Market Development Director of MicroAd, an online ad solution provider from Japan, noted that the online ad market can develop strongly only if the financially capable enterprises accept to spend money on online ads, which remains unfamiliar in Vietnam.  However, big enterprises are usually the ones which do not want to take risks.

This explains why the turnover from online ads just accounts for one percent of the total budget for advertisements allocated by big enterprises like P&G, Unilever and Coca Cola.

Phuong said Vietnamese businesses are still “listening to the news” and they would only approach online ads if they see other businesses’ success with online ads.

According to Nguyen Minh Quy, CEO of NovaAds, noted that unlike traditional ad channels, ad contents play the decisive role in social media campaigns. He noted that lot of domestic enterprises cannot harmonize the activities of advertising their brands and providing useful information to potential customers.

Therefore, one of the most important tasks of advertisers is to find a common voice with customers about what information should be provided to customers and how to do that.

Nguyen Quang Duy, Business Development Director of Vserv, a mobility ad solution provider, thinks the online ad market still cannot develop in Vietnam because of the two reasons.

First, most of the consumers using mobile smart devices live in urban areas. Therefore, online ads would only allow to popularize businesses’ products in urban areas. Meanwhile, businesses want their products to approach the potential customers in remote, mountainous and rural areas as well.

Second, the problems in online payment methods in Vietnam have partially hindered the sales of fast consumer goods. This prompts fast consumer goods manufacturers to prioritize to spend money on traditional ad channels.

Who will be the potential customers for online ads?

Phuong of MicroAd said the company has decided that would focus on the enterprises ranking the second or third in every business fields. The businesses tend to accept more risks than the leading businesses, because they want to make breakthroughs to compete with the leading businesses and others in the same business fields.

She believes that once the enterprises accept to spend money on online ads, the market would develop rapidly.

Meanwhile, Vinh of NovaAds noted that 2014 would still be the time for complex social media ad campaigns with Facebook in the center.

Regarding the creativeness in ad campaigns, Vinh said QR (quick response) and AR (Augmented Reality) technologies would play the decisive role in helping businesses approach users’ behaviors.

TBKTSG