Campaign Summary

Sneaker brand Biti's Hunter designed its new Street line to evoke pride in Vietnamese products and embrace imperfections.

Strategy

Objective and Context:

"Made in Vietnam" had never been able to trigger pride in Vietnamese people. In fact, Vietnamese youth respond mainly to cultural influences, such as Japan for its minimalism and Korea for its fashion.. Ironically, when it comes to their own culture, the Vietnamese audience tends not to see any outstanding aspects to which it can aspire and be proud. The same inferiority sentiments are felt toward products that come with the tag "Made In Vietnam," regardless of the products' high-quality international standards.

This social construct presented a unique opportunity for leading local sneaker brand Biti's Hunter to champion local pride, enhancing its brand imagery and increasing sales.

Target Audience:

The target audience was Vietnamese youth who have an innate pride but can't define what specifics about Vietnam that make them proud.

Creative Strategy:

Vietnamese people are inherently proud of their humble upbringing and life, adapting and thriving in any sort of living conditions.

From this insight, Bit'si Hunter developed a three-fold strategy for Vietnamese youth to authentically embrace their heritage:

1. Convey Biti's Hunter's message through the most relevant living contexts where every Vietnamese youngster could find a prideful piece of themselves in the viral film.
2. Lead by example and enhance the brand's role through a new product line (Biti's Hunter Street, which embraced the positive aspects of Vietnamese life.
3. Create a movement on social media for all Vietnamese fans and brands to join and express their pride in their origin.

Execution

Overall Campaign Execution:

The viral video authentically embraced relevant living contexts and flipped them on their heads, showcasing the positive, humane, and progressive sides. The video brought authentic sounds of daily life, like the familiar noises of street vendors, into the soundtrack and aesthetic of the film.

Then, Biti's Hunter collaborated with VietMax (the father of Vietnamese street culture) to design its new Street line. This was the first fashion brand in Vietnam to embrace street imperfections (i.e., messy powerlines for shoelaces, Vietnamese graffiti for patterns, etc.), allowing the product to differentiate strongly with its Western counterparts.

After leading by example, the brand let Vietnamese youth and other local brands take their turn, celebrating their pride in their origin with #ProudlyMadeInVietnam. For the first time ever, "Made in Vietnam" is conveyed with pride.

Mobile Execution:

To be relevant with its target audience, Biti's Hunter promoted its viral clip on radio ads and took over music platforms (Spotify and YouTube). Using digital music apps, the brand was able to inject its marketing message into the music that was playing.

At the same time, the brand adapted its creative assets into mobile-friendly formats for optimization on social media.

Results (including context, evaluation, and market impact)

Biti's Hunter Street "Proudly Made In Vietnam" is a product line launch, competing against international competitors such as Vans and Converse. The campaign was unprecedented and record-breaking in terms of brand building and business results.

Communication results

• The viral video received 33 million views and more than half a million shares across social platforms – more than any of its Western counterparts.
• The campaign transformed Biti's Hunter's imagery and found its way into the popular culture of Vietnamese youth increasing key brand indexes, such as Top of Mind (TOM) (increase of more than 18 points), Cool Attribute (increase of more than 12 points)s, and Youth Relevance Attribute (increase of more than 15 points).
• The soundtrack of unique street sounds received a record-breaking completion rate of 95 percent on Spotify for a commercial with more than three million listens.

Business results

• The launch of Biti's Hunter Street marked a new milestone in Biti's history. The new product line immediately gained 7 percent total volume of the Vietnam branded category within four months, compared to the industry standard of 24 months.
• Biti's Hunter Street accounted for a 33 percent sales contribution of Biti's Hunter and a 12 percent for total Biti's sales domestically.

This was the first time the authenticity of Vietnam had been used in a brand commercial, bringing locality into applicable brand and business growth in Vietnam. Since August 2020 a minimum of 200 local brands nationwide have been promoting the proud spirit of #ProudlyMadeinVietnam.