WEEK 2

Busuu - A global brand providing high-quality service but has

weak marketing strategies

  

Figure 1. Busuu in LinkedIn

1. Brand Awareness - Compared to Duolingo

I knew about Busuu 1.5 years ago when I searched on Google

to look for a good platform to learn foreign languages online.
Firstly, I didn't know about this brand in this field, but I just knew its
competitor - Duolingo, although Busuu is the biggest online
community for language learning worldwide (Busuu n.d.). The
number of Busuu’s followers on LinkedIn is 17 times lower than
that of Duolingo. On Google, Busuu is placed below Duolingo with
the keywords “learn language online”. And, on Facebook, while
there is only one non-official Busuu group with 5000 members,
Duolingo has nearly ten communities that the largest one has over
128,000 participants.

All of this not only shows Busuu's low brand awareness but also
indicates its signs of ineffective marketing.

2. Brand Association - No impression or memories to be

recalled

   Consequently, when it comes to the brand association, I have no

idea how Busuu is viewed in non-customers eyes as there is no
particular image or rumor about this brand that existed in my
memory before. Therefore, initially, I purchased a one-year
subscription on another language teaching platform.

It's obvious that due to limited brand awareness, Busuu almost

lost a loyal customer to its competitor.
3. Perceived Quality – GREAT

Figure 2. Available languages on Busuu

After trying Fluencia, Duolingo, Busuu and realizing that Busuu

has the most methodical learning path, I decided to choose it to
learn Spanish. To be more specific, this brand's courses provide
learning materials from level A1 to B2 for 12 languages, online
certificates, detailed vocabulary and grammar lessons, live group
lessons with native tutors, additional exercises to improve
pronunciation and serve travel/ business purposes, which are
extremely wonderful!

   Furthermore, Busuu also applies the Cost Leadership strategy

to attract customers by frequently offering 30-70% discount
programs. For example, the two-year Premium Plus subscription
merely costs 500,000 VND - an unbelievably low price to access
all of the mentioned materials of twelve languages!

4. Brand Loyalty 

Thanks to its high-quality and low-cost courses, now I'm

actually a loyal consumer of Busuu. Besides continuous buying
behavior, I also support the brand by enthusiastically introducing it
to my friends and acquaintance whenever they intend to learn a
language online.
 Figure 3. I use positive word-of-mouth to support Busuu

Overall, Busuu is a great platform for language self-learning.

However, I suggest the brand increasing its brand awareness
through strategies such as collaborating with other brands,
developing customer communities on social media, or interesting/
funny content on the Facebook fanpage.

Word Count: 381

REFERENCE

Busuu n.d., About, LinkedIn, viewed 8 July 2021,

<https://www.linkedin.com/company/busuu-com/>.

COMMENT 1

Hi An,

Thanks for sharing your story. My memory of Nike's brand

association is in contradiction with yours. I haven't known about its
good news like eco-conscious or child support as you represented
but I only heard Nike exploited its labor through the course Work in
Global Society in RMIT.

After researching deeper, it's reported that the brand's sweatshops

in Indonesia had poor working conditions and underpaid their
workers from the 1970s to 1990s (Robertson 2020). In 2017,
together with other 82 MNEs, Nike continued to be accused of
linking to forced labor in a number of factories across China
(Australian Strategic Policy Institute, cited in Mistreanu 2020). One
year later, female employees inside Nike World Headquarters set
off a revolt to indict the brand for sexual harassment and gender
discrimination. This upheaval even led to the resignation of some
male executives and made The New York Times newspaper
asserted: "For too many women, life inside Nike had turned toxic"
(Creswell, Draper & Abrams 2018).

From then on, Nike's image and association keywords in my mind

were labor exploitation, labor abuse, and female discrimination.
Consequently, I haven't purchased any products from this
brand.Currently, as you are informed about your favorite brand's
wrongdoings, will you still support them 100% as you have been?
If yes, can you tell me the reasons? If not, which brand will you
switch to?

