Improving brand message of neptune cooking oil

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
International School of Business
------------------------------

Nguyen Viet Duy

IMPROVING BRAND MESSAGE OF
NEPTUNE COOKING OIL

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2021


UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY
International School of Business
------------------------------

Nguyen Viet Duy

IMPROVING BRAND MESSAGE OF
NEPTUNE COOKING OIL

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
SUPERVISOR: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Mai Trang

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2021


TABLE OF CONTENT

1.

2.

INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1
1.1.

Wilmar International ................................................................................................... 1

1.2.

Wilmar CLV ................................................................................................................ 1

1.3.

Oils & Fats: Cai Lan Oils & Fats Industries Company Limited (CALOFIC) ............ 3

PROBLEM CONTEXT ...................................................................................................... 4
2.1.

Global cooking oil market ........................................................................................... 4

2.2.

Vietnam cooking oil market ........................................................................................ 6

2.3.

Competitors analysis ................................................................................................... 7

2.4.

Customer analysis ..................................................................................................... 13

3.

NEPTUNE’S SYMPTOM ................................................................................................ 15

4.

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION ...................................................................................... 17
4.1.

Problem 1: Because of Brand message of Neptune .................................................. 19

4.2.

Problem 2: Because of Product innovation ............................................................... 22

4.3.

Problem 3: Because of Social media ........................................................................ 24

5.

PREMILINARY CAUSE AND EFFECT TREE ............................................................. 25

6.

CAUSE VALIDATION ................................................................................................... 26

7.

CAUSE - AND - EFFECT TREE .................................................................................... 31

8.

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS ....................................................................................... 32
8.1.

The first alternative solution: Upgrade the Neptune Gold product to Neptune GP .. 32

8.2.

The second alternative solution: Share effective brand messages ........................... 34


9.

ORGANIZATION OF ACTIONS ................................................................................... 35

10.

CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. 37

11.

SUPPORTING INFORMATION ................................................................................. 39

12.

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................. 64

13.

APPENDIX ................................................................................................................... 66


1. INTRODUCTION
1.1.

Wilmar International

Wilmar International Limited, founded in 1991 and headquartered in Singapore, is today
Asia’s leading agribusiness group. Wilmar is ranked amongst the largest listed companies by
market capitalization on the Singapore Exchange. Wilmar’s business activities include oil
palm cultivation, oilseed crushing,cooking oils refining, sugar milling and refining,
manufacturing of consumer products, specialty fats, oleochemicals, biodiesel and fertilizers
as well as flour and rice milling. At the core of Wilmar’s strategy is an integrated
agribusiness model that encompasses the entire value chain of the agricultural commodity
business, from cultivation, processing, merchandising to manufacturing of a wide range of
agricultural products. Wilmar has an extensive distribution network covering over 50 other
countries and regions and over 500 manufacturing plants in the world. The Group has a
multinational workforce of about 90,000 people. Nowaday, Wilmar has achieved some
succeeds such as:
-

-

-

Largest cooking oils refiner, specialty fats and oleochemicals manufacturer as well as leading
oilseed crusher, producer of consumer pack oils, flour and rice and one of the largest flour
and rice millers in China.
One of the largest oil palm plantation owners and the largest palm oil refiner and palm kernel
and copra crusher, specialty fats, oleochemicals and biodiesel manufacturer in Indonesia and
Malaysia.
Largest producer of branded consumer pack oils in Indonesia.
Largest branded consumer pack oils, specialty fats and oleochemicals producer and cooking
oils refiner as well as leading oilseed crusher, sugar miller and refiner in India.
One of the largest oil palm plantation owners, cooking oil refiners and producers of consumer
pack oils, soaps and detergents as well as third largest sugar producer in Africa.
Largest raw sugar producer and refiner, a leading merchandiser of consumer brands in sugar
and sweetener market and largest manufacturer of bread, spreads and sauces in Australia.
Largest manufacturer of consumer pack margarine and mayonnaise in Russia.
Largest cooking oil refiner and specialty fats producer in Ukraine.
Leading refiner of tropical oils in Europe.

