One of the youngest economies of South East Asia, Vietnam, is on the cusp of entering the world of capitalism. With its mid-2006 entry into the WTO, Vietnam would have completed the first phase of its economic resurgence. As is common with the many former colonies which have embraced the dominant current of globalization, Vietnam also faces some humungous challenges at home.

Vietnam, like China, is a communist country, where the state controls and manages literally everything. But this very fundamental concept is undergoing a sea of change in Vietnam's quest to blend into the global economy. Exports soared to US$30 billion in 2004, a 30 fold increase from 1988. The US with which Vietnam fought its longest war, is its largest export market. The Vietnam government has gradually opened its trade to foreign companies, though it is not very aggressive on that front yet. Many of the state owned enterprises are being forced to compete with these foreign enterprises, much more experienced and advanced companies. This has created an unequal base to compete which must be tackled by local companies.

Another major challenge is the lack of home grown Vietnamese brands, which could stand their ground against the global giants and add flavour and choice in the market. Only a handful of Vietnamese brands are in the market such as the national flagcarrier Vietnam Airlines, the homegrown coffee retail-chain Trung Nguyen Coffee, just to name a few.

One of the major problems has been the lack of intellectual property protection. Intellectual property protection guidelines will prove to be a major point of contention in the WTO talks. Though Vietnam has been successful in exporting raw materials and textiles to the international market, it has to focus on climbing the value chain and build better financial margins and customer loyalty through brands.

Vietnamese companies have to make sincere efforts to build brands with strong brand equity if they want to capture value throughout the entire value chain. Modifying the current business mindset to better recognize the value of intangibles is the first important step. This is a typical challenge for many Asian boardroom executives though. Implementing and further enforcing intellectual property rights within Vietnam will be the next step.

Given Vietnam's desire to blend into the global economy, it will be interesting to watch, how this desire is increasingly implemented across the Vietnamese economy in form of more strong Vietnamese brands in the future. With its rich cultures and heritage, Vietnam has lots to offer the world and aspiring Vietnamese brands would be adding something truely new and appealing to the global markets.

All companies aspire to build brands that eventually get etched in the culture of the society and become cultural icons. But very few companies are able to achieve this iconic status. Contrary to popular perception, iconicity does not happen by chance, but rather has to be carefully planned and executed. A look at some of the most iconic brands in history such as Coca-Cola, Harley Davidson, Giorgio Armani, Apple, Amanresorts and Singapore Airlines reveals some very common characteristics. All these brands fulfilled three important requirements of being an iconic brand:

Create an identity myth: For any brand to attain iconic status, it has to create an identity myth. Every society invariably goes through phases of prosperity and crisis. Brands that resonate and shows directions to the masses through the brand stories and brand activities gets etched into the culture. These brands, by creating an identity for themselves, provide identity to the whole society.

Involve multiple story tellers: Dissemination of brand information through the many participants of the society is critical for an iconic brand. The four major authors of these brand stories are: companies, the culture industries, intermediaries and customers. Each of these authors facilitates the brand to blend into the fabric of the society. By associating the brand and its identity with the prevalent events in the society, these authors create an iconic stature for the brands.

Weave powerful brand stories: Great brands always have resonating stories that touch the lives of consumers. These stories could be of the brand's unique history (Shanghai), myth (Jim Thompson), culture (Harley Davidson), fashion icon (Giorgio Armani), struggle (Li Ning), and underlying philosophy (Singapore Airlines). These brand stories offers consumers a good reason to elevate the brand beyond their mere utilitarian role in the market.

One of the important results of developing an iconic brand is the growth of brand communities. Brand communities are largely imagined communities that represent a form of human association situated within a consumption context. Brand communities are collections of active loyalists, users of a brand who are committed, conscientious and almost passionate. There is an intrinsic connection between members and the collective sense of difference from others not in the community. Members of the brand community practice rituals and traditions that perpetuate the community's shared history.

Brand communities are liberated from geography, commercial in nature, possess communal self awareness and are committed that facilitates the brand to attain long term acceptability in the society and ensures that the brand attains iconic state.

By being an important resource for consumers, brand communities provide wider social benefits to consumers through interaction and provide social structure to the relationship between marketer and consumer.

