Want to Join Us?

We are a new communications consultancy based in Ho Chi Minh City. We are in the process of building our business and are seeking associates to join our small team. This is an opportunity to get in “on the ground floor” of a company with ambitious goals.

Here’s what we’re looking for:

• 2+ years experience in public relations OR another related discipline
• Media relations experience
• Fluency in English
• University degree
• Vietnamese national

Most of all you, share our passion for providing clients with the best possible service and advice!

At this point, we are looking for Vietnamese nationals only, although we hope to be in a position to hire additional foreign staff in the not-too-distant future. Educational/work experience outside of Vietnam is a certainly a plus, but not required.

Here’s what we offer:

• Competitive compensation and benefits
• Mentoring / training
• An environment that rewards initiative, hard work and enthusiasm

Please email your resume to contact@c2vietnam.com for consideration or for more information.

Vietnam Airlines’ IPO: Financial Communications in Action

As part of a move toward a more market-oriented economy, the Vietnamese government is in the process of privatizing a number of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Last week, it was announced that Vietnam Airlines would move ahead with an initial public offering (IPO) of stock this September, perhaps the company with the highest international profile. As this move has been contemplated for years, expectations – and some level of anxiety – are high. The handling and success of this IPO carries huge implications, not just for the company, but the government’s privatization efforts as a whole.

First a caveat: we do not work with Vietnam Airlines and have no knowledge of the situation beyond what has been publicly reported in the media and elsewhere.

The IPO, which is a selling of stock to the public, illustrates the importance of and the need for specialized financial communications. What it comes down to is the company needs to sell its business model and strategy to a variety of stakeholders, including:

• Potential shareholders, be they individual investors or financial service companies such as banks and private equity funds, in Vietnam and abroad;
• Analysts, who will follow the company and provide commentary on their views of it as an investment;
• Employees, who may not understand what this process could mean to them.

Those are just a few of the audiences the company will have to consider as they develop their communications strategy. These stakeholders will likely have many questions about the offering and the company’s operations. A few examples include:

• Given that just 20-30 percent of the company will be sold to the public (with the government retaining the balance), will shareholders really have a say in the company?
• Does the government/company have any timeline for reducing state ownership?
• As an employee, will I be able to buy stock? And if I can, what does that mean?
• Will company management be provided stock options as part of their compensation?
• How will the company compete in what is becoming a crowded market? How does it plan to compete with low cost carrier VietJet Air, which has a very ambitious expansion under way?

The Company needs to be ready for greater transparency into its operations and finances, which may require new policies and procedures. It will also need to establish an investor relations program to handle investor and analyst inquiries.

A comprehensive financial communications strategy would address these and many more issues. It may seem straightforward, but such a plan has to be coordinated closely with the banks and lawyers handling the listing. How the company says things is just as important as what is said, as there are strict laws and regulations about what a company can say as it undertakes such a process.

What is “Strategic Communications”?

C2 is a public relations agency, but we specialize in strategic communications. It’s not a new concept in developed countries, but it is just taking root in developing ones. A key challenge we face in Vietnam is explaining the concept to local contacts who are unfamiliar with what “strategic communications” entails – and how it contributes to the bottom line.

Public relations is still a rather immature industry Vietnam, with companies looking to agencies to introduce new brands and products to consumers, to generate press clippings, organize events and other consumer-facing tasks. Of course, these are extraordinarily important in a developing economy and a growing middle class with increasing levels of discretionary income to spend.

Vietnam has a number of PR firms that do all of that, and do them quite well. But when it comes to more sensitive and/or sophisticated issues, there seems to be a void. It’s no fault of the agencies; local clients have rarely required such services and when they have, they’ve typically turned to regional agencies/offices in Singapore or elsewhere.

To view “strategic communications” simply through the lens of crises or financial communications is somewhat short sighted. There’s a lot more to it. To get a better idea of what strategic communications IS, it makes sense to first look at what it is NOT:

• Party planning (although an event could be a part of a broader strategy)
• Promotion Girls/Boys standing in the supermarket passing out samples of a new flavor of energy drink
• One-off media events designed to generate as many articles as possible in a short amount of time
• Signing up a local celebrity to endorse and promote a new mobile phone

We’re by no means denigrating the above — all of these tactics have important roles in this market, and require a lot of work and a high degree of expertise to be successfully implemented.

Strategic communications is more than consumer-facing tactics. It takes into account a range of stakeholders, including employees, vendors, regulators, shareholders and partners. What are the issues important to them? What is the right messaging? How to best reach them? What are the questions a client will face, and how should they answer them? Here are a few examples of “strategic communications” scenarios:

• A foreign company opens a new factory
• An investment fund takes a stake in a local company
• Goods being sold by a global retailer’s local partner are found to be counterfeit
• Baby formula is found to be contaminated
• An airline increases service to/from the country

While the above examples may involve elements of “traditional PR” and have consumer-facing angles, strategic communications encompasses much more. It considers business, financial, and legal issues, HR and other areas. It combines all of the current important buzzwords such as “engagement”, “trust”, “content” and “digital”. There’s an online element, of course, and sometimes advertising comes into play; strategic communications is agnostic when it comes to the type of platform or tactics used. Really, one might say that it was the original “integrated communications” model.

When we meet prospective clients and explain the above, they tend to get it. The challenge then becomes convincing their bosses, i.e., the ones who spend, of the benefits of such services. It’s a never-ending cycle! But most clients come to find that once they commit, the investment is well worth it.