In 2018, Wilmar’s net profit is up to US$ 1.13 billion total the world.
1.2.

Wilmar CLV
1


General Director of
Wilmar CLV

Deputy GD

Distribution/ Sales
Wilmar Marketing
CLV

Funtion

Production

Head of Finance & Legal

Retail & HORECA

Oils & Fats
Cai Lan Oils & Fats Industry

Head of Technical

Industries End Users
(IEUs)

Noodles, macaroni & mixed flour
Meizan CLV

Head of SCM

Bakery

Sauces & Condiments
Nam Duong International
Foodstuff

Head of HR/ Admin/ Corporate
Branding

Export

Wheat flour
Vietnam Flour Mills/ VFM Wilmar

Head of Brand

Rice & Sticky rice
Vinh Phat Wilmar

Head of IT

Feeds & Rice bran oils
Wilmar Agro

Homecare, Milk & Chocolate
Oleo - Wilmar Marketing CLV

Figure 1-1 Wilmar CLV’s HR structure.
2


Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (CLV) are 3 countries that Wilmar International is present in.
Today, Wilmar CLV is amongst the largest business groups in the region with 4 major
divisions: Food, Feed Ingredients, Bio Ingredients and Distribution. Wilmar CLV’s vision is
to enhance happiness and health by continuously improving values to customers and

consumers. In their commitment to excellence, they are guided by a set of values that defines
who they are and the way they work. Their 6 core values are Integrity, Excellence, Passion,
Innovation, Teamwork and Safety. For this thesis, the writer will define the problem and give
the solutions for one of oil brand in CALOFIC – Neptune.
1.3.

Oils & Fats: Cai Lan Oils & Fats Industries Company Limited (CALOFIC)

CALOFIC is the leader in oils & fats industry. CALOFIC is founded in 1996 with an initial
investment of USD 22 million. Today, CALOFIC pioneers the development of Oils & Fats
industry in the region, focusing on food safety, quality products and cost efficiency via
integrated production. Cai Lan Oils and Fats Industries Company (CALOFIC) is a joint
venture between Vietnam Vegetable Oils Industry Corporation (Vocarimex - under Ministry
of Industry and Trade) and Wilmar Group, Singapore. Currently, CALOFIC has two factories
in Quang Ninh & Ho Chi Minh City, two branch offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with
nearly 1,000 employees nationwide.
Since its establishment, CALOFIC has incessantly improved product quality, applied new
technologies and developed integrated distribution system, thereby affirming its position in
the market. CALOFIC has become a popular trademark in Vietnam with its well-known
vegetable cooking oil brands including Neptune Gold - 10 for Quality; Simply - For a
Healthy Heart; Meizan - Delicious Food, Good Health; Kiddy - Nutrition for Predominant
Smart; Cai Lan - Cai Lan Comes in Kitchen, Luck Comes in Home. Besides, CALOFIC also

3


possesses various kinds of cooking oils packed in cans of different sizes; shortening packed
in carton boxes; and margarine for food and bakery.

Picture 1-1: Oil brands under CALOFIC2

With indefatiguable efforts, Neptune Gold brand has successfully established a strong
foothold in the market and rewarded with many awards such as "Vietnam High Quality
Goods", "Top 20 Competitive Brands - Renown Brands of Vietnam", "Trust & Use", etc.
Moreover, CALOFIC has been involved in various social and charitable activities such as
natural calamity relief events, donations for disadvantaged groups. The company also
founded CALOFIC scholarship fund of over 1.5 billion VND to help poor children of Quang
Ninh province.
2. PROBLEM CONTEXT
2.1.

Global cooking oil market

The world market for oilseed and vegetable oil is overheated, price is continuously rising due
to the forecast of output reduction in China and America, while the demand for cooking oil
and biofuel increases globally.
Currently, Malaysia's crude palm oil price is about 5000 ringgit / ton, while soybean also
reached the highest level since 19 years, in Chicago (USA) reached 22.69 USD / bushel (1
bushel = 25.4 kg), which is an increase of 80 % within a year. Palm oil price have increased
more than 2.5 times since January 2017 to the present. This trend is expected to continue due
to strong demand (CME, 2020).

