Vietnam - News and Regulations

ECONOMY - Industrial production increases



The country's total industrial production value in September is estimated to reach 62.56 trillion dong, up 2.9 percent month on month and 12.5 percent year-on-year, bringing the total figure of first nine months to 506 trillion dong, growing 6.5 percent against 2008, Ministry of Planning and Investment reported.

Regarding the industrial production index (IIP), the industrial production growth of Jan-Sep of 2009 gained 6.2 percent compared with the previous year, especially the ore mining, production and distribution of water electricity saw a fairly high gross.

In details, the ore mining industry surged 11.8 percent in the period while the production and distribution of water, electricity and gas were up 7.9 percent whereas the growth of processing industry only was 3.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the production of clean coal soared by 4.2 percent, crude oil up 17.6 percent, natural gas 2.1 percent, automobile tyres and tractors increasing by 1.7 percent, cement jumping 18.3 percent, kinds of round steel rising by 18.8 percent, air conditioners 48.2 percent, fridges 30.9 percent, motorbikes 6.2 percent, commercial water 9.7 percent and electricity growing by 11.3 percent against the same period of 2008.

Other, the production of LPG was down 1.8 percent, seafood processing falling 5.6 percent, powder milk tumbling 6.8 percent, refined sugar 21.2 percent, cotton fibre declining 16.3 percent, television 5.4 percent, and car manufacturing decreasing by 6.7 percent.

The crude oil price continued ranging between $60 and $70 a barrel, affecting the cost of transportation and prices of finished products in the domestic market. Notably, the prices of cement and steel were maintained.

As assessed, the state economy has not yet confirmed the important role in boosting the industrial production as only reaching the growth of 3.1 percent in first nine months of 2009 while the non-state economy and foreign invested companies posted an impressive gross of 8.4 percent and 7 percent correspondingly.

MPI forecasts that the total industrial production value of 2009 could be 693.8 trillion dong, rising by 7.2 percent year-on-year.TBKT





INVESTMENT IN POWER/TARIF/ENERGY/ELECTRICITY - Electricity price mechanism suffers from various problems



The mechanism for electricity prices still present various problems, impacting accumulations for investing projects under the electricity plan VI. This is the biggest difficulty for development of the electricity sector in general and formation of a competitive electricity market in Vietnam. Such an opinion was put forward in the draft supervising result report for realising the electricity development plan and strategy until 2015 conducted by the National Assembly's Economic Committee.

On September 23, the Economic Committee had a meeting and gave opinions about the supervising results.

As required by the electricity development plan and strategy until 2010, the electricity sector must obtain productivity of 88 billion to 93 billion kWh to meet the country's demand for energy that is forecasted to increase by 17-20 percent a year.

It is predicted that by 2015, because of high demand of over 150 billion kWh, Vietnam will likely import electricity from Laos, China.

Meanwhile, realising the targets in the 2009-2015 electricity plans is being adversely impacted by various unfavourable factors.

The 2006-2015 national electricity development plans where 2025 is also considered in 2006 – 2008 was assessed to have basically been completed.

This was the period that the electricity sector realised the ever biggest scope among six national electricity plans however some electricity works have not yet fulfilled their targets.

Various limitations, weaknesses were also pointed out, including no standby electricity, shortage of electricity for production and daily life of people in some periods of time, especially in hot, sunny or draught years or in case one of electricity plants encounter problems.

The subjective reason, according to the supervising agency, was illogicalness of calculating demand for electricity development based on the economic growth.

Difficulties in arranging capital, limited project management capacity of many investors and contractors, prolonged site clearance were also major reasons mentioned in the report.

Furthermore, another emphasized reason was slow development of the competitive electricity market, which has not yet settled problems related to the mechanism of electricity buying prices.

As for the period of 2006 – 2015, according to the electricity plan VI, some 54 electricity projects will be developed by investors outside the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) in form of IPB/BOT. However, up to now only six projects have been completed, with the capacity of 2,059 MW, fulfilling 5.6 percent of the plan. Nine big projects with total capacity of 15,275 MW have not yet had investors.

The shortage of investment capital may lead to slow development of electricity in remaining years of the electricity plan VI, said the economic committee.

Total demand for investment and debt payment of EVN between 2009 – 2015 is 647.038 trillion dong. However, EVN can fund 264.108 trillion dong.

The reason for delay electricity development of investors outside EVN is their weak financial capacity. Projects with total investment of over $1 billion meet difficulties in capital, said the report.

"Currently, EVN's average electricity selling price of 5.2cent/kWh is very low," said the report. Meanwhile, EVN said that the long-run marginal cost to ensure profits and accumulations for development investment must be 7.5 cent/kWh.

For this reason, in short term, EVN may not look to accumulations from profits for investing projects described in the electricity plan VI but EVN must mainly rely on loans from the state budget. Nevertheless, according to EVN's recent report, the group is meeting various difficulties in borrowing domestic and foreign loans because of weak debt payment capacity when projects have low efficiency and electricity prices are low.

The cross compensation principle of electricity selling prices makes EVN find it hard to separate between business profits and fulfilment of public welfare activities. This also partly results in delay of equitisation. Up to date, only nine out of 33 member companies of EVN completed equitisation, which has impacted investment into projects under the electricity plan VI from share issue.

Upon seeing the low electricity price as the key point impacting the development of the electricity sector, the economic committee suggested the adjusting the electricity prices based on the market mechanism should follow the identified routes, ensuring investors, businesses to be able to compensate for costs and earn profits.

Regarding the organisation and management of the electricity sector, the supervising agency suggested the establishment of an authorised body to make macro-calculation for the whole national energy security strategy to handle planning, mechanism issues and others.TBKT



TRADE REVENUES - Sep export turnover touches $ 4.68b

Ministry of Industry and Trade reported that in September, the country's exports turnover touched $4.68 billion, down 11.3 percent year-on-year but increasing 3.5 percent from the previous month thanks to a surge in crude oil exports.

This month Dung Quat temporarily halted operation so the volume of drilled crude oil was for exports.

Thus, during the first nine months, the export turnover totalled over $41.7 billion, plunging 14.3 percent year-on-year, in which the non-crude oil commodities saw a fall of 7.4 percent.

Initially, the goods volume for export in Jan-Sep grew by 10.7 percent against the same period of 2008, helping the export turnover soar by $5.2 billion, but the export prices reduced by 22.5 percent on average, causing a decline of $12.1 billion in the total export turnover.

In details, the export value of crude oil tumbled by $4.8 billion sharply, rice down over $1 billion, rubber down $598 million and coffee $550 million in comparison with last September.

The full year's export turnover is estimated at $57-58 billion only, lower than the initially planned $64.65 billion.

Meanwhile, the September import spending was $6.2 billion, up 6 percent against August, bringing the total figures of Jan-Sep to $48.3 billion, falling 24.9 percent year-on-year and fulfilling 63.9 percent of 2009 target.

With the September trade deficit of $1.52 billion, the figure of first nine months was raised to $6.54 billion, accounting for 15.7 percent of total export turnover.

If the crude oil price is kept at $60-65 a barrel along with good prices of agricultural products, the year's export turnover could be $59 billion at maximum, down 6 percent from 2008. With the forecast that import spending could drop 13.3 percent y-o-y to $70 billion, Vietnam's 2009 trade gap will be recorded at $11 billion.SGT







REAL ESTATE - Seeking capital for real estate projects



Real estate is a sort of business field which requires sustainable capital strength and a long term financial plan, Vietnamese property firms however rely only on three capital supplies: ownership capital, bank loans and capital mobilisation from future customers.

However, because capital mobilisation from customers suffers many legislative obligations so real estate traders mainly depend on banks' short term loans and face a heavy pressure of debt payment. Thus, most property projects lack capital. The successfully raised money amount is only enough to ask for an investment license and then investors will have to launch a series of plans to call for investment cooperation to continue that project.

Le Chi Hieu, president of Thu Duc House said that there are many ways for real estate companies to seek investment capital, in which issuing corporate bonds is a solution that is launched effectively by a lot of companies.

In 2008, Saigon Thuong Tin Real Estate Joint Stock Co (Sacomreal) carried out three bond issue phases with a total 850 billion dong, which attracted many investors. Phat Dat property trader now plans to issue bonds to raise capital for the projects in HCM City's Dist 7.

Another popular solution is the real estate saving and Vietnam needs to refer the form. Currently, some traders implemented strange capital mobilisation methods in Vietnam. Notably, those capital mobilisation methods always give interests to project investors and pushed risks to customers because the legislative frame work has not yet caught up with the reality.

Dinh Van An, chief of Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) said that they are researching the real estate saving development policy focusing on managing clauses of real estate contracts, saving, borrowing or allocation of loans.NLD





Foreign Direct Investment - 9-month FDI attraction gains $12.541b



Total newly licensed and increased capital of FDI projects during the first three quarters of 2009 reached $12.541 billion, growing by 21.4 percent year-on-year. In which, 168 projects were increased in capital size with an extra of $4.86 billion (a year-on-year rise of 7 percent), reported Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Investment Department.

