Working in Asia: From Red Hill to Ho Chi Minh

Emerging markets provide ample opportunities for screen practitioners. Executive producer Claire Davidson explains why Vietnam’s TVC scene is attracting directors such as Red Hill’s Patrick Hughes.

I have been posted in vietnam for the past 10 months in the role of executive producer for Sudest Dongnam. Based in Saigon, I have literally worked non-stop since my feet landed on the tarmac. In this short time, this producer-driven company has completed a whopping 46 TVCs. With a team that includes another producer and two line producers, this accomplishment has been no mean feat. This country’s economy is booming, and the ad industry isn’t about to be left behind.

It’s a really exciting time to be here. With advertising in its infancy in Vietnam – because it’s only been open for the past 12 years – the TVC market is particularly strong.
Agencies are teaching their clients the importance of using advertising to communicate with the 86 million strong population. With Vietnam’s economic growth among the highest in the world over the past decade, now is a pivotal time in the advertising industry. This is largely why I accepted the job; it’s exciting to be part of a market where you can really play a role in the growth and progress of an industry, rather than working in cities where the markets are already established and you’re just another cog in the wheel.
Agencies and their clients are investing heavily in TVCs. Other countries are steering their advertising spend toward alternative areas such as online, branded content and the like, but in Vietnam it is still the TVC market that is at the core and the forefront. While budgets are unfortunately considerably lower than those in other Asian nations, the sheer volume of campaigns going through is huge.
The market here is a combination of multinational agencies and clients with worldwide products, plus of course local Vietnamese agencies and clients with local products. There are four Japanese agencies with their products in the market – Japanese motorbikes are central to the selling power in Vietnam.
I deal with the agencies here in a very similar way to those at home in Australia. However, it does become more difficult when staff don’t have the training and experience, and expect ‘the world’ without understanding why ‘the world’ can’t be delivered. This is not the fault of the staff – it’s the result of an industry that’s just finding itself and everyone still getting up to speed. It can be very demanding not only from a creative perspective – with scripts overwritten in relation to their budgets
– but also from an account service perspective as clients are promised the unachievable. On top of this, everything must be delivered instantly! But this is a global issue within agencies at the moment, not something unique to the Vietnamese market.
I was approached by an Australian headhunter to interview for the position. After six interviews (phone, written and in person), as well as flipping a coin as the final decisive factor, I accepted the challenge and haven’t looked back.