4


The fundamentals continue to be beneficial for vegetable oil and oilseed. In the World from
2017 to 2018, oilseed production is forecasted to decrease to 392 million ton from 406.55
million ton in the previous crop, while consumption will increase from 330.78 million ton to
340.43 million ton, resulting in inventories. At the ending crop, it will decrease to 58.14
million ton, compared with 72.04 million ton at the end of the previous crop, mainly due to a
drop in soybean supply in China and Brazil. For vegetable oil, global production in 2017/18

is forecast to increase to 126.05 million ton, compared with 121.50 million ton due to strong
demand, from 121.08 million ton to 126.46 million ton, resulting in inventories. At the end of
the crop, it will also decrease to 7.76 million ton compared to 8.60 million ton last year. In
the period 2017-2018, the dry oil production is forecast to reach 232.84 million ton, the
increase strongly compared to 224.40 million ton in the previous crop due to a sharp increase
in cooking oil production, while world dry oil consumption will increase from 222.28 million
ton per year. 2016/2016 crop to 231.98 million ton in 2017/2018 crop, and the ending crop
will decrease slightly from 7.45 million ton to 7.36 million ton (Vinanet, 2018).
According to analyst on oilseeds, the global soybean supply will be scarce in the 2017/2018
crop. Soybean accounts for the majority of world oilseed production. In the 2017/2018 crop,
the soybean production will be reduced by about 15 million tons compared to this crop year,
to 223 million tons, while consumption will increase. The world soybean injection has
increased by an average of 10.3 million tons / year in the last 3 seasons, which will push the
soybean consumption in this crop to about 239 million tons, which means a shortage of about
16 million tons. Due to the expected reduction in sunflower seed production, and the increase
in other oilseed grains not enough to meet demand, the next world soybean crop is forecast to
increase above the average, adding about 13 million tons in the year. crop 2017/2018
(October / September). As a result, global soybean stocks at the end of the crop (late August

5


2018) will fall to about 56 million tons, down about 16 million tons from a year earlier. And
so, soybean prices will certainly increase (Vinanet, 2018).
Demand for palm oil in the world is also increasing strongly, so price still increase despite the
increase in production. The palm oil market is becoming increasingly dependent on other
markets, such as oil, in addition to the major supply and demand factors for palm oil (CME,
2020).
2.2.

Vietnam cooking oil market

Currently, Vietnam has more than 40 enterprises doing business in cooking oil industry with
market scale estimated at VND 30,000 billion per year. The opportunity for industry growth
is very high when the average consumption of cooking oil in Vietnam is 9.5 kg/ person/ year
in 2019, still low compared to the standard of the World Health Organization (WHO) of 13.5
kg/ person/year. The Ministry of Industry and Trade estimates that Vietnam's cooking oil
demand will be at 16.2 kg/ person/ year by 2020.

Table 2-1 Demand consume cooking oil of consumers (kg/person/ year)
Year

2013

2014

2015

2020

2025

Demand

8.7

9.6

10.0

16.2

18.5

(Source: Statistics of Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2018)
Although there are many brands of cooking oil on the market, but in fact, the market share is
only in the hands of a number of brands dominated by big companies. KIDO currently holds
51% equity in Vocarimex. Meanwhile, Vocarimex accounted for 24% in CALOFIC, 49% in
Golden Hope Nha Be (KIDO held 51%), 26.54% in Tuong An (KIDO held 61.9%); 17.84%
in Tan Binh. Thus, KIDO directly or indirectly holds a majority stake in all of the largest
cooking oil enterprises (Trade, 2018).

6


Currently, 3 leading enterprises in cooking oil are Tuong An, CALOFIC and Nha Be. In
particular, CALOFIC accounted for nearly 40% market share with familiar brands like
Neptune, Simply, Meizan ... Ranked No. 2 is Tuong An with 20%, 3rd is Golden Hope Nha
Be with 11% (Trade, 2018).