Although only growing by 14.3 percent compared with 2008, Phan Huu Thang-head of Foreign Investment Department said that the newly licensed $7.67 billion was a satisfactory figure in the economic crisis context.

As estimated, the total actualised FDI attained $7.2 billion in first nine months, promising that the plan of $10 billion FDI disbursement can be reached in 2009.

Ba Ria Vung Tau is the largest FDI receiver in Jan-Sep with $6.6 billion newly licensed and increased capital, followed by Binh Duong $2.45 billion, HCM City $1.14 billion, Hanoi $383 million and Dong Nao $281 million.sggp





INSURANCE - BIC launches guarantee insurance service



Bidv Insurance Co (BIC) have launched guarantee insurance service on trial at all branches from September 2009, including bidding guarantee, guarantee for contract implementation, guarantee for refunding the advanced money, payment and warranty guarantee.

In the insurance sector, this is a fairly new specification differing from ordinary insurance products. Guarantee insurance contract is signed among three parties: guaranteed party, guarantee receiver and insurer. The insurance company will not insure sudden and unpredictable risks.

Naturally, the guarantee insurance product of insurance companies is similar to guarantee products of banks. However, deposit limit and secured assets at insurance companies are lower than banks' requirements, BIC analysed.TBKT





STOCK EXCHANGE - Another FIE successfully lists on Vietnam's stock market



In the past few days, Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) has welcomed one foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprise for listing shares on the northern bourse of Nagakawa Vietnam Joint Stock (coded NAG). Although NAG share code was introduced to public for the first time, it has made impression with the investors from the debut session of Sep 23 with a ceiling rise to 27,800 dong per share and plentiful buying orders.

Nagakawa Vietnam Joint Stock Co was formerly known as a joint venture between Anh Vu International Economic Development Co and China-based Huagao Air Conditioning Equipments Co Ltd This enterprise was changed from FDI firm to a joint stock company in March 2007.

Previously, there were other FDI enterprises to list shares on the country's two main bourses such as Mirae JSC (coded KMR), Mirae Fiber JSC (KMF), Taicera Ceramic Industry JSC (TCR), Chang Yih enamel brick JSC (CYC), Tung Kuang JSC (TKU), Taya Electrical Wire and Cables (TYA) and Full Power JSC (FPC). However, there have been no share codes of FDI enterprises to be considered as "blue-chips".

The listed FDI enterprises in Vietnam have the same features that most of the shares were owned by founding member groups or the parent foreign-owned company. Therefore, these enterprises can post one part of the circulating share volume, causing limitation in its shares' liquidity feature.

Meanwhile, there were various difficulties in business situation in those foreign-owned enterprises mentioned above last year due to the bad effects from the global economic crisis.

In spite of the increasing impetus in Vietnam's stock exchanges in the last month, most of the share codes in the group of FDI enterprises saw no significant changes. The analysts said in order to make deep impression of the shares of FDI firms on the market, there should be more large-scaled FDI enterprises listing shares on the local bourses in the near future. The fact that the listing mechanisms for FDI firms become more favourable now has been considered the good conditions for more qualified FDI enterprises to list shares on the stock market.

The good impression that Nakagawa Vietnam JSC has made when listing shares on the northern bourse is considered a good signal for the listing behaviour among the large FDI firms in the near future.

According to the current law, those FDI enterprises with foreign holdings of over 49 percent of the chartered capital can still keep the holding rate unchanged when listing shares on the market. This will allow the FDI firms to list all the current share volume instead of listing one part of share volume as some foreign enterprises had done previously. When the FDI firms list shares in large volume, their share liquidity may increase.SGDT





RETAIL/TRADE - AEON Malaysia plans to build retailing chain in Vietnam



AEON Co (Malaysia) Bhd, subsidiary of Japan's second largest retailing group AEON Co Ltd has announced plans to build a retailing chain in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia, according to the member company's managing director Naghahisa. Oyama.

Now, the company is selecting investment markets and seeking potential partners in Vietnam.

In this October, AEON group wants to release a report on Vietnamese market; however the investment expansion could only be actualised in 2011.

South-eastern Asia is a highly potential region for AEON Co Ltd and the highest given priority destination is Vietnam, and then Indonesia and Cambodia. HCM City is a very attractive address, followed by Hanoi.intellasia







RICE EXCHANGE - Vietnam opens the first rice exchange floor on November 26



Vietnam, the second largest rice exporter in the world plans to open the first rice exchange in November with the purpose of reinforcing the trading activities of this type of agricultural product, said Nguyen Van Dong, director of Hau Giang province department of agriculture and rural development.

Dong said that the opening of Vietnam's rice trading centre was to create more favourable conditions for trading activities. The exchange would be located in Hau Giang province, Mekong Delta region.

Previously, Do Huu Hao, deputy minister of industry and trade revealed on August 6 that Vietnam plans to increase the rice export volume to 7 million tonnes within this year. According to the primary statistics given by general Department of Statistics, Vietnam has exported 4.7 million tonnes of rice in the first eight months, an increase of 43 percent year-on-year.

Up to now, about 30 enterprises have registered for transaction on the new rice exchange. Most of the registered members are the subsidiaries of Southern Food Corp (Vinafood 2), one of the two largest state-owned enterprises in the agriculture industry with function of management for domestic food supplies.

The new rice exchange will be put into operation under the control of Vietnam Food Association and Hau Giang province's functional authority.vietstock





TELECOMMUNICATION - No longer super promotion programme for pre-paid mobile subscribers



In the coming time, the pre-paid mobile subscribers will no longer get benefit from super promotion programmes of offering 100 percent-130 percent of the value of paid-in cards as previously.

Department of Trade Promotion, under ministry of industry and trade has lately issued official document in which the ministry required the mobile network providers to limit their promotion rate of below 50 percent value of the paid-in cards.

The three largest mobile providers of Viettel, MobiFone and VinaPhone affirmed that they had already received the document from Department of Trade Promotion since last week and they were working out the implementation methods. The three enterprises stopped their promotion period of offering 100 percent of the paid-in cards for pre-paid subscribers in mid-Sep. These mobile network providers plan to offer new promotion programme of 50 percent value of the paid-in cards at the end of Sep.

Being triggered from 2007, the race for the largest amount of mobile subscribers among the mobile network providers caused the enterprises to reduce the call charge and lower the value of simcards in order to attract customers. The amount of mobile subscribers increased rapidly and the mobile network providers and management authority cannot identify their real subscribers and imaginary subscribers to be in use at present.

In a latest development, Ministry of Information and Communication announced that the ministry would remove the criteria of "largest amount of subscribers" to select the best mobile network providers for Vietnam ICT Awards 2009, and replace it for criteria of "the largest amount of post-paid subscribers".

Pham Hong Hai, head of telecommunication department affirmed that the post-paid subscribers were the most loyal customers that help the telecommunication markets develop stably.

There are over 80 million mobile subscribers in Vietnam at present, in which VinaPhone, MobiFone and Viettel hold the large market shares. In previous years, the post-paid subscribers accounted for 10-15 percent among the total mobile subscribers. However, at present, the rate was posted at about 3-5 percent. Meanwhile, the revenue contributed by the post-paid subscribers for the mobile network providers accounted for 50 percent.VNEXPRESS

Communication for the connected generation

Saturday September 19, 2009
Communication for the connected generation
COMMENT
By DAVID GIBSON

