BUI TRUC NGUYEN INTERNSHIP REPORT

Executive summary
Đại Khánh export import one-member LLC is a startup Finnish-based company,
which is operated by Finnish, French associates and represented by a Vietnamese director. A
startup company has its strengths in being flexible and in best-valuing its manpower. Being a
part of the marketing team, I got a chance to look deeper into the initial stage of entrepreneurship
and its core functions at their utter simplicity.
I was working as a marketing/communication intern (part of the marketing team) for Đại
Khánh in launching its new products: Kiss cider – Saku Brewery and Magisso – Finnish
kitchenware in 2015. Besides being a marketing/communication intern, I took care of event
coordination and administrative tasks as well.

As a marketing/communication intern, I was responsible to provide in-office

marketing support for each product which had been planned to be launched in 2015.
 Handle the product fan page – E-commerce activities
 Plan for marketing proposal to distributors
 Prepare marketing support for sales division
 Assist in the creation of signage, circulars, mock ups, e-mail campaigns, on line
promotion;

As a event coordinator, my job was to plan for local events in introducing the new
products, which included:

 Handle the product fan page – E-commerce activities

 Plan for marketing proposal to distributors
 Prepare marketing support for sales division

As an administrative supporter, handling administrative tasks is necessary to keep the

business going lean and organized. These following tasks fall into my responsibilities:

 Translate documents between Vietnamese - English

 Investigate on legal matters on merchandise distribution licenses and contracts
 Manage inventory

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I - Dai Khanh export import one-member

Limited Liability Company
1. GENERAL INFORMATION
Đại Khánh export import one-member LLC is the Vietnamese representative
company of Dasiak Export Ltd. Co. – a Finnish-based company which was established in 2011.
The headquarter of Dasiak Export Ltd. Co. was established in Helsinki, Finland and its core
operation was redirected into Vietnamese market during 2014. In order to test the market and
commence the business in a safe mode, associates of Dasiak Export Ltd. decided to be
represented by a Vietnamese company – Đại Khánh. Starting its operation in May, 2015, Đại
Khánh is a startup company which focuses on importing luxurious merchandise from Europe
into Vietnamese market. At its initial stage, Đại Khánh will be focusing its distribution in Ho Chi
Minh city.
Believing in the lucrative niche market of growing medium to high-income class, Đại
Khánh focuses on importing uniquely designed products which will guarantee to provide
Vietnamese customers with more classic European options and to diversify the market for
luxurious goods.
With a strong foreign board of management, Đại Khánh’s mission in providing
Vietnamese market with luxurious goods is supported by careful planning and step-by-step
consideration. The imported products in its initial stage of 2015 are Kiss cider – Saku brewery
and Magisso – Finnish kitchenware.
Đại Khánh is the exclusive distributor of its products in Vietnam. Besides its main lines
of products for imports are housewares (Magisso) and beverages (Kiss cider, mineral water), Đại
Khánh also registers for 17 business product codes which allows it to have a wide range of
options for imports and distribution. (See Appendix A)
From June to August, 2015, Kiss cider is Đại Khánh’s main focus of distribution. Since
alcoholic beverages are listed as conditioned merchandise, Đại Khánh has its long-term contract
with TRA-SAS supply chain and Agency services to import Kiss cider and in consequence, the
local exclusive distributor of this product line.

Contact information:
Legal name: Đại Khánh export import one-member Limited
Originated from: Dasiak Export Limited company
Headquarter: Room 12, Mezzanine, IBC building, 1A Mê Linh Square, Bến Nghé Ward,
District 1, HCMC
Business registration number: 0313254108
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Contact number : (+84.8) 6299 0898

E-mail: contact@dasiak.com
Website: http://dasiak.com/
Logo:

