Riding the U23 Vietnam wave: Short-term patriotic advertising 101

Nowadays, whenever the term “U23 Vietnam” is mentioned, the majority of Vietnamese, football fans or not, will immediately think of names such as Park Hang-seo, Luong Xuan Truong, etc. Some might argue that is no surprise, since their achievements have far surpassed prior generations, so too should their popularity. In reality however, it had taken more than just the football team’s mere victory to create a buzz, and numerous brands in Vietnam have demonstrated this understanding clearly via their advertisements in 2018.

It’s all about the emotions

In 2018, statistics from Buzzmetrics showed that the Gala honoring the U23 national team was the 2nd most discussed event on social media. However, this popularity can be regarded as somewhat a paradox due to a solid fact: Vietnam had lost to Uzbekistan in the 2018 AFC U-23 Championship final. So the real question here is: Why would the national audience want to care, or discuss about a national team that didn’t win ? The answer is: emotions ! Throughout their journey in the championship, the Vietnam team had given spectators many emotional moments, ranging from jubilant, heart-warming celebrations to sorrowful yet valiant tears. And it was through these extreme moments that audiences were able understood the young footballers better. For instance, after the team’s failure to claim the championship in January 2018, the image of Duy Manh bowing to the nation’s flag had shown a strong sense of patriotism and dignity.

In that same match, the image of footballers Van Thanh, Xuan Truong cleaning the snow for Quang Hai to make his penalty kick indicated team player spirit and solidarity.

In the semifinal, Van Thanh’s gesture of celebration expressed positivity and confidence.

Altogether, these characteristics have painted a portrait of a youthful force with good sportsmanship. As stated by Vu (2018), “Never before have we had a generation whose every breath and step were this trusted”, especially when the scandals of previous generations had let Vietnamese football fans down. The emotions brought about by the U23 national team had successfully proven to audiences that there are still true sportsmanship and hope for the country’s football industry.

From a sport victory to the rise of patriotic advertisements

Setting off with a good start, the U23 national team soon after became a national phenomenon after their triumph at the AFC Suzuki Cup 2018, and consequently, a short-term patriotic trigger. Seeing the “U23 phenomenon” as too big an opportunity to pass by, thousands of brands had tried to jump on the patriotic bandwagon by using various tactics, such as discounts, minigames, or establishing connections between their brands and the event (Buzzmetrics, 2018). For brands that have successfully done so, the first and foremost advantage they’d gain is guaranteed attention from mass audiences. Since the victory of the national U23 team is a national-scale phenomenon, there are no boundaries on gender, age, class or location, etc that can stop the public from celebrating and consuming contents relating to it. Secondly, being a joyous event directly connected to Vietnam, contents related to it will also evoke an instant emotional trigger, or in this case, patriotism that motivates consumers to make initial purchases (Ahuja, 2017). As such, the advertising industry have witnessed the success of many brands who have successfully rive the U23 wave by taking the patriotic approach in communications. For instance, Clear Men had sponsored for an interview section with goalkeeper Bui Tien Dung and striker Nguyen Cong Phuong by Zing.vn. Here, the brand set up a full-banner ads and played the role of a companion in unfolding the stories behind U23 team’s success, highlighting their role and concerns for the wellbeing of the national team (Adtima, 2018). The final results for Clear Man were an astonishing 340.000 reaches, 10.000 landing page directed clicks and an increase of 17% of online banners’ CTR.

Precautions for brands and advertisers

As much opportunity as this trend may bring, there are few factors that can make many marketers reconsider before jumping on the bandwagon. To start with, as the U23

phenomenon is a limited-time event, any effect it brings won’t guarantee long-lasting attention from a public to product sustainable revenue. According to Adhuja (2017), after a few purchases triggered by emotional values, consumers will start making beneficial-based decisions to determine if a brand is actually functional or not. In addition to this, unthoughtful advertisements can easily become a waste of money when consumers fail to see the connection between brand values and the event and only make purchases due to discounts. In some cases, the ignorance of economic capabilities to make trend-based promotion can backfires and upset consumers when stocks are unable to meet a sudden rise in demands (Advertising Vietnam, 2018). Thus, it’s vital for marketers to take regard of these elements before conduct patriotic advertising:

1. Emotional and functional values must go hand-in-hand in patriotic advertisement, as it’s the emotions’ job to attract audiences and the functional benefits that will give them a reason to believe and stay (Ahuja, 2017).

2. Short-term patriotic advertisements, which are triggered by national-scale events, can be unpredictable in terms of popularity, and should therefore be used to increase brand awareness and short-term promotions rather than sustain revenue.

3. If brands don't have any enough time nor budget for researches, it's recommended that they at least perform small social tests to see audiences' reactions before planning further (Robinson, 2017).

4. If the marketers can’t find any connection between the brand and on-going national event, it’d be safer for them to skip the bandwagon to avoid possible risks (Advertising Vietnam, 2018).

5. Channel optimization should be evaluated based on consumers' media behaviors of that particular event. In the case of national sport events, it's best for brands to allocate for both traditional and digital media, especially when many young audiences are shifting towards watching sport matches on streaming channels via technology devices (Advertising Vietnam, 2018).

Reference used

Adtima.vn. (2018). Adtima - Làm marketing giữa bão sự kiện thể thao. [online] Available at: https://adtima.vn/case-study/xuoi-theo-chieu-gio-lam-marketing-giua-bao-su-kien-the-thao-article72 [Accessed 22 Apr. 2019].

Advertising Vietnam. (2018). Cơn lốc U23 Việt Nam khiến các thương hiệu “chạy đua” trên social media như thế nào?. [online] Available at: https://advertisingvietnam.com/2018/01/con-loc-u23-viet-nam-khien-cac-thuong-hieu-chay-dua-tren-social-media-nhu-the-nao/ [Accessed 22 Apr. 2019].

Ahuja, R. (2017). How long can a brand sustain itself on the patriotism bandwagon?. [online] Linkedin.com. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-long-can-brand-sustain-itself-patriotism-bandwagon-rohit-ahuja/ [Accessed 22 Apr. 2019].

Buzzmetrics (VNI). (2018). BSI Top10: Bảng xếp hạng social media tháng 01/2018. [online] Available at: https://buzzmetrics.com/bsi-top10-bang-xep-hang-social-media-thang-01-2018/ [Accessed 22 Apr. 2019].

Robinson, B. (2017). Patriotic Advertising: Not Always a Good Fit. [online] Adage.com. Available at: https://adage.com/article/agency-viewpoint/patriotic-advertising-a-good-fit/309615 [Accessed 22 Apr. 2019].

Vu, S. (2018). Những bài học lớn sau kỳ tích của U23 Việt Nam là gì?. [online] Vietnamnet. Available at: https://vietnamnet.vn/vn/tuanvietnam/tieudiem/nhung-bai-hoc-lon-sau-ky-tich-cua-u23-viet-nam-la-gi-427124.html [Accessed 22 Apr. 2019].