MALAYSIANS between the ages of 15 and 40 are now digitally-astute ‘netizens’. Many of them have become message creators, carriers, and communicators in a re-mix culture via social media.
The implications for marketers, are profound. No longer is the brand in control with one-to-many communications. The leading edge has shifted to many-to-many communications, putting the message consumer at the heart of message development.
The role of online communications is one of influencing and involving these ‘netizens’, where content solely created to proliferate a message, is increasingly being bypassed in favour of co-creation strategies.
Malaysian Internet users like Facebook, Myspace, and Friendster. They’re also connecting via Twitter, LindedIn and Plaxo, and eBlogger.
They use resources such as Slideshare, iTunes, Flickr, and YouTube.
Nine of the Top 20 websites in Malaysia are social networking sites, and the top 6 sites are Yahoo!, Facebook, Google.com.my, YouTube, Google.com, and Blogger.
Social media big in Malaysia
By 2010 there will be 17 million Internet users in Malaysia. 45% of Malaysians are between the ages of 15 and 40, 31% under the age of 15.
By 2016, 2.6 million younger Malaysians will be newly-active consumers.
They increasingly get their news online, they belong to a variety of social networks, they actively consume and adapt information, and they have a sense of global culture.
Some 100,000 Malaysians are joining Facebook every month, on top of the 1.4 million Malaysians who have already joined city, workplace, business, professional, and social groups on Facebook, to share information about themselves and the things they’re thinking and doing, to gather support for causes, to publicise affiliations and proliferate news and views – from photos, videos, information, games, contests, music, to promotions, events, issues, and awareness-raising.
Social media is huge, it’s trusted by users, it moulds perception, and it’s not going away. In Malaysia, 80% of affluent Malaysians (those with a household income above RM5,000) use social networking sites.
78% of people trust the recommendations of other consumers, while only 14% trust advertising.
Messaging via social sites is now more popular than email, and 32% trust bloggers’ opinions on products and services.
Communicating with Malaysian Netizens
Marketing to these netizens requires conversation, visual story-telling, intangibles, engagement of the imagination, participation and involvement, immediacy, authenticity, and manageable information options.
Messaging via online media is therefore now creating experiences beyond passive instruments like websites, online banners and search engines, to engage via social networking campaigns, user-generated content, blogging, ratings, tagging, bookmarking, and microblogging.
For communicators, there has never been a greater opportunity to engage consumers – for collaboration, promotions, customer service, stakeholder communications, support- and loyalty-building, and thought leadership.
It’s an environment where this year’s Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival award winner was a small tourist board who used social media to promote a destination by inviting people to apply for the ‘Best Job in the World’ – as the blogging caretaker of remote Hamilton Island in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
Using PR and word-of-mouth, the campaign generated 34,000 YouTube video applications from 200 countries, and 500,000 votes for applicants.
With smart PR using social media, the campaign tapped into the fact that 10% of social network users are active content creators. Their impact is vast, and they can become the secret weapon in your next campaign.
In Malaysia, subject matter enthusiasts are creating many new online communities on topics as varied as movies, books, food, parenting, holidays and travel, green communities, gaming, business networking, seminars and conferences, presenting new opportunities for mainstream marketers – through interest group creation, engagement, forums, participation, sponsorship, collaboration, public relations, advocacy, creative promotions, online video, customer service strategies, and other means.
Many new opportunities
There are many new opportunities to start researching, listening, polling, and engaging the public to tap into needs, wants and preferences in a more inclusive, positive and participatory manner than was ever possible via traditional outreach media.
This starts by finding appropriate influencers for any issue, topic, product, or interest. They can be subject matter experts, media or cultural elite, socially connected interest leaders and networkers; and include opinion leaders, decision makers, experts, analysts, critics, columnists, trendsetters, idea creators, idea starters and idea spreaders.
The next step is to energise creative messaging campaigns with them, by activating the most passionate influencers, sharing information with them, creatively including them in adapting and building the message and generating support to get them to embrace new ideas, offerings and products.
Measure the outcomes through polls, satisfaction indexes, new followers, subscribers and customers.

David Gibson is managing director of Inter.Asia Communications, a connected communications consultancy (
www.inter-asia.biz). This article was extracted from an executive talk given at INTAN on Tuesday.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/9/19/business/4739049&sec=business

Search engines help purchase decisions

Saturday September 19, 2009
Search engines help purchase decisions
By EILEEN HEE

ADVERTISING money should “follow the eyeballs” of online consumers as they are more sophisticated in their use of the Internet than most marketers realise.
According to Google South-East Asia head of online and reseller sales, Charif El Ansari, a survey of active online consumers reveal that there are sweeping changes in the behaviour of Internet consumers as they increasingly use search engines to help them decide on product purchases.
Charif El Ansari ...’Marketers should adjust their advertising to fit that growing interactive mode.’
“59% cite search engines as a specific source for researching their new product,” he says, adding that 79% use the Internet during the purchase process.
He says digital lifestyle consumers – those who have bought a digital lifestyle product (like a notebook PC, digital camera or DVD) in the past six months – allocate a greater share of influence to the Internet than any other source.
“The Internet is also higher than any other source in terms of overall share of time spent to research a product purchase,” he says.
Charif points out that out of the 3.9 hours spent on researching a product, 60 minutes is more likely to be spent online while friends, sales staff at stores and in house display and promotions take a backseat. In line with this, he says, marketers should adjust their advertising to fit that growing interactive mode.
“People are watching TV and reading the newspaper online. Soon there will no longer be a comparison between online and offline,” he says.
He says there is also a growing trend where local advertisers focus on the local market.
“The first wave of online advertising we saw was small and medium enterprises and exporters trying to find international users,” he tells StarBizWeek.
He says online advertising/search engine marketing is becoming more relevant for local businesses targeting the domestic economy as more and more Malaysians are searching online for local products and services.
“Its not only about advertising. It’s about having a Web presence,” he adds.
Charif reveals domestic companies that have benefited from online advertising via Google AdWords platform.
“Through Google AdWords platform, SHL Cares, which does confinement services, has seen online traffic to its site jump by 200%. The company’s return on investment is 140 times for every ringgit it spends,” he said.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/9/19/business/4658786&sec=business

Corporates on the Net

Saturday September 19, 2009
Corporates on the Net
By LEE KIAN SEONG

AirAsia Bhd
LOW-cost budget carrier AirAsia Bhd has pioneered e-commerce and online business when it began operations eight years ago.
Currently 75% of its business transactions are done online. It has an average of 16 million unique visitors a month.

According to an AirAsia spokesman, advertising and promotion (A&P) budget for major campaigns is divided between offline media (70%) and online (30%).
“For smaller campaigns or campaigns targeted at niche markets, we might do the other way around to leverage heavily on online only,” he says.
AirAsia has online ads at Google, Yahoo!, MSN and online portals of publications such as The Star, Sin Chew Daily and Malaysiakini.
“We are mostly targeting the mass market and inform customers about our latest offers. Recently, we launched our “2 days 20% off all flights” banner ads on MSN and The Star Online.
“We gained tremendous increase in click-through rates and linked traffic flow to AirAsia’s website which led to a conversion in sales,” the spokesman says.
He adds that AirAsia aims to build its market share through digital advertising and leverage different dimensions of this medium from brand building to customer engagement, analyse traffic flow for the website and mix both offline and online advertising campaigns.
DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd
DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd marketing services head Lau Sulin says the growing Internet penetration has spurred the growth of digital advertising in the country, making it an integral component in all communications directed to three of DiGi’s most important customer segments – youth, young professionals and enterprise.
“For campaigns targeting any of these segments, we usually aim to spend between 10% and 20% of the respective campaign media budgets on online media,” she says.
She adds that the budget will be distributed across different online media options, including search, display, affiliate marketing, social media, e-CRM, user-generated content and viral content.
For the Love to Save campaign that organised by the company, she says a lot of Malaysians rushing to click on their chosen charity and spreading news of the campaign through word-of-mouth.
“It also attracted the attention of online social networkers and were circulated virally through Facebook, Twitter, blogs and online forums. Over the 30 days’ campaign, the website attracted 86,615 visits with 589 personal groups created over the 30 days campaign,” she says.
Lau says the media landscape in Malaysia has changed dramatically in the last few years and the Internet now commands a greater share of time among youth and young professionals than any other media except television.
She says online media are also unique in that they allow much more personalisation in terms of message, offer more two-way interactivity and, more importantly, are extremely measurable.
McDonald’s Malaysia
McDonald’s Malaysia marketing, corporate communications and consumer/business insights vice-president Stephen Chew says McDonald’s acknowledges the importance of digital advertising in the marketplace and it has introduced McDonald’s Facebook, which has a fan base of more than 30,000 now.
At present, the company has invested close to RM1mil out of this year’s total A&P budget.
He says McValue Lunch is a prime example of the usage of digital advertising where it utilised Facebook to run a five-week blogger contest.
Its target markets for digital advertising are young adults (20-25 years old) and working adults (25-39 years old).
“McDonald’s is a brand that connects with people. It is fun, engaging and relevant. Digital advertising is an extension of how we want to stay connected with our customers. It helps us build not only brand affinity, but also brand loyalty,” he says.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/9/19/business/4693600&sec=business

