Sharing at the workshop on Building a national brand for Vietnamese rice, Mr. Sakda Sinives - consultant of AS Power Green Company Limited - presented some lessons from Thailand and the necessity of establishing a certification label for Vietnamese rice.

He emphasized the importance of product certification marks as a symbol of consumer trust. It is also an indicator of the manufacturer’s reliability. The entire production process and certification marks of Vietnam can enhance the competitiveness of domestic products in the international market.

“Product branding is one of the factors that determine brand identity. From the name, users believe in the quality of the product and decide to buy. In addition, the product must take into account which customer target it is suitable for. For example, for the elderly customer segment, soft rice products are chosen,” said Mr. Sakda Sinives.

Mr. Sakda Sinives suggests 9 key factors to create a brand name such as brand recognition, relevance to the target audience. Registerability, scalability, product association, logo and tagline integration. Feedback and testing, marketing plan and brand sustainability.

He also proposed a model of branding in Thailand through only one website, “Thai Select”. Because if there are too many websites, customers will not be able to remember them.

Meanwhile, Mr. Koji Takeuchi – CEO of Yamabun Farm Co., Ltd. – brought to the workshop an inspiring story about his startup idea 2 years ago. He said that starting from the desire for people to know about the delicious products of the fruit kingdom in his hometown Yamagata province (Japan), he returned from Vietnam to his hometown to establish a 30-hectare farm growing rice, cherries, peaches, apples, etc. He persisted with the model of using products with brand capacity to build his own brand for the company.

Initially, the members of the company and agricultural production were mainly family members. At peak times, they only hired 3-4 more employees. The company's policy is always to touch people's hearts with cuisine through delicious, safe products, ensuring peace of mind and always selling with the desire to spread smiles.

To build and commercialize the Tsuyahime specialty rice brand, Mr. Koji Takeuchi always solves many questions such as rice variety selection, flavor, customer taste, whether children can eat it, price and packaging design.

“Tsuyahime means shiny princess. It also describes the delicious shine of the rice when cooked. Therefore, I chose my hometown’s Tsuyahime as the brand for my specialty rice.

Yamagata Prefecture has issued four standards for the production of Tsuyahime rice, including acreage, cultivation standards, certified producers, and quality assurance before it can be circulated on the market...", said Mr. Koji Takeuchi.

Japan has a comparison chart or a way to introduce each type of rice to eat with which food or dish to achieve the best flavor. They also have instructions on how to cook the rice to make it delicious, and whether it is delicious when eaten cold or hot. “For Tsuyahime, we have a saying : Delicious when cooked and delicious even when cold, ” said Mr. Koji Takeuchi.

He added that in Japan, producing delicious rice is a big premise. The government and companies establish and comply with production standards, as well as technical guidelines to maintain and enhance the reputation of rice. Products are widely introduced to become the leading brand in the price segment, taking into account countermeasures against counterfeiting and recording customer feedback.