Brand communication on digital platforms: Brand storytelling is the core

In Vietnam, the brand Biti’s has been very popular to the public for over 30 years

Biti’s’

In Vietnam, the brand Biti’s has been very popular to the public for over 30 years. To reposition the brand and connect it to the “life story”, Biti’s returned to a friendlier image, but no less of personality when it targeted the Vietnamese young people. In 2001, Biti’s used to attach its image to “Lac Hong bloodline” with speedy footsteps of the young generation’s to the new millennium; the most impressive one was probably that of 2016 with “Di De Tro Ve” – “Go so far to return”.

Bitis’ story did not sound like Airbnb’s story of realism, did not sound like LEGO’s story of magic, but it is about a daily thing that we normally forget its presence. No matter how long you go, no matter how far you go, no matter who you are and how you are, there is always a place for you to return.

In 2021, Biti’s once again created more attention when introducing products with Vietnam’s features carrying the spirit of “Vietnam’s pride” to honor the miracles Vietnam did in the fight against the pandemic of COVID-19. Biti’s had made good use of all channels to approach its customers on the Internet. At the first step, Biti’s used musical videos with the new approach: the product was not simply “appear in MVs” but the product was an “inspiration to create MVs”. With participation of famous singers at each time as Soobin Hoang Son (2016), Son Tung (2017), Den Vau and Justa Tee (2021), Biti’s has created a big wave in the online community in Vietnam.

And it is probably the fulcrum for viral waves of Biti’s’ MVs to increase rapidly and occupy users’ spotlight on the Internet. For example “Di de tro ve” (season 1) had over 80m views on youtube, “Di ve nha”-“Coming Home” (2021) had 87m views on youtube. So far there has been no footwear brand in Vietnam having a story about “love, the meaning of life” which has been more mentioned than that of Biti’s’.

LEGO

It is impossible not to mention LEGO- one of the most iconic branding stories. As a worldwide -awareness toy brand, LEGO has built thousands of stories about itself with a core content “Miracle comes from pieces”. Surprisingly, customers who use LEGO products are children; LEGO stories have been created by adults.

LEGO has built thousands of stories about itself with a core content 'Miracle comes from pieces'

One of them was the story about David Aguilar, who built a prosthetic arm with LEGO pieces- an incredible feat of dexterity and engineering. Aguilar was able to do his first push-up with the prosthetic part and sharing his story will certainly help inspire and motivate others to achieve such a thing- a proof to the empowerment LEGO can give its customers who can do whatever they wish for with a LEGO product (Branfton.com).

Airbnb

I n the past few years, Airbnb has become a brand and possibly been an Agoda-like reference for travelers worldwide. Luxstay or Urban Getaway in Vietnam is an Airbnb model. Airbnb is an e-trade transaction floor where a person can have his house/ room rented and travelers can use Airbnb website or application to book rentals by destination locations.

Airbnb has become a brand and possibly been an Agoda-like reference for travelers worldwide

Airbnb’s story is a customer’s story. Airbnb creates an online space for renters to talk about their stories and tenants to talk about their impressions. “Stories from the Airbnb community” has become an inspiration for their campaign of brand repositioning to create photos and footages about those who used Airbnb’s services, which make Airbnb’s virtual environment become a real life with real experiences. Airbnb has created a story about “real” experiences with it. Besides, Airbnb regularly spreads their stories on its own YouTube channel with over 200,000 followeres and publishes the content in magazines to give further details about customers’ experiences at Airbnb’s destinations. The lesson from Airbnb is the story about realism with two biggest question “Who tells and what did they tell about?”.

PhD. Nguyen Thu Huong