Market share of Cooking oil small packaging in Vietnam
100.0

80.0

60.0

8.8
4.0
4.0

1.1

8.7
3.9
5.4
1.3

5.8
3.8
7.2
1.2

4.6
4.0
6.0
1.3

4.8
4.2
7.0
1.2

20.5

18.6

20.0

20.9

18.8

1.0
1.6

1.0
2.9

1.0
3.8

1.0
2.8

1.0
2.2

21.7

23.1

23.8

23.8

24.5

9.0

8.0

8.1

8.9

9.4

17.4

17.4

17.0

19.2

20.2

10.7

9.7

8.4

7.7

6.9

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

40.0

20.0

0.0
Neptune

Simply

Meizan

Tuong An

Golden Hope An Long

Cai Lan

Orchid

Minh Hue

Others

Niche

Figure 2-1 Market share of cooking oil small packaging in Vietnam (Percentage)
(Source: Wilmar CLV’s report)
This shows that foreign enterprises are inferior to domestic enterprises when domestic
enterprises account for more than 80% of the market share. However, the competitive
pressure is still fierce because cooking oil is a substitute product, the elasticity of demand is
high, so only a little price fluctuation is enough to lead to a change in consumer behavior.
Moreover, the author just got the information and data from 2015 to 2019 to analyze because
data and information of 2020 is not correct and can’t approach because of affecting by
COVID-19 pandemic.
2.3.

Competitors analysis
7


CALOFIC's nationwide survey of 500 people in November 2019 showed that the top 5
brands of cooking oil mentioned, consumers will think about: Neptune, Simply, Tuong An,
Meizan, Cai Lan. The reason for mentioning these cooking oils is because of their longstanding presence in the market as well as affecting the usage habit for generations. In
addition, brands also have appropriate marketing strategies and have a clear target consumer.

Premium/ niche oil: Olivoilà, Kiddy…

High nutrious pure oil: Simply, Tuong
An…
High quality mixed oil: Neptune,
Tuong An…
Medium quality mixed oil: Meizan, T/
An…

Medium oil: Cai Lan…
Bulk oil: Cai Lan, Tuong
An…

Figure 2-2 Market segmentation of cooking oil
Through the chart above shows the market segment of the cooking oil market, it can be
noticed that the direct competitors of the Neptune brand are Simply and Tuong An. However,
each brand has different marketing strategies and creates a unique value, message and
specificity.


Simply

8


In the early years of the 21st century, Vietnam's economies gradually stabilized. By the
following years, Vietnam's economy had more positive changes. This has directly affected
the lives and habits of consumers. From eating well to warm, the economy is getting better,
so consumers have a need to eat better and wear better clothes. Keeping up with those
reasons, Simply cooking oil brand was born and developed strongly. Among the 3 competing
brands, Simply was the latest brand launched in the end of 2010. However, based on the
right, proper strategic marketing strategy, Simply has quickly positioned itself and reached
out to the leading position of retail cooking oil market. Simply products focus entirely on
product quality, offering a new product that is pure cooking oil, including healthy nutrients.
Besides, the message that Simply brings "For a healthy heart" also somewhat confirms the
value that the product brings.
Simply cooking oil brings customers new products such as canola oil, sunflower oil, soybean
oil with many heart-healthy nutrients. Especially the appearance of rice bran oil in 2015 with
many outstanding advantages, is the oil trusted by many countries around the world for

bringing many health benefits, especially heart health. To prove its quality, Simply restaurant
has also been certified by the Vietnam Cardiology
Association as the only brand of cooking oil in Vietnam that is good for heart health. Simply
currently has 4 main product lines (Calofic, 2021) .Simply unlike Neptune and Tuong An, the
brand does not produce television video campaigns every year and does not do a lot of
marketing activities. Simply aims to health and community benefits. Therefore, Simply
organizes free and periodic heart health checks for housewives at health stations nationwide
through local health departments. Each year Simply brings more than 500 heart exams
nationwide. Besides, Simply is also an active brand in the health movement such as jogging
for heart health, walking ...Simply is not only a popular brand in Vietnam but also an export

9


brand, used in many countries around the world such as Indochina, Hongkong, New
Zealands,….


