Vietnam market entry
Digital marketing in Vietnam, with an independent advisor on your side
You are about to commit a marketing budget to a market you cannot read yet, through partners you cannot yet judge. MWY sits on your side of that table.
Short answer
MWY advises foreign companies entering or already operating in Vietnam on their digital marketing, independently of the agencies and platforms spending the money. We do not run ads, we do not produce content, and we take no commission. Engagements start with a four-week audit at USD 3,000, followed by a monthly advisory and oversight retainer at USD 4,500. Every document is delivered in English.
Why this market does not behave like the one you know
None of this is exotic. It is just different enough that a plan built elsewhere quietly underperforms, and the reporting rarely shows you why.
The platform set is not the one you are used to
Facebook and TikTok carry far more commercial weight here than in most markets, YouTube is a primary channel rather than a supporting one, and Zalo is the default messaging layer — which makes it a real marketing and service channel, not a novelty.
Marketplaces are where discovery happens
Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop function as search engines, not just as sales channels. Your category is being browsed and compared there whether or not you sell there, and that shapes what your own website has to do.
Creators are a distribution channel, not a PR line item
Smaller creators and affiliates sell on commission, and livestream is a transactional format rather than a brand one. Budgeted as public relations, it will be measured with the wrong numbers and read as cheap when it is not.
Payment and delivery change the shape of the funnel
Cash on delivery is still widely used. That changes what a conversion means, creates a refusal and return rate that never appears in ROAS, and puts part of your margin in the hands of the delivery partner.
The north and the south do not respond the same way
Price sensitivity, messaging tone, platform mix and delivery expectations all differ. A single national plan usually works in one half of the country and quietly underperforms in the other.
Where entries usually go wrong
These are the five we see most often, and all five are cheaper to prevent than to unwind.
Choosing an agency on the strength of the pitch
The pitch team is rarely the delivery team. Without criteria written before the pitch — and someone who can read a media plan — you are selecting for presentation skill.
Translating the campaign instead of localising the offer
Translated copy reads as foreign, and the offer structure often does not match how the category is bought here. This shows up as a weak conversion rate that gets blamed on media.
Missing the advertising rules for your category
Cosmetics, supplements, healthcare and education all carry content restrictions. The penalty lands on the brand, not on the agency or the creator who wrote the post.
Judging the budget on e-commerce revenue alone
If you also sell through distributors or modern trade, most of the effect of your online advertising lands where you are not measuring, and the digital budget gets graded on the smallest slice of the picture.
Handing the local team a KPI set from headquarters
Targets built around channels that behave differently here produce optimisation towards the wrong thing — usually cheap volume — and nobody in the chain has the standing to say so.
How MWY works with you
The same two engagements as every other client, with the reporting and the meeting rhythm built around a head office in a different time zone.
Step 1 — Audit
Four weeks. We assess the digital ecosystem for your category, your competitors' presence, your agency or distributor, and the state of tracking and data. It ends with a 120-minute presentation to your leadership and a 90-day roadmap.
See the full scope$5,000one-time
Step 2 — Advisory & oversight
Monthly. We challenge the plans your team and agencies write, oversee up to three agencies or local partners, review budget allocation and keep a testing roadmap running. Reported against Measure – Why – Yield.
See the full scope$4,500per month
Working with a head office abroad
- Your time zone, not ours
- Sessions with headquarters are scheduled in your working hours. Fieldwork, interviews and platform checks happen in Vietnam.
- English by default
- Every report, meeting note and recommendation is written in English, with a one-page summary for people who will not read the full document.
- One person, not a rotating team
- The person who does the audit is the person in the monthly meetings. Nothing is handed to a junior after the pitch.
- No commission, in writing
- We take nothing from the agencies, platforms or vendors we recommend, and it is a clause in the contract you can terminate on.
Find your category
What goes wrong differs sharply by category. These pages set out the five questions each one has to answer.
Frequently asked questions
Do you run the advertising?
No. We do not run ads, manage accounts or produce content, and we never will. The party spending the money should not be the party checking the results — and that applies to us as much as to your agency.
Do you take commission from the agencies you recommend?
No, and it is written into the contract. If you find that we have, you may terminate immediately. When you need someone to execute, we put forward three vetted options with the criteria to judge them.
We do not have a legal entity in Vietnam yet. Is this too early?
The audit still works — it assesses the category's digital ecosystem, your competitors and the partner landscape rather than your own accounts. The monthly retainer makes more sense once there is spend to oversee.
Can you work alongside our regional agency of record?
Yes, and this is the most common arrangement. We review their plans and reporting and sit in on their meetings. We do not work behind anyone's back — the agency is told what our role is.
How is this different from a market research firm?
Research tells you what the market looks like. We tell you whether the money you are about to spend in it is being spent well, and then stay to check. The two are complementary; we are not a substitute for a proper research study.
Which languages do you work in?
English and Vietnamese. Documents are delivered in English; meetings with your Vietnam team or agency run in Vietnamese where that is more useful, with notes in English.
Start with a 30-minute call
Tell us what you are planning and what you are unsure about. We will say plainly whether we can help.