Haier is an example of how an Asian company can build a brand and take it beyond its national market. The Haier brand which is built on quality and a commitment to offer innovative products at a competitive price, exports to over 150 countries around the world, has 13 factories spreading from Philippines to Iran to the US and recently became the no. 1 refrigerator maker in the world overtaking Whirlpool.

Haier traces its history back to the Qingdao General Refrigerator factory which was founded in 1958 as a cooperative to repair and assemble electric appliances. Till Chinese entrepreneur Ruimin Zhang took charge of the factory in 1984, the company struggled with its quality and incurred huge losses. Haier attracted tremendous publicity when Zhang smashed faulty refrigerators with a sledgehammer, to send out a message about his commitment to quality. Today, Haier commands approximately over 30% share of the Chinese market in white goods and had revenues of US$9.7 billion as of 2003.

True to that event, Haier has built its brand on quality. Haier's strategy has been to establish a leadership position in the domestic market before venturing into global markets. Unlike most players who concentrate on the low end of the market by offering cheap products, Haier has focused on offering innovative products at a competitive price and the brand is starting to see results. A case in point is that Haier is the leading brand in the US in mini-refrigerator category.

Haier's commitment to quality and innovation is evident by the 18 international product design centers that it has established in Los Angeles and Tokyo which are in turn supported by production facilities in US, Japan and Italy.

Though it is common to see charismatic CEOs such as Sir Richard Branson, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates leading the brands in the western world, it is hardly the case in Asia. Many Asian executives shy away from publicity. Ruimin Zhang has set an example to many Asian companies about how the CEO can take charge of the brand and be the chief brand ambassador. Zhang's aggressiveness to build his brand, his commitment to quality and his business acumen has attracted much deserved global accolades.

Ruimin Zhang was placed nineteenth among the twenty-five most powerful people in business outside the US by Fortune magazine in 2003 and Haier was ranked the most admired Chinese brands in 2004 by a Financial Times/Pricewaterhouse Coopers survey.

The Giorgio Armani brand owned and run by the founder designer Giorgio Armani has earned the much hallowed space in the fashion industry through its superior design, relevant themes and trends. It maintains the aura of a real luxury brand. Not only has Giorgio Armani become one of the most respected and known brand names in the fashion and luxury brand industry, it is also one of the most highly valued fashion companies in the world with a value of nearly 3 billion Euros.

Giorgio Armani is also very expansive in Asia Pacific with its multiple future growth markets for luxury brands. There are approximately around 10-13 million Chinese luxury brand customers and the number is rapidly growing - particularly in the dominant Chinese coastal cities.

For example, China is embracing premium fashion and luxury goods at an increasing pace, and the Giorgio Armani brand has been one of the forerunners to exploit the Chinese market potential.

Giorgio Armani opened its flagship store next to Shanghai's historic 'The Bund' in 2004 and plans on opening nearly 30 stores by the end of 2008. Read more>>

One of the business ideologies that have gained the maximum currency in the recent past is the customer-centric business operations. With the immense power bestowed upon customers by the Internet, companies were forced to sit up and think about their business models. Companies modified their businesses from company-centric models to customer-centric models, where customers were the focal points in all matters. They enjoyed the power of information and speed.

But today, customer-centricism has been taken to a new different level - customer driven models. In this new scenario, companies explicitly solicit customers' opinions and ideas to further enhance the products and services. The simple objective is to bring the brand closer to customers and in line with their needs and wants.

A case in point is Procter & Gamble's Vocalpoint. Vocalpoint is a new initiative of Procter & Gamble to enhance their brand with influential moms. The interactive website allows mothers to register and offer opinions on Procter & Gamble's products in exchange for special discounts, coupons, inside information about new products and samples of products in pipeline. This way, Procter & Gamble ensures that its customers are involved in the product development process from an early stage.

This initiative not only helps Procter & Gamble to constantly feel the pulse on the market in the specific segments but also facilitates an emotional bonding between the customers and the brand. The result is a very focused and cost-efficient approach to research and development that helps Procter & Gamble to drive brand innovation across new boundaries.