Neptune

Referring to Neptune (Calofic, 2021), consumers immediately associate the image of the sea
king with the familiar trident. With 20 years of asserting itself with the slogan "10 points for
quality", Neptune has reached nationwide consumers in the premium segment. Neptune
cooking oil is special in that it is a mixture of different vegetable oils, so Neptune gathers
many nutrients as well as the outstanding points of the oils. Neptune's target customers are
housewives who love their families, spend time caring for their families and love on the
family meal with the desire that the meal is a chance for family members to gather together.
Therefore, Neptune does not choose the path of social activities, nor the activation at the
market or supermarket. Neptune chooses a major marketing strategy for its annual television
video campaign on New Year or other special occasions for women.

Neptune has really become a familiar product in every Vietnamese family and has been
honored with the title of "Believe & Use" by consumers. This will be an important impetus
for the Neptune brand to make further strides in bringing nutritionally balanced meals to
every Vietnamese family. A brand that is market leader and receives the trust of consumers
such as Neptune is the basis for an emotional campaign to create cohesion between customers
and brands. Just look at Neptune's competitors, who have just entered the market, how to
create an emotional campaign like Neptune without building trust in quality in the hearts of
consumers. Neptune is the first brand to gradually implement an emotional campaign. With
the dominant color being the hot color, bringing warmth, the theme of reunion members for
Tet, over 10 years, Neptune's TVCs have left an unforgettable position in the hearts of
consumers.

10


Tuong An
Tuong An is the oldest cooking oil brand in Vietnam (Tường An, 2020) with a wide range of
products and a wide segment covering the entire market. There is a brand that has been
silently accompanying Vietnamese housewives for the past 40 years, for delicious feasts, for
family engagement, for a healthy and happy Vietnam. Over the past 40 years, every change
and growth of Tuong An has been closely linked to the hearts of the Vietnamese people, with
every delicious crispy home meal. The perfect combination of technology and human
quintessence has made Tuong An breakthrough a pioneer in creating the best products.
Diversifying and improving product quality through each period while maintaining
reasonable prices, Tuong An has really conquered the hearts of people. As a Vietnamese
Company with 40 years of experience, Tuong An always understands the rigorous
requirements of Vietnamese culinary arts on the standards of good food. Therefore, Tuong
An constantly invests in modern refining technology lines, combined with the traditional
know-how to create superior cooking oil products to serve consumers to cook delicious food.
However, with the fierce and the introduction of many new cooking oils, a piece of sliced

bread 5, 7 made Tuong An's market share decrease in the 2000s and 2010s. Since 2016,
Tuong An Vegetable Oil Joint Stock Company has merged with KIDO Group, thanks to
which the company's management apparatus has changed and proposed a new development
plan for this long-standing brand. Tuong An is changing from low-value and low-profit
products to high-end product lines to improve profitability. With the following strategy, since
2018, Tuong An has invested more in the media, launched a series of new products, reformed
the old products, especially following Simply and Neptune, Tuong An has drawn a lot. More
experience when launching the product. For each separate product category, Tuong An
follows the "copycat" strategy to increase the value of products to a new segment. It is worth
mentioning that copycat is an extremely effective strategy and Tuong An has been successful
11


with this strategy in recent years. The culmination of this strategy in 2018, when Tuong An
continues to keep the old products, and launch a series of new products in the higher segment.
Competing directly with Neptune, Tuong An launched Tuong An Gold in 2018 with the main
color of red and gold, focusing on quality, which is also a blend based on 3 other oils. With a
similar sample bottle, but the more modern label design has quickly won the hearts of
consumers. However, the disadvantage is that Tuong An cannot produce rice bran oil, so the
three blended oils of Tuong An are sunflower, canola and palm oil. Meanwhile, the 3 types of
oil blended by Neptune are soybean oil, sunflower oil and rice oil, which are nutritious oils
(Appendix 5, Tuong An & Neptune).
Competing directly with Simply, in 2018, Tuong An changed the bottle packaging similar to
Simply. Aesthetically, this bottle looks better and more advanced.(Appendix 6, Changing of
Tuong An Soy Bean Oil in 2018).
In 2019, Tuong An has a more daring decision when changing the packaging as well as the
color almost similar to Simply, easily causing confusion between the two products when
entering the supermarket.
Including nutrients as well as outstanding characteristics of oil, Tuong An also mentioned
almost the same. For this premium oil, Tuong An has also emphasized health

