On October 26 in Ho Chi Minh City, the annual Modern marketing event organised by MMA Global in Vietnam, MMA Impact, took place with more than 40 domestic and international speakers.
Entering its 12th year, MMA Impact Vietnam saw no signs of decreased appeal among domestic and international marketing and communications communities. MMA Impact Vietnam 2023 was even more special than ever thanks to the appearance of MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart and the gathering of MMA Global's country directors from branches throughout the APAC region, including India, Indonesia, and China.
Stuart discussed stories related to marketing, including the potential of marketing in Vietnam and the future of AI on the sidelines of the event.
Q: You gave a very impressive presentation about AI in marketing. What do you think about the potential of marketing in Vietnam?
A: I think the potential for marketing in Vietnam is endless. One thing is that Vietnam has a relatively large population, so advertising needs to scale to work well. I think 100 million people is pretty good. Besides that, Vietnam has a young population, and it is growing.
Secondly, Vietnam has good media and digital access. The country has good infrastructure to make phones and everything connected. People here have the luxury of time and availability for social media. So, advertising does well in Vietnam. I expect all the big global agencies will be in Vietnam.
Q: Could you compare Vietnam to other Southeast Asian or Asian nations?
We have operations in Jakarta, which I have been to. I do not think I got the same sense from Vietnam. I mean, Jakarta is kind of a complicated city, and it is almost impossible to get around. It seems to be a little bit of a chokehold. You know, the funny thing in Vietnam is that, even with all your motorbikes, I feel a little shocked that somebody does not get run over. And there's a way that people interact with each other, and this is your pleasantness in Vietnam, for sure. And I think there's just one way that people operate. There is an incredible amount of traffic, but it keeps moving.
About Vietnam, I hear a lot of my friends wanting to visit the country. And there's a whole sense of people bragging about having been to Vietnam. Vietnam has got a lot of attention lately.
Q: I'm so glad to hear that. So, you mentioned that a lot of popular brands are operating in Vietnam. So what brands come to mind and which have had the biggest impact?
I have spent time with Coca-Cola, and they're amazing, and Unilever and Nestle, too. I’ve met Douglas Kuo, GM of Abbott Vietnam, and I think he has the most appearances in Vietnam. Vietnam is an interesting and potential market, and it is smart to seize opportunities in
Vietnam.
However, the opportunity to get better at something only exists as long as you're before somebody else. Vietnamese marketing firms could be more powerful than their competitors. Chances are, once your competition is doing the same things, you come first. If you do full-on general AI, I think that you can boost the performance of marketing and lower the cost. Usually, when you boost performance, it costs more. However, in this case, it would cost less.
Q: Do you think that AI can replace humans in marketing?
AI is not going to replace you, but I will replace you if you can’t use AI to operate your work. You know that if you can’t use computers, Word, or Excel, you’ll be fired. AI is going to become a basic tool that you must know and understand. And I also think to have the same for the brands; you know, it's a huge opportunity to get ahead in your career.
In conclusion, I can say that AI can’t replace humans, but humans will be replaced by humans using AI.
Q: AI plays an important role and is a big step. So, what next after AI?
Today, we have a lot of AI-related voice assistants such as Alexa and Siri, and we can also talk with cameras and different devices at home. AI can help turn off the light and I think the future will be AI-driven and we’re very excited about that.
However, recently, big tech chiefs like Mark Zuckerberg have been talking about what to do so that we will not get out of control of AI. Some aspects could be problematic.