Word Count: 213 

REFERENCE

Creswell, J, Draper, K &  Abrams, R 2018, 'At Nike, Revolt Led by

Women Leads to Exodus of Male Executives', The New York
Times, 28 April, viewed 10 July 2021,
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/28/business/nike-
women.html>.

Mistreanu, S 2020, 'Study Links Nike, Adidas And Apple To Forced

Uighur Labor', Forbes, 2 March, viewed 10 July 2021,
<https://www.forbes.com/sites/siminamistreanu/2020/03/02/study-
links-nike-adidas-and-apple-to-forced-uighur-labor/?
sh=5283c84e1003>.

Robertson, L 2020, How Ethical Is Nike?, Good On You, viewed

10 July 2021, <https://goodonyou.eco/how-ethical-is-nike/>.

COMMENT 2

Hi Anh,

It seems that you're a big fan of movies. I'm also a fan of Netflix
thanks to its Chrome extension "Language Learning with Netflix" -
a special function providing "Two Subtitles" whenever I watch a
movie.
Figure 1. A screenshot from the documentary Untamed Romania
(Source: Netflix)

Since Spanish grammar is quite different from English, the

subject is placed after the predicate or there are hundreds of
different conjugated forms depending on the grammar tenses, for
instance, this function helps me know how Spanish sentences and
phrases can be translated into English in a meaningful and logical
way. Undoubtedly, it's extremely useful to enhance my reading
skill. Furthermore, thanks to the function's flexibility, I can turn on/
off the English subtitle easily to test whether I'm accustomed to
reading the Spanish sentences and thus, daily self-monitoring and
evaluation are realized to facilitate continuous improvement.

Although Youtube also has the "Two Subtitles" Chrome

extension, in my experience, its subtitles aren't as accurate and
diversified in language variety as of Netflix. Consequently,
"Language Learning with Netflix" becomes rare and makes Netflix
more standing out compared to other video streaming platforms.
As a special product characteristic, it not only works well in brand
differentiation and new customer acquisition by attracting
language learners but also contributes to increasing perceived
quality and building customer loyalty.

In conclusion, I became a user of Netflix thanks to this function.

Hoping that Netflix will maintain its quality and broaden its
available language subtitles.

Word Count: 236

WEEK 3

Figure 1. The gate of Fahasa Tan Phu Bookstore

Handbrake: 
In 1976, Fahasa Bookstore was established in Ho Chi Minh City.
Nowadays, after 45 years of developing and expanding, the
company becomes the largest bookstore chain in Vietnam, having
over 100 branches nationwide and providing nearly all types of
books, stationery, ornaments, and a wide range of toys (Fahasa
n.d.). More than four decades passed, by preserving its core
values and brand identity, Fahasa is still recognizable as a
professional book corporation, a familiar friend of students when a
new school year comes, a second home for book lovers, and a
comfortable place for families to spend time together and nourish
the children's passion for books from an early stage. 
Accelerator: 
Besides, to thrive in the saturated Vietnamese book
industry (Nguyen 2017), satisfy the fast-changing customers'
needs and compete with a large number of new entrants, Fahasa
incessantly changes, innovates, and upgrades its venture and
customer service practices in various aspects.
First: Changing. In 2019, as a result of adopting customers'
feedback, Fahasa made a large change in the business's wrapping
behavior by switching from plastic bags to paper bags and allowing
customers to use their own bags to lay the paid goods (Ha 2019).
 Figure 2. Customers' complaints about the use of plastic bags at
Fahasa. (Source: Self-capturing and collecting on Facebook)

Figure 3. Fahasa's announcement on its Facebook.

Second: Upgrading. On Facebook, instead of using dry

advertising posts with a monotonous message tone as previously,
in recent years, the marketing team of Fahasa successfully
captures followers' attention with more funny, appealing content by
the speedy employment of the latest trends in daily conversations
of the young generation. Furthermore, advertising banners' design
on its website is also upgraded with more illustrations, more catchy
word fonts and better arrangements of colors.

Vs.

Figure 4, 5. Fahasa advertising banners. (Source: Self-capturing

and collecting on its Facebook and website )

Third: Innovating. Last but most importantly, to stimulate

consumers and create a sense of excitement on special days
(Christmas, Black Friday, Tet Holiday, etc.), Fahasa offers a
variety of creative online discount programs in the form of
interesting games and activities, such as lucky coupons, ghost-
capturing, or Zalopay/ Moca payment discount.
 