issues.(Appendix 7, Changing of Tuong An Soy Bean Oil in 2019).
With the strategy of following and attacking the high-class cooking oil market, 2018 and
2019 can be said to be the successful year of Tuong An when it has somewhat maintained the
total market share before the development of competitors. pictures. Through the strategy, we
can see that the market share in Tuong An's medium and low segments has decreased, but
instead increased in the high-end segment, exactly as the strategy had originally planned.

12


After analyzing clearly the marketing strategies of the 3 direct competitors in the high-end
segment, below is a more in-depth analysis of Neptune's business results as well as the
current situation.
2.4.

Customer analysis

Customers will remember the brand when remembering the slogan, these two factors are
closely related to each other, Silveira concluded that easy-to-understand messages lead to
good brand recognition by customers (SILVEIRA, 2017). Therefore, the author surveyed 100
customers to check the level of brand awareness as well as slogan.

Simply

40%

Neptune

33%

Tường An

Meizan

Nakydaco

24%

2%

1%

Figure 2-3 Top of Mind Cooking oil brand (N=100)
(Source: Survey results)
When asked about the TOM cooking oil brand, 40% respondent chose Simply and 33% chose
Neptune. Simply is famous in the HCM city area.

13


There are many nutrients

5%

Well cook

17%

Good for health

48%

Do not know, only know general high quality

30%

Figure 2-4 Neptune's Quality definition(N=100)
(Source: Survey results)
But when asked what the brand means, the above results show that up to 30% of customers
do not know how the high quality is? This shows that Neptune has a good level of
recognition, and the customer remembers the slogan, but the message is unclear, the customer
understand it superficially.

2.5%

1.3%

1.3%
8.8%
11.3%

75.0%

Meizan

Cái Lân

Neptune

Simply

Tường An

Nakydaco

Figure 2-5 Conversion rates from Neptune to other brands of cooking oils (N=100)
(Source: Survey results)

14


When the respondents were asked about the used cooking oil brands, the following results
were obtained:
Of the 80/100 respondents who stopped using Neptune cooking oil, 75% switched to Tuong
An, 11.3% switched to Simply, only 8.8% were loyal to Neptune, the rest switched to
Meizan, Cai Lan and Nakydaco.

I don't know what the product has special effects, other
products are good for the heart, good for children

55.0%

I don't feel a strength of the product

17.5%

I saw a lot of advertisements for a new product, so I
was attracted to it

10.0%

The packaging has not changed yet, other products are
eye-catching so I try it out

5.0%

The function of the product remains, it's not clear how
good it is for the consumer

5.0%

As many years as it goes, I need more improvement

3.8%

I feel the oil quality has not improved

3.8%

Figure 2-6 The reason is no longer using Neptune cooking oil (N=80)
(Source: Survey results)
The results show that the main reason 55% of customers stopped using Neptune cooking oil
(44 respondents) anymore was that they did not know what special the product had, besides
that the product did not show their strengths (17.5% - 14 respondents) and 10% of
respondents are attracted to advertising of new products. Moreover, the product does not
show much improvement (3.8%), consumers do not perceive the outstanding quality of the
oil, the packaging or the special function of the product (13.8%).
3. NEPTUNE’S SYMPTOM

