This past year has been tough on everyone the world over, there’s no denying that. And while overall Vietnam has fared better than most, the impacts can still be felt here, especially when you look at small business owners in Vietnam. SMEs account for 98% of all enterprises, 40% of GDP, and 50% of employment. Unlike major multinationals, these local businesses typically don’t have reserve funds to make it through more than a few tough months, let alone the budget to hire an advertising agency.
So, to help spread happiness and give back to the community that they’ve been a part of for the past 6 years, creative consultancy Happiness Saigon has started what it calls the Happiness Small Business Initiative.
This creative consultancy, has worked for companies such as Nivea, CocaCola, Lays Pepsico, Spotify, UNICEF, and many more. The agency was named one of the most creative and impactful groups in Vietnam 5 of the past 6 years and they offer a high level of understanding and expertise to any and all small businesses who would benefit from marketing advice.
According to the General Statistics Office, in the first 11 months of 2020, nearly 93,500 enterprises suspended their business indefinitely, up 41% compared to the same period of the previous year. So, to support SMEs in Vietnam, Happiness Saigon offering is a free consultancy service for small business owners that puts them directly in touch with one of the members of the leadership team at the consultancy. This service is free to any and all small business owners in Vietnam who want the help figuring out how to get back on their feet and hit the ground running.
Really.
“We love Vietnam, and this program is a way for us to give back to the community that we’ve been lucky enough to call home for the past 6 years since our founding. Using the one thing we’re best at, creative and out of the box thinking, we know we can really help the local business community and do some good,” said Alan Cerutti, CEO of Happiness Saigon.
“It’s very potential yet challenging for small and new businesses in such a dynamic market like Vietnam. We want to give a useful hand to people who want and dare to think and do differently," explained Son Nguyen, Business & Operations, Happiness Saigon.
Taking inspiration from a local behavior of Saigon the creative consultancy announced their program to the public with quite the local twist. It’s typical in Vietnam to see blue collar workers advertise their services using miếng dán đường phố, street stickers. These can be seen across Saigon pasted on street poles and in alleyways, it really has become part of the aesthetic of the city.
Over the phone the small businesses can have a short conversation one of the team leads at Happiness Saigon. After getting a general understanding of the needs the business has, an in- office meeting can be arranged with a team of people from the creative consultancy handpicked to meet this challenge.