Figure 5, 6. Fahasa's online activities  (Source: Self-capturing and

collecting on its Facebook and website)

Overall, being a 14-year loyal fan of the firm, I see that Fahasa is
actually a very adaptive and innovative brand that can address the
dilemma between consistency and renovation. 
Word Count: 340
 
REFERENCE
Fahasa n.d., Fahasa Introduction, Fahasa, viewed 15 July 2021,
<https://www.fahasa.com/gioi-thieu-fahasa>. 
Ha, N 2019, 'The book chain Fahasa makes sparing use of plastic
bags according to customers' mobilization',  Khoa Hoc Phat
Trien, 27 July, viewed 15 July 2021,
<https://khoahocphattrien.vn/suc-khoe/he-thong-nha-sach-fahasa-
han-che-dung-tui-nylon-theo-van-dong-cua-khach-hang/
20190727020348770p1c784.htm>.
Nguyen, HT 2017, Vietnamese Book Industry (1): The origin of
discounted books, Book Hunter Club, viewed 15 July 2021,
<https://bookhunterclub.com/thi-truong-sach-viet-nam-1-nguon-
goc-cua-sach-giam-gia/>.

COMMENT 1
Hi Vi,

The current customer service of Fahasa is actually better than it

was. Around 2 years ago, I bought a history book on its app.
Unfortunately, the book was old and dirty, therefore, I required
Fahasa to change to another one. It took Fahasa more than 2
weeks to assign a shipper to come to my address and took back
the low-quality book, with 2 urging calls and 1 email from me. At
that time, I was so disappointed with the brand's return policy.
Together with other customers who had the same experience as
me, we generating negative word-of-mouth about Fahasa and
switched to Tiki for several months. Maybe Fahasa realized how
wrong it did, their return policy is quite okay now that it only took 1
week to withdraw the defective product and deliver a new one to
the customer, as I experienced 4 months ago.

On the other side, learning from Tiki's weakness, Fahasa

packages their goods in bubble wrap and thus, successfully
attracts a number of book lovers who want their books to be
protected carefully throughout the delivery process, despite the
fact that Fahasa books have a higher price than Tiki.
 Figure 1, 2. Self-capturing in Mot Sach Giay Facebook group

Please feel free to share your experience with Fahasa and confirm
how Fahasa has changed and innovated ^^

COMMENT 2

Hi Thinh, 

I agree with you that Popeyes is a very active brand that frequently
introduces new tastes of fried chicken to stimulate customer's
appetite but still keeps traditional dishes as its core identity.
 Figure 1. Various tastes of Popeyes fried chicken through the
years

According to my observation, Popeyes introduce a new taste of

fried chicken twice or three times a year, on average, and that
taste will disappear after several months as a limited version. As a
result, customers are urged to consume more than usual.

In addition, Popeyes also cooperate with KOLs to promote its new

products through different forms of advertising, such as a funny
music video of Hau Hoang (YouTuber), an advertising video of BB
Tran (comedy actor), a dancing clip of C.A.C (dancing team), or a
rewritten song of Huy R (singer).
 Figure 2.  Popeyes advertising (Source: Self-capturing on
Youtube)

In short, by continuously coming up with new dishes and

collaborating with influencers when they are "hottest" on social
media, Popeyes shows that it's skillful at swiftly catching the young
generation's trends and improving its consumers' experience with
interesting innovations. Besides, at the same time, it's still a
famous fast-food brand with fried chicken, French fries, burgers
and soft drinks, and it's still a restaurant for families and friends to
come and have meals together.

WEEK 4

Figure 1. Oreo flavors. (Source)

Global challenges

Cultural difference is one of the most significant factors needed to

research thoroughly when companies want to internationalize their
businesses, especially those in the food industry, which highly
requires an adaption strategy since citizens' tastes vary by country.