Emergence of online ad networks

Saturday September 19, 2009
Emergence of online ad networks

THERE have been as many as seven new online advertising network companies entering the local scene since Admax Network began operations last year in Malaysia, says sales director Kelvin Tan.
This growth is “healthy and a good sign of more spending being allocated to ad networks,” he tells StarBizWeek.
Kelvin Tan... ‘You should only choose the channel that meets the campaign’s objective.’
“This proves that online advertisers realise the importance of ad networks in their digital media plan mix and are allocating more budget to ad networks as they provide higher audience reach in the relevant environment and give better ROI (return on investment) with media/creative optimisation technology,” Tan says.
Ad networks provide access to hundreds of websites through a single technology platform, making it easy for advertisers to reach their target audience across the Web in environments that are relevant to their brand.
Established in Thailand in 2006, Admax Network is the leading online advertising network in South-East Asia with offices in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
“Our South-East Asia’s network combines over 1,200 of the top local and international websites, serving 2.1 billion impression monthly with capability to reach out 65.4 million people, making it easy for advertisers to reach their target audience online, and helping publishers to maximise their revenue through a range of display advertising products,” he said.
As a pioneer in the ad network industry in Malaysia, Admax Network rakes in the highest percentage of ad network spending in the country with more than 100 campaigns completed in its first year of operations, according to Tan.
Among the top campaigns that ran on Admax Network are those by Malaysia Airlines, Nestle, DiGi, U Mobile, Nokia, Honda, Prudential, Singapore Tourism Board, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Dell and Accor Group of Hotels.
Malaysia has 15.9 million Internet users in 2008, which represented a huge potential for the Internet-based advertising market to explore, Tan says.
Based on Comscore 2009 statistics, average monthly page views per user in Malaysia is over 1,239 pages. The long tail is growing and this has definitely made online media planning more difficult, as you do not know what sites your target audience will visit.
“Thus a good online media plan should not only focus on top portals or media property; it should focus on the campaign’s target audience. Ad networks provide audience based on demographic and content of interest. This is why, when buying an ad network, choosing sites on the channel is not relevant. You should only choose the channel that meets the campaign’s objective. Admax Network provides 14 content channels for advertisers to choose from,” he says.
Examples are auto, business, community, education, gaming and news & information channels. In Malaysia, it also has Chinese and Malay channels.
On tips for a successful online media plan, Tan says one should look beyond “the usual suspects”. “Diversify your reach, focus on the environment that engages your audience and set success metrics accordingly,” he says.
Meanwhile, Ruumz, which is said to be the country’s first full fledged online social network, was launched on Jan 15 and already boasts 20,000 members.
Ruumz is owned by ruumzNation Sdn Bhd, which is a member of the Green Packet Bhd group and a subsidiary of Packet One Malaysia Sdn Bhd.
RummzNation chief executive James Chong says consumers are using the Internet to communicate in ways like never before.
“Because of the Internet, I am able to communicate with the people I went to school with in Standard 6. Even an email would not necessarily make it easy to keep in touch the way a social network site does,” he says.
The development of the Internet has progressed to where social networking is an embedded part of it, he says. He explains that the concept behind Ruumz came about to reflect a “personal space” online akin to a room where one’s favourite things are.
“If I have a personal space online, I would like it to be reminiscent of my room. It’s where all my favourite things are, it’s where I am most comfortable,” he says.
Chong says while Facebook was established on the premise of getting as many people to join and getting advertisers to advertise, Ruumz looked at other revenue models besides advertising, such as revenue from content and services provided on the site.
“We realised that we can’t survive on advertising revenue only,” he says, adding that the company plans to differentiate itself from Facebook by localising its services.
“We are not here to replace Facebook. Facebook is so much a part of our lives. We can’t compete with Facebook,” he says.
He says Ruumz is already offering online photo printing services whereby photos are delivered directly to the user’s home.
Ruumz also offers legal music downloads in musicruum. In the future, Ruumz will also go beyond offering virtual items such as gifts.
“Ruumz will enable e-commerce on the site where ruumzsters can buy and sell real items,” he says.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/9/19/business/4715493&sec=business

Social media make waves

Saturday September 19, 2009
Social media make waves
Stories by EILEEN HEE

FOLLOWING the results of the general election on March 8 last year, it became evident that the social media had become increasingly visible to Malaysians as news sources.
Today, many companies in Malaysia are increasingly asking the question: “How can we engage with the blogosphere?” And soon, the Twitter-sphere, etc.
Anne Costello... ‘Blogging in Asia has come of age.’
The Twitter account of Star Online has about 5,000 followers today.
Social media is changing the communications industry.
According to Text 100 account director/social media strategist David Lian, what is fundamentally changing is the way one communicates and receives information.
“More than ever, companies need competent communicators who are able to understand and effectively communicate in the social media field using the latest social media tools,” he says.
The Text 100 Global Blogger Survey 2009 yields some useful insights as to how companies can harness social media in their communications programmes. With a panel of 24 Malaysian bloggers also taking part in the survey, there were also some interesting insights on the local market.
Senior vice-president and director of Asean, Anne Costello, says that blogging in Asia has come of age and the influence bloggers have within their communities is finally being recognised by corporations.
Text 100 survey indicated a ‘mainstreaming’ of blogging in most markets, with most bloggers reporting increased contact from PR professionals or corporate communicators.
“Roughly 90% of the 449 bloggers surveyed welcomed contact by PR people,” she says.
Leonard Lee... ‘Facebook has over 250 million users worldwide.’
However, some of the PR efforts demonstrate a lack of understanding of how blogging works and why people blog.
“In the past 12 months, bloggers welcoming contact by PR people has increased from 10% to 93%,” she says.
Costello says that PR firms are doing a great job in letting people know that while blogging is still new in the media industry, it’s not something to be ignored or looked down upon.
“It’s great if PR companies get a wide range of bloggers for a particular campaign/client even if the content of the blog is not specifically targeted at what the campaign is about,” she says.
The survey also indicates there is significant opportunity for deeper relationships with this increasingly influential community.
It also highlighted that PR people continue to blindly send corporate press releases to bloggers. Costello says PR professionals are failing to read the blogs and truly understand their target blogger communities.
“RSS feeds are a key source of information for bloggers, second only to other bloggers. If companies aren’t making their information available via RSS feeds, then they’re failing to use the bloggers’ channel,” she says.
The survey also reveals that corporate bloggers and websites are also consistently deemed more credible sources than microblogging, newspapers, social bookmarking sites and television.
“The majority of bloggers are still part timers. Adjust your strategies accordingly,” she says.
“Outside of the US, the majority of bloggers surveyed blogged for less than nine hours per week,” it says.
Digital Kung Fu Sdn Bhd head of digital business Leonard Lee points out the staggering influence of social networking sites to extend the reach and effectiveness of a brand campaign online.
“Facebook has over 250 million users worldwide, sharing over 10 billion photos, while worldwide unique visitors of Twitter was 32 million in April 2009 and each day, Twitter users are generating roughly 18 million updates,” he notes.
Facebook has since then announced that it has 300 million users.
He said there are 734.2 million Internet users across the globe access at least one social networking website during the month.
“What this means for businesses is that brands could leverage their customers social value and use it to gain potential customers,” he says.
Since Digital Kung Fu’s establishment in January 2008, it has worked with successful brands such as Lipton, Sony, Isuzu and Malaysia Airlines.
“We aim to build our client’s presence through creative digital mediums and transform client’s communication channels and messages from a cost centre to a revenue centre,” he says.
Digital Kung Fu is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mesdaq-listed MNC Wireless Bhd. As a digital and social media specialist, it helps brands and businesses with their customers via interactive and mobile marketing, social media and branded games.
He says there are 16 million Internet users in Malaysia and the figure will reach 20.4 million by 2012.
“Consumers these days are less interested in information and more interested in entertainment. These insights are vital considerations when creating new branded online destinations,” he says.
In Malaysia, he says, there is a 66% social networking reach, with 181 average minutes per visitor per month and 14.2 average visits per visitor per month.
“Social media is not about advertising, it’s about relationship,” he says.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/9/19/business/4658862&sec=business

Innovative digital campaigns

Saturday September 19, 2009
Innovative digital campaigns
By EUGENE MAHALINGAM

Thinking out of the box to get hits.
EARLY this year, fast food giant Burger King launched an online campaign on Facebook called The Whopper Sacrifice. The concept of the campaign was to “dump” (delete) 10 of your friends from Facebook to receive a coupon for a free Whopper hamburger.
According to reports, 233,906 friends were removed by 82,771 people in less than a week.
Burger King launched the online campaign on Facebook called The Whopper Sacrifice – AFP
And Facebook members even created unofficial groups, offering to let other members add them as friends and then delete them for Whopper Sacrifice purposes!
Facebook had the campaign banned less than two weeks later, claiming that it was a violation of user privacy.
Some observers felt Facebook pulled the plug on the campaign for fear that it would affect its online user traffic.
Whatever the reason, one can’t deny that it was a ‘killer’ campaign, winning many accolades at Cannes Lions this year.
Says Universal McCann chief executive officer Prashant Kumar: “It was a very simple campaign, yet it was so effective. I myself got sacrificed a few times!”
On the local front, a host of online campaigns have been compelling enough to create a huge stir with its respective target audiences.
Prior to the launch of Proton Holdings Bhd’s Exora multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) earlier this year, Universal McCann and creative agency McCann Erickson worked on a digital-based naming contest for the vehicle.
Because the MPV was going to be Proton’s first vehicle with fully homegrown technology, an ultrasound image of a partially complete Exora in a mother’s womb was used to attract participants for the naming contest.
Tiger FC’s website
Needless to say, the month-long campaign that ended in September last year was a hit, attracting 251,763 entries, 84% of which were online submissions while the rest were via SMS.
When the car was finally launched this year, it was almost simultaneously launched on Twitter to capture the fancies of the Twitterati, which comprise some of the leading influencers in Malaysia.
“The campaign was so successful that it even became a case study for social media. The ultra sound photo was used to show that it was Malaysia’s baby. We wanted to cultivate a reaction that Proton was homegrown,” says Prashant.
“The Twitter campaign elicited excellent reactions and even became a case study for social media.”
He adds that Proton spent very little on media in the campaign.
Universal McCann claims that even before the launch of the MPV in April this year, Google had showed 1.5 million links to Exora.
Another digital campaign that was worked by Universal McCann was an online game for insurance company, Axa Affin Insurance Bhd.
Called Turning Point, the online game allowed a person to experience life by managing his or her wealth while balancing it with the quality of the person’s life.
The ultrasound image of Exora.
The game challenges a person to manage their wealth at four different life stages – fresh graduate, newly married, married with children, and golden age, which were represented by four levels in the game.
The aim was to drive relevance among ‘digitally-savvy young white collars, who, unlike their parents’ generation, live in a world that does not save, plan or think about tomorrow. Whoever made the ‘most money’ in the game would be the winner – participants also stood a chance to win cash prizes.
The online gimmick, which was held in 2008, attracted over two million visits in just two months, with over 4,000 participants taking part. Over 10,000 referrals were generated.
Axa Affin’s gross premiums surged over 50% as a result of the campaign.
“People loved it,” says Prashant.
Media Specialists Association president Tan Siang Lin recalls a website that was set up in 2004 to promote Tiger FC, the football marketing platform for Tiger Beer. (The campaign, developed by Grey Direct, won the Best of the Best award at the Direct Marketing Association of Malaysia Awards.)
“What I like about this campaign is it was based on local insight, developed with local craftsmanship, and it will always be attractive to the local audience,” she says.
The website had on it a ‘fantasy league’ that visitors could participate in, contests and online games.
The website had attracted about 100,000 unique visitors and over two million page views in the last two years, Tan says.
She says a successful campaign was one that was unique and different.
“Think out of the box. To get the message out, marketers and agencies need to spend considerable effort conceiving creative and innovative approaches, as well as packaging and distributing that message,” Tan says.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/9/19/business/4723346&sec=business