15

Referring to Neptune, consumers cannot help but mention the quality of cooking oil because
the tagline has accompanied and affirmed the quality "10 points for quality". With constant
efforts and high quality, Neptune has become familiar to families, especially traditional
women. Neptune is also the pioneering cooking oil brand in advertising with television video
campaigns (TVC) but not in functional campaigns but in emotional campaigns. For 10
consecutive years, the topic for TVC of Neptune is always about family and reunion on Tet
holiday. Neptune's TVC is always in the top of the most watched TVCs. Neptune's TVC is so
effective that many consumers look forward to watching it every New Year. Because of
taking a theme of Tet holiday, sensitive but timely, Neptune made viewers feel their
silhouette in TVC, creating sympathy and response.
However, Neptune's business results go in a different direction from brand recognition. While
Neptune consistently ranks top 1 or 2 in consumers 'top of mind surveys, consumers' buying
choices depend on many other factors. We must ensure to have the right type of product that
is in demand for your market. So during the product development phase, the marketer must
do an extensive research on the life cycle of the product that they are creating (McCarthy,
1960). Specifically, about the factors affecting the decision to buy cooking oil of consumers,
Ms. M, Neptune Brand Manager mentioned the following 5 factors:






Brand
Quality
Price
Ingredient/ Nutrition
Promotion

Follow marketing mix strategy of Neil Borden and E. Jerome McCarthy (McCarthy N. B.,
1964) had highlighted that the 4Ps including Product, price, promotion, and place are the
initial control elements that are available to shape a marketing plan. With 5 factors
influencing consumers' decision to buy cooking oil, there were 3 out of 5 factors belonging to
the product issue, 1 about Price and 1 about Promotion. The problem of Place is not
16


mentioned because cooking oil is a fast-moving consumer goods, with famous and familiar
brands, the price is not high so the coverage is large, already everywhere in the market as
well as supermarket channels.
Although the market for other brands of cooking oil is on the rise, but in terms of Neptune,
within the past 5 years (The author does not use data for 2020 because of the Covid epidemic,
statistical data has been affected), Neptune's market share has clearly decreased. This shows
the change of the market, but in the past 5 years Neptune has not changed significantly. The
market has more and more competitors, diversified products, but Neptune has only one
product strategy and improvement has been unchanged for 5 years, figure 2-5 and 2-6
demonstrate that. The above indicates that Neptune is having a business problem.
12

10.73
9.69

10

8.38
8

7.73

6.86

6
4
2

0
2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

Figure 3-1 Market share of Neptune from 2015 to 2019 (Percentage)
(Source: Wilmar CLV’s report)
4. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Neptune cooking oil is in the high-class segment, the price difference is not much between
Simply, Neptune and Tuong An brands. Besides, the promotion is almost the same, Neptune
has the advantage because there are other products under the same Neptune label as bouillon
granule, rice, easy to form reasonable promotions. In addition, to understand the main
17


problem causing the decrease in sales according to Figure 3-1, the author of the thesis used
the in-depth survey method (via phone number) with the respondents answering the reasons

above 10% (equivalent to 58 respondents) in Figure 2-6 through the question "Please share
more on why you don't use Neptune cooking oil anymore?"
The author selected 5 people to survey and got the following results (In-depth interview 6, 7,
8, 9, 10):
Mr. D shared the following feelings:
I have not felt the quality that Neptune says on the package "10 points for quality", how is the
quality? How's the quality? To me, all cooking oils taste the same. I'm using Simply, I see the
packaging says "good for your heart" so I use it for heart health.
Mrs P shared that:
About that, because other products look newer, everyone knows that cooking oil is good for
the heart, I look at Simply's "good for your heart" sentence, I like it very much, so I use it.

Ms. H shared that:
I have just tried Tuong An canola oil for 1 week, my knowledge of cooking oil is not very
good, but I see they advertise about rapeseed oil which is very good for health, Neptune still
uses normal rice.
Ms. L said that :
I used Neptune before, but I don't see anything new in the product, I'm using Tuong An's
soybean oil, I don't know what the difference is in the taste of the oil, but I have a feeling this
is a safe and new product because they use soy, I also use soy to make milk, because it's good
for health.
Mr. T has the opinion that:

18


I'm using brown rice oil of Simply, I don't know the taste of the oil, but brown rice is
definitely good and premium, Neptune still uses normal rice. When I was still using Neptune,
I saw an advertisement for this product, which is very meaningful, however, I have a
judgment that the product has not improved at all.