Best practices

Packaging: There are some countries that prefer buying cookies

in large packages since they go shopping once a week, such as
the US. On the contrary, in some countries such as China,
Venezuela, Brazil, customers are more accustomed to daily
shopping at small kiosks or street vendors. Additionally, larger
package sizes were more expensive than the smaller ones, partly
contributing to the factor behind the poor sales in China at the
beginning (Reddy 2014). Therefore, Oreo had to adjust its
packaging and offered small packages of cookies instead to
improve the situation.

Figure 2. Different types of Oreo packages

Ingredients: Since food preferences depend on local customers'

tastes, habits, and religions, adjustments to the cookie's
ingredients are necessary. In 2005, Oreo products weren't sold
well in the Chinese market because the original version, which was
customized to North American tastes, was too sweet for Chinese
consumers. Consequently, Oreo strived to figure out the best
flavor that fits Chinese taste by examining over twenty specific
Oreo formulations (Beer 2012) and finally came up with Light
Sweet Oreo, as the video presented.

These practices successfully increased twentyfold in Oreo sales,

from US$20 million in 2005 to nearly US$400 million in the 1st
Quarter of 2012 (Reddy 2014).
 Figure 3. Oreo Light Sweet

Marketing: Applying the adaptation strategy again, Oreo uses

different marketing channels flexibly based on each country's
cultural beliefs and lifestyle. In Canada, Oreo cooperates with the
Mr. Kristi brand, which has been associated with Canadians for a
long time. In China, consumers believe that products advertised on
TV are more credible and have higher quality than other channels,
thus, Oreo TV advertisements appeared. In Venezuela, where
citizens have a hectic lifestyle and are on the go, Oreo focuses on
outdoor marketing channels like buildings' sides painting, giant
billboards, and bus advertising.

Lessons for marketers looking to go global: Oreo doesn't

hesitate to try and modify its operations to discover the most
appropriate approaches suiting each market demand. Besides, the
success of this brand also underlines the importance of market
research, which greatly helps gain customer insights, avoid
unnecessary cultural misunderstandings, and save costs.

Word Count: 363

REFERENCE

Beer, J 2012, Marketing to China: Oreo's Chinese twist, Canadian

Business, viewed 24 July 2021,
<https://www.canadianbusiness.com/business-news/industries/mar
keting-to-china-oreos-chinese-twist/>.

Reddy, SK 2014, 'An Oreo with Chinese characteristics', Asian

Management Insights, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 44 - 48.
Comment 1
Hi Quan,

It's obvious that Lenovo applied the standardization approach

when going global, but I haven't seen how it deploys the
adaptation approach to overcome the cultural challenges in your
post. Besides, you also haven't represented Lenovo's global
challenges as well. Therefore, I'd like to give supplementary ideas
about its difficulties when internationalizing.

Firstly, the barrier of language and its underlying meanings. In the

U.S culture, "yes" means "yes", but in China, when the executives
said " 是  是  是 ", which means yes, they just indicate that they
are listening (Holstein 2014).

Secondly, negative perceptions about the country of origin. Lenovo

originated from China, a country having a bad image in foreign
consumers' minds (Anderson 2015) due to a massive number of
low-quality products such as combustible children's dresses,
noxious pet food incidents, tainted baby formula and toothpaste
(Martin Roll - Business & Brand Strategist n.d.; Roberts 2007).
Gradually, Chinese goods are evaluated negatively by Brazilian
customers (Giraldi, Ikeda & Campomar 2011) and make the
Americans hesitant to put in their shopping carts (Blecken 2007,
cited in Kabadayi & Lerman 2011). According to a survey by Uyar
(2018), 95% of the respondents don't remember brands coming
from China. Although Lenovo is the most memorized Chinese
brand, it's merely perceived by 2% of customers.

As a Vietnamese consumer, I also have a negative attitude

towards Chinese companies, regardless of their business scope.
In my personal experience, electronic devices from China have
poor qualities. Therefore, although Lenovo is a well-known global
brand, I'm still skeptical to purchase.