Dos and don’ts of digital advertising

Saturday September 19, 2009
Dos and don’ts of digital advertising

IT’S no longer about banner or pop-up ads. Digital advertising today is about creating content that is useful and entertaining, says Leo Burnett/Arc Worldwide Malaysia managing director Tan Kien Eng.
“Those pop-up advertisements will become a blind spot if not done properly,” he says.
Tan says appointing a communications agency – either a media specialist, public relations firm or creative agency – is helpful as it will have more insight into the segment and customers.
“They will help in content creation and story-telling to achieve impact in communication,” he says, adding that digital advertising is not necessarily a multi-million ringgit kind of investment as it can be simple and straightforward.
He also says the number of visitors to a website is not the most important thing in terms of choosing a medium, as it is all about the quality of the consumers.
“You can have 10 million viewers, but it is useless if less than 1% of them respond to your message. It is not fantastic,” he says.
He advises advertisers to use a smart segmentation strategy by identifying what sort of target they can penetrate.
For example, those who can afford a mobile phone with computer capabilities might be relevant for certain types of services and products due to their high disposable incomes.
“Advertisers have to create interesting and entertaining content to attract these people. It is about creating community, buzz and new information in the digital world,” he says.
Tan says defining the objectives of the digital advertising is helpful in setting one’s direction, strategy and success criteria.
“It is not just uploading something on YouTube, putting your TV commercials online or opening a blog. It is looking at the fundamentals of communications and how interesting it is,” he says.
G2 Direct Interactive general manager Sam Chan says companies should delve deeper into behavioural measurements beyond the impressions and click-through-rates.
“Look at digital as brand-building space rather than a support or promotional medium. Properly planned and ideated digital activity can create a viral effect and build positive brand imagery,” he says.
Chan says digital is still seen as a nice-to-have or an add-on to an existing brand campaign.
“Drop the traditional way of thinking that digital must be done by digital creative teams. It should be an integrated ideation approach, not an adaptation. Idea is still king,” he says.
Chan says brands that strive to be innovative and modern should get into digital advertising but it also depends on their target audience and the relevance of the space to them.
“Brands that cater to a younger audience should market digitally whereas some segments that are on a need basis like online banking, airlines and tour companies should already be heavily switching to digital advertising actively in engaging their customers,” he says.
“Marketers generally think that categories like telco, information technology, travel, mobile, banking, and airlines are a natural fit for the digital space, but in reality, any category can adopt digital depending on the objectives and audience,” he says.
Chan says “digital equals cheaper” is a misconception that should be thrown out the window when planning a campaign.
“Otherwise, we will always short-change our audience,” he says.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/9/19/business/4726448&sec=business