 

 

 

Which Platform is “Best”?

There was an interesting post on Campaign Asia-Pacific this morning that posed the question, “LinkedIn company page vs. corporate web site: which is more important?” The author makes a number of valid points: that web sites are “graveyards for content”; they don’t lend themselves to mobile viewing; and, they don’t really engage visitors. As such, he thinks LinkedIn company pages are “more important.”

I’m not sure they are mutually exclusive, however; they serve different purposes and target different audiences. What’s the first thing one does when researching a company? Google. And the search results will bring up the company web site, the LinkedIn page and any other sites mentioning the company. One tends to click on the company web site first. While I agree with all of the reasons LinkedIn pages are a must for companies the author that LinkedIn pages are a must for companies listed by the author (ease of setting up, mobile compatibility, ease of sharing, and so on), corporate web sites also still have a role in the digital mix. First, they enable a company to communicate its personality more effectively, whether that’s via design/style or the freedom to post whatever content the company wishes. Dovetailing with that, the web site is the company’s asset, while a LinkedIn page belongs to the host. Its ease of use plus the fact that it is free also limits how much one can actually “personalize” it.

Mobile compatibility is certainly one key advantage of LinkedIn, but I wonder if that issue is not over-emphasized for some businesses. I know I’m old guard and still tend to research companies from a laptop, not my phone or iPad. There are indeed some businesses for which a mobile-compatible site is critical, such as restaurants or shops, or travel businesses targeting people on the move. But for a marketing or communications firm, I’m not so sure.

As the manager of such a firm, I struggle with the various platforms. On which should we focus our time and attention?

• Our web site is indeed basic and static (I wouldn’t call it a graveyard, but perhaps a nursing home; the information just sort of sits there, staring out the window, saying hello when an infrequent visitor stops by). It provides general information about the firm, and was put together on the fly because we’d had potential clients comment about the lack of a site.  To me that indicates that there is still great value to them.
• This blog is our way of communicating news, insights and other content in “real-time.” It’s easy to create and publish content as well as share it on other platforms such as LinkedIn or Facebook. And those two platforms reach different audiences.
• Twitter can also play an important role for some businesses – provided they know how to use it effectively (too many don’t). We don’t tweet at C2, at least not yet. We obviously have a hard time communicating in 140 characters or less.

For now, each of these platforms is a separate but equally important habitat in the digital ecosystem. And with the way media continues to fragment, there are sure to be new platforms that companies will need to learn and use in the years ahead.

PR VETS LAUNCH COMMUNICATIONS COLLECTIVE IN VIETNAM

Firm provides strategic communications services to MNCs, local companies

HO CHI MINH CITY, FEBRUARY 12, 2014 – Two public relations veterans have launched the Communications Collective (C2), a strategic communications consultancy, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Joel Weiden, former general manager of Weber Shandwick’s Bangkok office, and Michael Phan, previously an executive at Galaxy Communications, are principals of the firm, which seeks to bring a new portfolio of services to clients in Vietnam. C2 focuses on six core communications disciplines: financial, reputation/issues management, internal, media relations, content development and research & analysis.

“When I was in Bangkok, I would regularly receive inquiries from clients about doing something in Vietnam. We had great partners in the market, but clients sometimes questioned their experience and whether they would really understand what it is they wanted to achieve in terms of business strategy. C2 aims to bridge that gap,” said Weiden, who serves as managing director of the new firm.

The firm is currently working with a European bank and an American technology company on a range of issues such as market research and analysis.

“Vietnam’s economy continues to expand, albeit more slowly in the past year. Foreign and local companies are investing in their operations to take advantage of the positive market dynamics. In fact, the country reached its full-year target for foreign direct investment in 2013 in September. These companies have higher expectations about the range and level of services their communications consultants can provide,” said Phan, director of client services. “There are many good public relations firms in Vietnam, but only C2 has the global experience in strategic communications on the ground here in Vietnam.”

About the Principals

In addition to overseeing Weber Shandwick’s Thailand operations, Weiden’s experience includes stints at Gavin Anderson & Company in New York, where he managed the financial communications and issues management practice, which handled more than six-dozen financial restructurings including United Airlines’ landmark Chapter 11 filing in 2002. Other firms Weiden has worked at include Robinson Lerer & Montgomery and BSMG Worldwide (a predecessor of Weber Shandwick) in New York and Nielsen, the consumer insights company, in New York and Singapore. Weiden started his career working for members of Congress and a presidential campaign. He earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The George Washington University.

Phan has a decade of experience, the past six years in Vietnam. He served as a senior planner at Galaxy and has also worked at TVB and Interactive Focus. Clients worked with include Subaru, Line6, ExxonMobile, SonyEricsson and Unilever. He earned a Bachelors degree from The California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

“Vietnam is an exciting country, but it operates in some very unique ways. We hope to be able to help clients understand the environment while offering them tools and experience gained from working in the US and other countries,” said Phan.

“Southeast Asia is a vibrant and diverse region. Indochina in particular is undergoing massive development fueled by foreign companies looking to leverage lower labor costs as well as reach the burgeoning middle class; local firms are also stepping up their game and competing at a higher level. With AEC 2015 just around the corner, it is clear that the opportunities for growth will accelerate,” concluded Weiden.

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