Dentsu and Dream Incubator Launch Market Entry Support Service for the Vietnamese Market

Brand building and business creation support aim to capture areas with "sales momentum" through local insights and evidence-based approaches

Dentsu Inc. (President & CEO: Takeshi Sano; Head Office: Tokyo; hereinafter "Dentsu"), and Dream Incubator Inc. (President & CEO: Takayuki Miyake; Head Office: Tokyo; hereinafter "DI") today announced the launch of the Vietnamese Market Entry Support Service. This service is a new initiative that is part of the Business Production Support Program jointly developed by the two companies targeting ASEAN markets.^*1

Vietnam achieved a real GDP growth rate of approximately 7.1%^*2 in 2024, the highest level among ASEAN economies, and its young, dynamic market and demographics present significant and wide-ranging business opportunities, including for Japanese companies. At the same time, however, local consumer values and purchasing habits are changing rapidly, and increasingly companies are finding themselves unable to maintain the competitiveness of their products and services. Strategy formulation has become particularly challenging for companies seeking to enter the market for the first time. The single biggest challenge is the lack of reliable business data regarding market conditions, distribution networks, sales channels, and the general competitive situation.

To address these challenges, dentsu X Vietnam and Dream Incubator Southeast Asia (local subsidiaries of dentsu^*3) have jointly developed the Vietnamese Market Entry Support Service, bringing together the local knowledge they possess. The new service interprets social trends and emerging lifestyle habits in the Vietnamese market through high-precision data collection, research, and analysis, accurately capturing areas with sales momentum, and supporting both experimentation (validation) and scale (expansion). Through the service, the two companies provide comprehensive support from market entry assessment and business strategy formulation through to business launch, brand building, and communications.

The new service comprises a cross-functional team from Dentsu, dentsu X Vietnam, and Dream Incubator Southeast Asia, all of whom are well-versed in the Vietnamese market and capable of providing attentive support to clients' business growth.

After establishing a foothold with the Vietnamese market, Dentsu and DI plan to expand the service to other ASEAN markets. Moving forward, the companies will promote the global expansion^*4 of Business Transformation (BX) services to deliver optimal solutions, combining dentsu's strengths in creativity, execution and data and technology with DI's new business creation expertise and growth strategies from a marketing perspective to address the various challenges clients face.

Three strategic steps of the Vietnamese Market Entry Support Service

Three strategic steps

Step 1: Market entry assessment / Value creation that inspires empathy
Analyze consumer challenges, needs, and markets, aiming to construct business opportunity hypotheses through macro and micro-level research.
・ Conduct research on the Vietnamese market, culture, and consumers
・ Analyze priority sectors based on consumer needs
・ Generate insights about target customers
・ Develop business opportunity hypotheses aligned with Vietnamese consumer needs

Step 2: Business launch / Enhancing brand value from a consumer perspective
Develop medium-term strategies for products, marketing, and customer development using a PoC (Proof of Concept) approach.
・ Plan PoC and ascertain "why people buy" and "when people buy"
・ Conduct end-to-end production of channel design / pricing design / communication design / customer experience

Step 3: Business growth support / Creating mechanisms to retain customers
Establish a sustainable mechanism for leveraging data and local insights to establish trust and maintain relationships with consumers--a key challenge when entering the Vietnamese market.
・ Identify repurchase timing and detect signs of disengagement through consumer behavior data and surveys
・ Support the introduction of subscription and loyalty programs to promote long-term relationships
・ Establish a data-driven customer experience improvement cycle to drive sustainable growth

● Target companies and organizations for this service
・ Companies considering new entry into the Vietnamese market (manufacturing / retail / service industries)
・ Companies already operating in Vietnam but facing challenges with local market establishment and profitability
・ Companies seeking to implement sustainability-based business restructuring

*1 Related press release: "Dentsu and Dream Incubator Launch Business Production Support Program for the ASEAN Market"
https://www.dreamincubator.co.jp/en/news/2022/20612/
*2 National Statistics Office of Vietnam, "Report on socio-economic situation in the fourth quarter and whole year of 2024"
https://www.nso.gov.vn/en/highlight/2025/02/socio-economic-situation-in-the-fourth-quarter-and-2024/　
*3 The collective term for Dentsu Group Inc., a holding company, and its 720 consolidated subsidiaries in Japan and overseas.
*4 Since 2024 Dentsu Group has been fully promoting the global expansion of its BX services, which support clients' transformation and growth. Based on over a decade of experience and knowledge nurtured and built in Japan, this unique growth-oriented consulting service excels in the three core areas: business transformation, corporate transformation, and sustainability strategy.
Related press release: "Dentsu Expands Business Transformation (BX) Services Globally to Support Client Transformation" (June 18, 2024). https://www.group.dentsu.com/en/news/release/001227.html