The rise of digital marketing

Saturday September 19, 2009
The rise of digital marketing
By LEE KIAN SEONG

Online trading has grown in importance and companies want a piece of the action
THE World Wide Web helps self-proclaimed techno-geek Marcus Chong, 19, choose what brands to go for when he’s looking for the latest electrical and electronics goods in the market.
"It has changed as people connect and communicate in new ways across a multitude of new and uncontrolled channels" KU KOK PENG FH COMMUNICATIONS GM
Avid traveller Peter Dass, 32, surfs the Net regularly to find the best holiday destinations with the best value-for-money travel packages.
Razlan Mahmud, 37, and his wife prefer to do all of their banking online because it accommodates their hectic lifestyle.
They are among the 15 million Internet users in the country, largely within the 15-40 age group, who are increasingly being targeted by marketers through the digital space.
The popularity and growing penetration of the Internet have made online media an inevitable and essential part in many companies’ marketing plans.
Prashant Kumar, chief executive officer of media specialist Universal McCann, says Malaysia is one of the “youngest” countries in the world, with half of its population below the age of 25 and they make up the group that are using the Internet widely.
“These people will be the key decision-makers for 90% of brands in the next 10 to 20 years,” Prashant says.
He says digital media in Malaysia are poised for “explosive growth” and are finally gaining credibility as mainstream – as opposed to niche – media among the majority of advertising clients.
Prashant says digital marketing is already big enough to make other mainstream media niche, adding that most in the advertising industry concur that a good campaign would be incomplete if it lacks Internet presence.
"Digital spending is projected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 31% between 2008 and 2013" TAN SIANG LIN MEDIA SPECIALISTS ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT
“Today, a lot of advertisers who were initially resistant and skeptical to what digital advertising could do are turning into adopters. I cannot imagine a media agency today that is not providing digital advertising services because that is the future of advertising,” he says,
Agencies are striving to boost their digital marketing capability, driving up demand for talents with digital knowhow. Just prior to the economic downturn, headhunter Aquent, in its biennial report, had forecast that salaries of digital agencies’ creative staff in Malaysia were expected to grow by 15% on average, against 10% for advertising agency’s creative and account management staff.
Nielsen, the country’s top provider of media-related data for the ad industry, only monitors a few online sites and does not cover a myriad of ways marketers use to sell their products and services in the digital media, from YouTube to mobile marketing.
Based on Nielsen’s research, the Internet represented RM32mil, or just 0.5%, of the advertising spending in the country. In the first six months of this year, that figure was RM19mil and 0.6% respectively.
Prashant says the figure was likely to be bigger. He values Internet ad expenditure (adex) for the first half at RM100mil and says it would surpass the RM200mil mark in 2009.
"I cannot imagine a media agency that is not providing digital advertising services, as that is the future of advertising" PRASHANT KUMAR UNIVERSAL MCCANN CEO
“Only the adex of a few websites are captured (by Nielsen). Statistics for some of the big boys, like Google, are not captured,” he says.
“Also, a lot of Malaysian digital media are on international websites, which may not be captured.”
Tan Siang Lin, managing director of MediaCompete Sdn Bhd (a member of WPP Group’s media specialist arm GroupM), says GroupM forecasts digital media spending in Malaysia to account for 1.4% of total spending this year due to rapid Internet and mobile penetration.
Malaysia’s digital spending is projected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 31% between 2008 and 2013.
“The adspend monitored by Mobile Entertainment Forum (a global trade association of the mobile industry) for the year 2008 was US$3.04mil and is targeted to rise to US$20.5mil in 2013,” Tan says.
Opera Software reported that there is vast potential to tap into digital advertising on mobile devices. The report points out that Malaysian mobile Internet users are engaging more in mobile web offerings, with a 474.5% increase in page views since 2008, with each user averaging 11 page views.
Ogilvy & Mather Malaysia group managing director Zayn Khan says digital advertising is not something new. It has been deployed since the dotcom boom in 1998.
"Digital revolution has occurred and everything has become digital whether it is online or offline" TAN KIEN ENG LEO BURNETT/ARC WORLDWIDE MALAYSIA MD
However, it is only in the last two years that it has experienced accelerated uptrend or growth in South-East Asia, he says.
G2 Direct Interactive general manager Sam Chan says digital advertising has become more advanced and digital is as important as offline media.
“Marketers in general want to increase spending. Digital spending comprises mainly e-mail marketing, search, in-game advertising, digital out-of-home and social media,” he says.
Chan says in developed markets like Japan, Singapore and South Korea, the focus is on rich media and a wide array of content. All categories of brands can market online because of the mass audience covered.
“In developed markets, digital advertising is used for brand building and e-CRM (electronic customer relationship management) activities rather that just promotional campaigns,” he says.
In less developed markets, meanwhile, the focus is still on increasing penetration, especially for broadband – “the delivery of content rather than the content itself,” Chan says.
“And online is used to target urbanites, youth or white collars who have ‘always-on’ Internet connection in the office.”
Paradigm shift in communications
Tan Kien Eng, who heads marketing agencies Leo Burnett and Arc Worldwide Malaysia, says a digital revolution has occurred and everything has become “digital” whether it is online or offline.
"All categories of brands can market online because of the mass audience covered" SAM CHAN G2 DIRECT INTERACTIVE GM
“Offline can be interactive boards, kiosks or games, while online are those that exist in the Internet world. Digital advertising is the future and it is the present. If you don’t have a digital strategy, you probably aren’t aware of what is happening around the world,” he says.
Kien Eng says consumer “touch points” would evolve as a lot of marketers are already using this kind of media, such as blogs and Facebook, to reach consumers.
Like advertising agencies, public relations firms also need to move towards digital.
Public relations, which is traditionally used to influence non-paid, uncontrolled media (as opposed to advertising, which traditionally utilises paid media), can play a major role in digital space such as blogs and forums.
Ku Kok Peng, senior vice-president & partner and general manager of public relations consultancy FH Communications Sdn Bhd, says the means of communications have changed with the advancement of digital platforms.
“It has changed as people connect and communicate in new ways across a multitude of new and uncontrolled channels,” he says.
Rather than being just spectators, consumers become participants in whatever happens around them and they can become experts, broadcasters, reviewers and publishers in the digital space.
"It is only in the last two years that digital advertising has experienced accelerated uptrend in South- East Asia" ZAYN KHAN OGILVY & MATHER M’SIA MD
“Their comments on certain brands are impactful, and this digital evolution changes the whole communication landscape as they are acting like the media,” he says.
Ku notes that the inherent power of word of mouth has been amplified by the digital channels and information has been democratised, creating a dramatic shift in the balance of influence.
“It is much less about what you (the company) say; it is much more about what they say about you. What they say will shape your brand, mould your reputation and impact your business,” he says.
Ku says PR firms have to identify which blogs suit their clients’ needs and engage with the bloggers on a personal basis to establish a relationship.
“We need to know the blogger’s interest and create content that benefits the two parties,” he says.
Ku says it’s important to appoint PR agencies to design strategies for sending the company’s message to consumers through digital platforms and engaging with bloggers.
“You need to understand where they are coming from as the channels like YouTube, blogs, Facebook and Twitter have their own characteristics,” he says.
Ku says a blogger who is rational and analytical and suits the needs of the blog’s followers will gain popularity.
Benefits of going online
More companies have been shifting or re-distributing their advertising budgets into digital advertising. During the economic downturn, digital advertising is seen as one of the more effective ways for companies to communicate with their audience.
Prashant of Universal McCann says placing adverts online can be undertaken more quickly and it has great cost advantages.
Companies can also monitor click rates, lead generation, number of references or even registrations.
Digital media offers better accountability for companies wanting to track the value received for the money spent on ads, a notable attribute especially in an economic downturn.
Online advertising also allows ‘behavioural targeting,’ whereby a website would track a particular Internet user’s surfing habits and deploy ads that cater to his surfing preferences.
Further, online advertising is opening up a lot of opportunities for small businesses with cash-flow issues.
G2’s Chan says the effectiveness of the online channel depends heavily on the relevance, good understanding of the audience’s behaviours and the integration of the total communication package.
“This is no different from any form of brand communication, be it out-of-home, mainstream or shopper marketing. The fundamentals need not be over-analysed, as they are the same,” he says.
Chan says some marketers over-analyse the medium because the medium is still alien to them.
“The only difference is that with online media, messages or offers can be delivered in a more engaging, personalised, richer and measurable way, if done correctly,” he explains.
Digital-related issues
Prashant feels that the level of digital advertising in Malaysia is commendable. “I think there have been some good innovations. However, the quality of broadband is an issue, and this affects some of the innovations,” he says.
According to reports, the local broadband penetration rate was at 21% in 2008.
In terms of Internet usage behaviour, Malaysians are quite evolved. Malaysians are way ahead than many other countries with higher penetration levels, he says.
Since a lot of Malaysian consumers prefer to go to international websites, there is a need for more “powerful, engaging content,” Prashant says.
“The local options are fewer. Also, a lot of local sites are struggling with commercial viability.”
On mobile marketing, he believes Malaysia has “a far way to go.
“Because of the low penetration rate of 3G handsets, there is an insufficient amount of local mobile content.”
Tan of MediaCompete says the nation has a fairly sophisticated digital market, concentrated in highly connected urban areas such as the Klang Valley, but it is still weak in reaching rural consumers.
“Until the Internet-access (broadband) becomes more easily available to our rural population, advertisers will continue to be concerned that they are not reaching all of their audiences,” she says.
Other than the rural consumers, the older generation has also shown indifference towards the Internet, preferring the conventional media instead, she says.
With the increasing use of the digital space as a marketing channel, there are concerns on invasion of privacy as Internet marketers ride on behavioural tracking technologies to tailor messages towards specific groups of consumers.
G2’s Chan says that the nation should have a regulatory system to strictly monitor user’s data privacy.
The Government is in the process of introducing the Personal Data Protection Act, which aims to protect and regulate the use of private data.
Chan says the Act will not affect the mainstream and online advertising much, but marketing activities involving personal data collection like e-mail/SMS marketing and online contests.
He says companies that want to mail promotional messages to consumers who fill up contest forms should seek the consumers’ permission by creating a box in the contest form for the latter to tick.
Chan says there are guidelines imposed by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (SKMM) regarding digital advertising, and the guidelines are quite similar to the do’s and don’ts of communication overall.
“There are no comprehensive regulations imposed simply because by the time one comes out, a new trend springs online,” he says.
He says beyond regulations, parties such as marketers, agencies and SKMM should have measurement standard guidelines to qualify and quantify the success of a digital campaign/activation.
“Otherwise, we should leave the Internet from being over-regulated, letting it be an open and free medium like it has always been, because that is one space where there are no boundaries of race, gender, borders and topics.
“It satisfies our need to connect, share, be in the know, be in control and be ourselves,” he says.
While most industry players concur that digital advertising is the way of the future, the same holds true for the belief that mainstream media are here to stay.
“It (Digital) will be part substitution, part complementary. Mainstream advertising will lose its dominance but it will always have a purpose,” says Prashant.
Radio did not kill the newspaper
Some have argued that digital advertising could eventually ‘kill’ mainstream media, but Prashant believes differently.
“If you look at the history of media, new media have never killed old media. Radio did not kill the newspaper. When radio made its debut, some evangelists would surely have said ‘Why read newspapers when you can hear it on radio? It’s so much more alive!’
“But when radio came, radio fit into people’s lives in one way and newspapers fit in another way. Both mediums found their place,” he says.
Radio still exists today, years after television came into the picture, Prashant adds.
“They have both co-existed. Both mediums fit into society quite well. Similarly, the Internet will find its own positioning in people’s lives,” he says. Many would agree that there just some things derived from mainstream media that cannot be replaced via the Web.
“Surfing the Web is an active thing. When I get home, tired from work, I would rather just relax, sit back and passively enjoy television,” Prashant says.
Ku from FH Communications does not see the evolution of digital will be at the expense of newspapers.
“We need a combination of the traditional and digital media, but traditional media has to change,” he says, adding that traditional media like print have to provide more in-depth analyses to add value to the content.

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/9/19/business/4725153&sec=business

Vietnam - News

ENERGY - Outlook looks into energy security



One of Viet Nam’s biggest challenges during the next ten years is ensuring energy security, and that means expanding power supplies to keep pace with the nation’s rapidly growing economy.

This month’s issue of our news magazine Outlook examines the Government’s plans on ensuring energy security. The magazine, which goes on sale in Ha Noi, HCM City and other major centres this morning, reports on new hydropower projects such as the massive Son La plant and moves to minimise reliance on imported fossil fuels by fostering biofuel production.

Our cover stories also take a look at development of clean renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power in Viet Nam. Our report on harnessing the sun shows how pioneering farmers are taking advantage of solar power in a cost-effective way, while our survey of wind power takes readers on a visit to the country’s first wind farm in Central Viet Nam.

Also in this issue, we visit a picturesque coastal community tipped to be the next tourism boom town, meet Viet Nam’s "dancing ambassador" and check out HCM City’s late night cafe scene.

Outlook’s regular news round-up summarises the major news developments locally and around the world. Readers can also catch up on what’s hot and not in the country’s culinary, sports and arts scenes - and check out our listings for everything from bars to embassies.

Outlook retails for VND15,000 at news-stands, major hotels and restaurants, at the head office of the Viet Nam News at 11 Tran Hung Dao, Ha Noi street, or at our HCM City office at 120 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street. — VNS



FINANCE - Need to improve Vietnam business environment



World Economic Forum (WEF) and World Bank differ on Vietnam's business environment, but the downgrade of Vietnam in world ranking list showed the country still suffers from many problems.

On September 9 in China, WEF announced the Global Competitive Index 2009-2010 in which Vietnam slid five grades from 70th to 75th position, marking the third consecutive year Vietnam was downgraded.