Word Count: 227

REFERENCE

Anderso, E 2015, Attitudes towards products ”Made In China” –

The importance and challenges of the country of origin, Södertörn
University, Huddinge, Sweden.
Giraldi, JME, Ikeda, AA & Campomar, MC 2011, 'Reasons for
country image evaluation: A study on China image from a Brazilian
perspective', Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy
Management, vol. 18, pp. 97–107.

Holstein, WJ 2014, Lenovo Goes Global, Strategy Business,

viewed 26 July 2021,
<https://www.strategy-business.com/article/00274>.

Kabadayi, S & Lerman, DB 2011, 'Made in China but sold at FAO

Schwarz: Country-of-origin effect and trusting beliefs', International
Marketing Review, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 1 - 37.

Martin Roll – Business & Brand Strategist n.d., How Nations And
Brands Overcome Country of Origin Challenges, Martin Roll –
Business & Brand Strategist, viewed 26 July 2021,
<https://martinroll.com/resources/articles/marketing/how-nations-
and-brands-overcome-country-of-origin-challenges/>.

Roberts, D 2007, 'China’s Brands: Damaged Goods', Business

Week, vol. 4051, p. 47.

Uyar, A 2018, 'A Study on Consumers’ Perception About Chinese

Products and Their Willingness to Buy', International Journal of
Eurasia Social Sciences, vol. 9, no. 32, pp. 1121 - 1143.

COMMENT 2

Hi Quan,

Actually, as SWISS stands for quality, its price can't be as cheap

as other economical brands. Therefore, the brand has to figure out
how to perform well in the global cost competition, battling
against low-price transporters (Costa 2012). On the other side,
SWISS also has to deal with cultural challenges: entertainment
programs and inflight meals (Stefàno 2019).

For inlight entertainment, SWISS offers a wide range of choices

with the newest blockbusters, award-winning documentaries, 90
movies, 170 TV programs and more than 100 music playlists from
different countries. Particularly, these programs will be changed
monthly so that frequent customers won't find them boring and
repetitive (SWISS n.d.).

SWISS also takes care of their guests' tastes through periodically

renewed and customized onboard meals, such as special Indian
dishes for India - Zurich courses (Lufthansa group n.d.) or cheese
fondue and chocolate for European flights (Töre 2018). Moreover,
the brand not only provides specific menus for obese and
vegetarians customers but also receives pre-orders from those
with food allergies and certain religious taboos (Lufthansa group
n.d.).

It's obvious that SWISS employs customer-centric strategies that

pay attention to almost all aspects of the purchase journey: various
choices of contact channels (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, travel
agencies), personalized meals, diversified entertaining programs,
and convenient lounges. All of this explains for its success and
sketches out how a global brand should serve its customers.

Word Count: 215

REFERENCE

Costa, M 2012, 'SWISS: the airline flying the flag for brand
Switzerland', Marketing Week, 22 February, viewed 27 July 2021,
<https://www.marketingweek.com/swiss-the-airline-flying-the-flag-
for-brand-switzerland/>.

Lufthansa Group n.d., Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS)

launches new inflight menu on India - Zurich routes, Lufthansa
Group, viewed 27 July 2021,
<https://www.lufthansagroup.com/en/newsroom/media-relations-
asia-pacific/news-and-releases/swiss-international-air-lines-swiss-
launches-new-inflight-menu-on-india-zurich-routes.html>.

Stefàno, R 2019, The Swiss aren’t indifferent to what happens to

Swiss, Magazine PwC, viewed 27 July 2021,
<https://magazine.pwc.ch/en/item-detail-view/the-swiss-arent-
indifferent-to-what-happens-to-swiss?
tx_news_pi1%5BoverwriteDemand%5D%5Bcategories
%5D=3&cHash=efda208ea7536985daa43e2d0253e379>.
SWISS n.d., Entertainment on board, SWISS, viewed 27 July
2021, <https://www.swiss.com/ch/en/fly/on-board/entertainment-
on-board>.

Töre, Ö 2018, 'New SWISS inflight menu offers cheese fondue on

board', Ftn News, 28 November, viewed 27 July 2021,
<https://ftnnews.com/aviation/35718-new-swiss-inflight-menu-
offers-cheese-fondue-on-board>.