From the above results, the author recognizes 3 problems. Problem 1 is that the message "10
points for quality" is not clear to customers, while Simply, Tuong An products have an easy
to understand message. Problem 2 is that these competitors use high quality and safe
ingredients for customers such as soybeans, canola oil. Problem 3 is that competitor materials
make customers feel new and its use is communicated to customers through advertising,
besides, customers perceive Neptune's advertising as meaningful, but the product is not new
compared to the present. The author will analyze in depth 3 problems affecting the
purchasing decisions of consumers belonging to the Product as follows:
4.1.

Problem 1: Because of Brand message of Neptune

Brand is the message communicated to your target audience through Corporation’s products
and Corporation’s verbal and non-verbal communication messages that describe what they do
and how they’re different from others. Slogan is words that express the meaning of Brand
Message (Feng, 2016). Besides, Silveira asserts that slogans are a verbal or written
expression of the brand marketing positioning and, consequently, should aim to benefit the
brand (SILVEIRA, 2017). The brand equity concept includes several dimensions, and those
might be developed or reinforced by each branding marketing action. Brand awareness is a
component of brand equity and, therefore, might be influenced by marketing
communications, which includes the slogan. The main research question addressed in this
paper is to analyze if slogans might influence brand awareness. To achieve that goal, an
empirical quantitative study was conducted among a sample of three hundred and seventy
mobile telecom service consumers, gathering primary data via an on-line questionnaire. The
19


variables considered were slogan recall, slogan recognition and spontaneous brand awareness
for three different mobile telecom brands. The results obtained reveal a positive association

between slogan recall and brand awareness in two of the brands in study. The results also
show that those two brands were the ones with the highest awareness levels.
Over 20 years of development, Neptune has affirmed its position in the hearts of consumers
with the image of high quality cooking oil. The day before mentioning Neptune, consumers
immediately thought of a sea god holding a trident power on one hand and the other hand
with an okay quality symbol, also accompanied by the tagline "10 points for qualify",
somewhat emphasized about product quality. However, the world is changing, consumers are
becoming more aware and focused more health.
The latter brands in this market have done a good job of delivering a specific message and
delivering clear product value. The evidence is that the communication is very close to the
message as well as the value that the product has brought to consumers. As later, the
messages about the brand want to convey are clearer and sharper. If the label is on health, the
image, tagline will mention health, if on the price, it will indicate competitive prices.
Mr.K – Store manager of Coopfood comment that:
Previously I used Neptune but now I've moved through Simply because of the health,
although it’s more expensive, the other brands have not clearly reflected what I want.

Table 4-1 Brand awareness
Simply Soybean

Neptune Gold

Tuong An Gold

Heart health

Quality

Taste & health

Meizan Gold
Taste, Health &

Content

Price
Sea
Symbol

King

Heart

Elephant
(Neptune)

20

Chef


Color/ KV

Blue/ Dark blue

For

a

Red & Gold

health 10

points

Gold & Red

Yellow & Green
dishes

–

Good

health

–

for Gold quality for

Tagline
heart

Good

quality

dishes & health
Good price
(Source: Self assessment)

Through the table above we can see that while other brands have specific, clear messages,
emphasizing the little benefit that the cooking oil of the label brings, Neptune only addresses
the issue of general quality. Consumers only know that good quality does not know how
good, why so good. In addition, due to the emphasis on emotional campaigns, Neptune forgot
about functional campaigns to bring knowledge about the product to consumers.
Brand Manager of Neptune stated that:
Due to not have much change, benefit is not clear, as simply, customer remembers it with
“good for health” and remembers about Neptune with “good quality”, but do not know how
the quality?

In an advertising article about brand in 2018, M.T. Wroblewski reiterated the branding factors
that influence consumer buying decisions. Brand creates desire, it's human nature: when
something looks appealing and we think it will somehow enhance our life, we want it
(Wroblewski, 2018).
Brand becomes synonymous with status and prestige. This is one of the reasons many savvy
small-business owners review many logo designs before settling on “the perfect” one. They
know that the picture alone holds the promise of communicating values that thousands of
written words could only hope to convey. Of course, status and prestige convey more than a
high price; they signify quality, too.

21