In WEF's 2006-2007 report, Vietnam stood 64th among 122 surveyed economies and then fell to 68/131, 70/134 and 75/133 in following years although the country marked achievements in all ranking standards. But in comparison with Vietnam itself in the past, these achievements did not matter much in the global race.

Macro-economy factors pulled down the grade of Vietnam in the global ranking lists. In terms of macro economy with high inflation, big trade deficit and budgetary overspending, changes in forex rate and interest rates while the country's infrastructure has not been improved, Vietnam dropped 42 grades from 70 to 112. This was the most serious downgrade making Vietnam's Global Competitive Index slump five grades in WEF's 2009-2010 report.

Generally, Vietnam's basic standards subject to WEF's ranking list were worse, especially the unsustainable macro-economy.

At the same time, World Bank also released its Doing Business 2010 report saying that Vietnam showed big progress in business environment after climbing seven grades from last year's 39th position to 32nd in aspect of contract implementation.

But in general through considering other nine standards, Vietnam declined two grades from 91st to 93rd among 183 ranked economies.

In fields of corporate establishment and tax payment, Vietnam slid from 109 to 116 and from 140 to 147 correspondingly.

Three standards seeing the 3-grade drop of Vietnam in the report are labour usage from 100 to 103rd, assets registration from 37 to 40, and credit access from 27 to 30 while the country's construction license standard plunged two grades from 67 to 69, investor protection from 171 to 172, cross-border commerce from 73 to 74 and corporate bankruptcy from 126 to 127.

Notably, all ranking standards of Vietnam are getting worse, especially procedures of liquidating and setting up companies, investor protection, tax payment, and labour.tuanvn



SHIPBUILING - Vinashin and Vinalines plan to build 40 ships

Prime minister has approved a plan of Vinashin and Vinalines to build 40 ships from the funding of Vietnam Development Bank (VDB).

First off, the two enterprises must comply with the Decision No 10/2009/QD-TTg dated January 16, 2009 ruling on the scheme of funding key mechanical product development and list of key machinery products in period of 2009 to 2015.TBKT



EDUCATION – Viet Nam aims to learn from the best overseas universities



HA NOI — Learning from the experience and success of well-known international universities was important for the renewal of Viet Nam’s education sector, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan said here yesterday.

Nhan, who is also the Minister of Education and Training, was speaking at the first Viet Nam-Japan Rectors’ Conference. The two-day function finishes today.

"The quality of tertiary education in Viet Nam is still low and has not met the demands of development,so we are working hard to find solutions for a total renewal for the sector," Nhan said.

He said the target for the coming academic year was a renewal campaign in training, managing and financing - and that to achieve it, international co-operation and experience played an important role.

The two-day conference aims at Vietnamese universities exchanging high quality education experiences and management with those in Japan.

About 50 representatives from Vietnamese universities and 40 from Japanese universities attended.

The Japanese Government has helped Viet Nam build 256 primary schools in 21 provinces. It has also helped improve training, science research and provided annual scholarships.

Up to date, more than 100 Vietnamese universities have co-operation programmes with Japanese universities.

"Such successful co-operation has helped Vietnamese universities improve their training to gradually meet international standards," said Tran Thi Ha, director of the Higher Education Department under the Ministry of Education and Training.

Also, she said, co-operation programmes had helped train high quality management staff, researchers and lecturers.

Viet Nam is one of Japan’s most important partners in education co-operation, according to Shigeharu Kato, deputy director general of the Higher Education Bureau at Japan’s Ministry of Education.

According to the rector of University of Da Nang, Bui Van Ga, co-operation with Japanese universities, as well as with other foreign universities, offered a great chance to quickly improve training and management.

However, according to Tran Thi Ha, there were still problems that needed tackling.

Lack of instructions from the Ministry of Education and Training led to co-operation in training courses or fields that did not meet the needs of Viet Nam’s urgent socio-economic development.

The conference also touched on the need for Viet Nam to establish international universities with help from local universities and foreign partners.

Viet Nam currently has no institution on the list of the world’s best 200 universities, according to Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan.

However, he said it planned to have five international-standard universities by 2025. The Da Nang International University project is one among them.

He expected that Japan would become the partner for Da Nang International University. — VNS

POWER - Work on Upper Kon Tum hydropower plant project to start

Vinh Son-Song Hinh hydropower Joint Stock Co (coded VSH) announced that the company would start the construction work on Thuong Kon Tum hydropower plant project with designed capacity of 220MW on Dak Nghe River, Kong Plong Dist, Kon Tum province.

Thuong Kon Tum hydropower plant project was included in the general electricity development plan No 4 to be built in two provinces of Quang Ngai and Kon Tum. The plant with total investment value of over 5.7 trillion dong will supply annual electricity output of over one billion KWh. The plant is expected to start operation in 2014.

At present, Vinh Son-Song Hinh hydropower Joint Stock Co has prepared for capital raising methods for the project such as the company's available profit, preferential loans from Vietnam Development Bank, issuing shares to increase VSH's chartered capital, issuing corporate bonds, commercial loans via export credit.

The company has concentrated on carrying out construction work of provincial road No 676 from KonPlong, intersection and connection road from Son Lap-Ngoc Tem to the entry road of the hydropower plant, and upgrading work of 22KV electricity line from Son Ha to the construction site in order to supply electricity for the project.TBKT







RAILWAY – TRANSPORTATION - Capital raised from private sector for north-south express railway



The fourth workshop on North-South express railway was held in Hanoi on September 15 by Vietnam Railway Corp in cooperation with Japan Overseas Rolling Stock Association (JORSA).

According to a recent research by Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) on sustainable development of Vietnam's transport system, developing the north-south express railway system is very important. However, if the investment is up to $38 billion (that does not mention expenses for purchasing locomotives, standby expenses and tax), putting in use of this express railway is infeasible, said Jica.

Jica analysed that regarding people's incomes, if clients travel from Hanoi to HCM City for 5.5 hours instead of some 30 hours as currently, the ticket price for the express train is also as expensive as the air ticket while it takes only one hour and 45 minutes to travel from Hanoi to HCM City by airplanes. This demonstrates that the express railway can compete to the airlines in medium distances but as for the 1,500 kilometre distance, the airlines have more advantages.

Thus, building the express railway in a complete manner and putting into use will not be good. Jica suggested developing the project based on different routes; particularly the top priority should be given to the routes having a large number of clients so that the project will not run at a loss.

Sharing the same opinion, many people agreed that at first the project should build some priority routes such as Hanoi-Vinh ($7.2 billion), Hanoi-Thanh Hoa ($3.9 billion), HCM City- Nha Trang ($9 billion), HCM City - Phan Thiet ($3.7 billion), Da Nang – Hue ($2.2 billion). This is the five routes that are considered to have a large number of frequent travellers. A representative from Jica said that if the express railway is operated well, revenue from tickets may compensate for expenses of developing the above medium-distance routes.

In addition, some experts said that losses may be avoided by delaying the development of the north-south express railway. If the express railway is developed too early when the urbanisation has not yet met the development of the express railway properly, the project will find it hard to collect capital and will be vulnerable to big losses because the investment into infrastructures, machines, services is too high.

Many people said that at first, the above five routes should be run on a trial basis in 2020. The common ticket price should be a half of the air ticket price.

In a recent visit to Japan by prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Japan agreed to offer part of ODA to Vietnam's developing the north-south railway project. However, because of high investment of the project, experts said, raising private capital for the project is necessary.

Regarding the capital attraction for the project, representatives from Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) said that with such high investment, the project will be split into small packages so businesses, organisations can access.

Those organisations said that this is a national-level large project; hence, it will surely be attractive to individuals who are seeking good investment opportunities. (Regarding medium terms, the project will gain stable profits).

As planned, the private capital will focus on some sectors as trading inside train stations, operation, and maintenance and so on. Meanwhile, the state capital will concentrate into building infrastructure, rails, site clearance and others.

Additionally, METI's experts also mentioned both private and state sectors should share risks when developing the project such as incurred expenses, slow site clearance, economic, political, environmental risks and others.TBKT





INSURANCE - Bao Minh Insurance reports to gain 1.29tr dong of revenue in Jan-Aug



Bao Minh Insurance Joint Stock Corp (coded BMI) has announced the company's business reports in August and for the whole eight months of this year.

Up to August 31, the company's progressive revenue was reported at 1.291 trillion dong, equal to 66.4 percent of the year plant and down 1.8 percent year-on-year.

There was a reduction in maritime insurance, meanwhile the other types of insurance reported to increase.

In August only, the company's revenue was posted at 154 billion dong, over 4.5 billion dong higher than that in July.

In details, maritime insurance had a decrease in revenue by 4 percent against the same period of last year. The revenue from insurance for motored vehicles increased by 0.9 percent and assets insurance was up 12.9 percent. The group of re-insurance products was reported to reach the highest growth rate of 23.3 percent

The compensation rate in the first eight months of this year was estimated at 756 billion dong, counting for 58.5 percent of the revenue. Last year, the rate was 49.2 percent.

The accumulative fund management charge in Jan-Aug, salary fund inclusive, was 233 billion dong, equal to 18 percent of the company's revenue.CafeF





BOND MARKET - Maritime Bank finishes issuing long-term bonds valued 2.1tr dong in 2009





Pursuant to Decree No 52/2006/ND-CP dated May 19, 2006 by the government regulating about issuing corporate bonds, Document No 1353/QD-NHNN of the state bank of Vietnam dated June 3, 2009 about allowing Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Maritime Bank) to issue corporate bonds, Maritime Bank has lately reported to finish issuing long-term corporate bonds in 2009 of two-year term and five-year term, coded MSB Bond 2009.

The total value of the issued bonds was 2.1 trillion dong, which included 1.8 trillion dong of two-year bond and 300 billion dong of five-year bonds.

The bonds were issued under the individual issuing method, with floating coupon rate to be identified every year. The par value of the bond was one billion dong.

The principal will be paid once on maturity date and the coupon paid annually.

FPT Securities Joint Stock Co was in charge of providing consultancy services and issuing the bonds as well as the bonds depository and payment agent.CafeF





POWER - EVNFinance finances 130b dong to Thac Ba hydropower plant



EVN Finance Joint Stock Co (EVNFinance) yesterday signed a contract of providing a loan of nearly 130 billion dong for Thac Ba Hydropower Joint Stock Co (coded TBC) to overhaul the 108 MW turbine No 3 with an average electricity power output of 400 million kWh.

Currently, EVNFinance now holds 21 percent in TBC as one of the strategic shareholder of the power producer.

To date, EVNFinance has disbursed directly approximately 1.2 trillion dong of loans to the power companies.

Up to June 30, total assets of EVNFinance reached 8.641 trillion dong, total deposits of 5.418 trillion dong, total outstanding loans of 1.428 trillion dong, total revenue of 298 billion dong and a pre-tax profit fulfilling 56 percent of the full year's plan.TBKT





STOCK EXCHANGE - VN Index keeps increasing while HNX Index turns to dip



VN Index continued rising on the six consecutive session today Sep 17 while HNX Index reversed to decline.

Today, on the southern floor, VN Index marked its sixth increasing session with a jump of 4.21 points or 0.76 percent to close at 561.19 marks. The market liquidity remained high when the buyers still hoped for new peak to be conquered and the sellers tended to take profit. The total matching order trade was recorded at 73.34 million shares for over 3.636 trillion dong, up 9 percent in volume and 11 percent in value against the previous session.

Among 170 share codes and four fund certificates listed on the market, there were 69 codes accelerating, in which 18 codes rose to ceiling price, 75 codes dropping and 30 codes staying unchanged at the comparative price.

Among the large cap share codes, VNM recorded a ceiling rise of 8,000 to 172,000 dong per share. The other point-gainers included HAG +3,000 to 90,000; FPT +4,000 to 119,000; STB +1,100 to 32,700; and VCB +1,000 to 56,000 dong per share. Meanwhile, BVH, CTG, PVD, PVF and SSI dipped.

In terms of trading volume, STB's share volume increased by 10 times higher than the previous session with 15.85 million units being transferred. Ranking at the second place was SSI with 3.12 million, followed by VCB with 2.19 million, GMD with 2.16 million, VF1 with 1.91 million, HAG with 1.9 million and SAM 1.84 million shares changing hands.

On the northern market, HNX Index dipped by 0.19 point or 0.11 percent to end at 174.68 points with a total market trade of 40.84 million shares worth 1.492 trillion dong. HNX







AVIATION - Vietnam Airlines offers cheaper airfares



Vietnam Airlines plans to launch a cheaper airfare plan. The airline has decided to reduce airlines tickets by 60-70 percent within October 2009 in order to stimulate the travelling by air.

Nguyen Thi Minh Yen, director of Vietnam Airlines' southern region announced in the press conference to prepare for holding the fifth International Tourism Exhibition (ITE HCM City 2009) held in HCM City on Sep 16.

She added that Vietnam Airlines would offer 60-70 percent of reduction for all the airfares of international and domestic flights from October 1, 2009 to January 31, 2010. However, the air tickets would only be sold in promotion programme lasting from October 1-20.

There would be no limitation of the number of customers participating in the promotion programme in every flight. However, the customers cannot get the refund for the airfares they have bought if they cannot board in.

Yen added that this special promotion programme was to help the tourism demand stimulation programme in difficult economic situation at present.

It is considered the most attractive promotion programme that Vietnam Airlines has introduced to the public up to now. The customers may make reservations for buying air tickets in the exhibition or via online booking services in Vietnam Airlines' website.

The main theme of the fifth ITE HCM City 2009 is "Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia: three countries, one destination". This even will officially take place from October 1-3 at Phu Tho Gymnasium, Tan Binh Dist, HCM City with plentiful activities in order to create favourable conditions for domestic and foreign tourist to meet with the travel agents.

La Quoc Khanh, vice director of HCM City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said in the press conference that although Vietnam's tourism industry has suffered bad effects from the global economic recession, the total amount of foreign travellers to Vietnam in the past nine months was about 2 million people, down 11 percent year-on-year but that of domestic tourists increased by 13 percent, causing the industry's revenue jump by 9 percent.

There are 150 international tourism firms from 25 countries and territories to participate in the exhibition, together with over 300 domestic travel agents. Up to now, over 1,200 international tourists have booked for tours to Vietnam on the occasion.

In addition, ITE 2009 will attract the participation of foreign tourism promotion organisations of India, South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand.CafeF







DEEP SEA PORT - Van Phong international transit port starts up

17/Sep/2009 Intellasia | Saigon Giai Phong

Khanh Hoa provincial People's Committee has decided to start work on Van Phong international transit port by the end of this October through building two deep water ports in Dam Mon area (Van Phong Gulf of Khanh Hoa province).

After being built, the two deep-water ports can receive 9,000 TEU container vessels.

The total expense for the starting period is estimated at one trillion dong sourced from Vinalines. The started projects were designed by Nippon Koei and Port Coast.

Thirteen Networking Mistakes

Thirteen Networking Mistakes
By Dan Woog, Monster Contributing Writer


You wouldn't wear jeans to a job interview, but do you pay as much attention to job-hunting etiquette when networking? If you're approaching potential contacts in an offhand way, you may be putting them off entirely. Learn what the most common networking mistakes are so you don't have to make them.
Waiting

Many people start networking only after they've lost their jobs. Effective networking means creating contacts and relationships while you're still employed.
Being Clueless

If you're heading to a networking event, make sure you know why you're going. Do you want a job? If so, are you seeking something specific, or will anything do? Are you looking for contacts or a mentor to provide guidance? As soon as someone starts talking with you, you have to hold up your end of the conversation. If you don't know what you want, you can't do that.
Being Unprepared

Thinking you know what you want is not the same as knowing it. Treat networking the same way you would an appearance at Carnegie Hall. Practice your pitch as well as your answers to questions about your career goals that might arise.
Forgetting Business Cards

There is nothing more embarrassing than establishing a good relationship with someone, extracting a pledge of help and then searching around for a cocktail napkin to write on. Spend a few extra bucks to print professional-looking cards on good-quality paper.
Using a Silly-Sounding Email Name

Sure, your friends know you as "SexyMama4U" or "TimeForHemp," but when looking for work, stick to a serious email address, such as your real name.
Being Pompous

While you're networking, you need to listen to what everyone else is saying. People help by offering advice. They are not interested in hearing how much you already know.
Monopolizing Someone's Time

At a networking event, everyone wants to mingle. And if you're networking over the phone or by email, understand that the person you're speaking with has a life that extends beyond you.
Dressing Down

Look sharp at networking events. Mind your manners, shake hands firmly, stand up straight, make eye contact and show respect in any way you can. A networking event can be a dress rehearsal for a job interview, but no one will help you get your foot in the door if you give the impression that you'll slouch through it once it's open.
Being a Wallflower

Men and women with contacts and power meet many people; they remember only those who stand out from the crowd. Be assertive, and act like a leader. But don't go overboard. You want to convey self-assurance, not obnoxiousness.
Being Passive

If someone says, "Sorry, we don't have anything right now," take a minute or two to ask follow-up questions: "Well, what's the outlook for future possibilities? Do you know anyone else in the industry who might have something? Any thoughts on what my next step should be?" Persistence shows true interest on your part and may help the person you're networking with come up with ideas he might otherwise overlook.
Lying

It's tempting to say, "So-and-So gave me your name and told me to call." It might even get you a meeting. But eventually Such-and-Such will learn that So-and-So did not tell you to call. And you'll have burned not one, but two bridges.
Treating Your Networking Relationships as Short-Term Flings

No one likes to be used. Follow up every conversation with a thank-you note, email or call. Let your contact know whether his suggestions panned out or not. When your job search ends -- for whatever reason -- inform the person who has helped you. You may think your networking is over, but your paths may cross again.
Forgetting Where You Came From

Anyone who has ever networked, whether successfully or not, owes an obligation to all those who will network in the future. Return the favor and help someone else.

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