2. COMPANY STRUCTURE
Since Đại Khánh is a startup company with its core management of expatriate
experienced, Đại Khánh is rather a versatile and flexible in its management. Đại Khánh believes
in lean and effective of a simple structure – “flat” structure with a low degree of
departmentalization, wide spans of control, authority centralized in a single person, and little
formalization.
Since Đại Khánh is a legal representative of Dasiak Export Ltd., it receives investment
from foreign angel investors. All the investments are then transferred to personal bank account of
the Vietnamese director so that Đại Khánh can legally operating under Vietnamese business law.
The registered capital of Đại Khánh is 210 millions VND.
Each week, Đại Khánh is responsible to report to its associates about the business
progress and is the founder, Mr. Robert Kajarlainen is directly responsible for bad performances
in launching the products.
List of current employees:
(subjected to future changes)
1. Lê Phước Hải Vân – Sales division
2. Sebastien Trinh – Sales division
2. Hoàng Lê Bảo Ngọc – Marketing division
3. Nguyễn Phạm Đăng Khoa – Marketing division
4. Nguyễn Thị Huyền – Part-time accountant

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OUR CORE TEAM

Đại Khánh’s headquarter is in direct chain of command from our core team.
The names are addressed below:

Linh Dương
Owner (Legal representative)
Designer

Alexis Debordre Claudio Kajarlainen Robert Kajarlainen

Marketing executive Co-founder Founder, General manger

Sebastien Trịnh
Sales director
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OUR CORE DIVISIONS

In its initial stage, the company is operated by 2 main divisions:
MARKETING: consists of all the supportive people for the sales division. Marketing division is
responsible for coming up with marketing proposal, sales promotion, event planning and
coordination, for handling contacts of suppliers and target customers. Administrative function is
also integrated into the marketing team.
SALES: handles direct contacts with target customers. Receiving contacts from marketing division,
sales division has the responsibility to select and target to the right customers. Dealing and
negotiating with distributors, selecting location for promotions event are also critical for this
division.
The two divisions cooperate closely to launch new products into the market with special
targets and promotion strategies.

3. KEY AGENCIES
Đại Khánh startup model focuses mainly on distributing and promoting its products;
therefore, accounting, logistics and legal matters are outsourced to professional agencies. This
strategy is implemented by the founders of Đại Khánh in order to keep the business lean and
concentrated on core activities that will generate profits, which are distributing products to key
customers.
We are currently working with the most professional agencies to transport, import and
legalize our European products.
 Logistics agency: DSV – Air & Sea Ltd., Co.

Because all the products are imported directly from Europe, we need to be cautious in
selecting the right logistics company that offer transportation route directly from Scandinavian
countries in specific and Europe in general to Vietnam. Because of Đại Khánh considers timing
is especially important in shipping the cargo because when dealing with customers and closing
contracts, we have to make sure the products arrive just in time as promised.
Each shipment from Europe to Vietnam takes approximately 2 months. Market demand is
unstable in the beginning so between deciding on placing the next order, Đại Khánh has to
estimate its clients’ demand so the product is not disrupted from distribution.

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 Importer: Tracimexco Supply Chains and Agency Services J.S.C (TRA-SAS)

Since one of main product lines of Đại Khánh is Kiss cider – an alcoholic beverage. Đại
Khánh need Tra-sas to be its local importer for this product. From this, Đại Khánh will be the
exclusive distributor of Kiss Cider in Vietnam.
For Kiss cider project, since the product is an alcoholic merchandise, special regulation
requires a 3-party contract between Finland Dasiak Export Oy - Seller, Tra-sas - Buyer and Đại
Khánh – Re-seller in Vietnam. Tra-sas is the critical agency for Đại Khánh in distributing this
regulated product.

 Legal matters: Fidal Asiattorneys

Fidal Asiattorneys, founded by Albert Franceskinj and Caroline Chazard Meas, attorneys
members of the Paris Bar, and top law firm FIDAL, is currently our agency for dealing with
legal matters, which include business licenses, legal consultancy. Fidal law firm plays a major
part in helping Đại Khánh to establish business safely and legally, according to Vietnam
government regulations.

3. KEY CLIENTS
Despite the short period of time from that start of launching Kiss cider – its current main
product, Đại Khánh successfully negotiated with some key clients to distribute Kiss cider into
Ho Chi Minh City.
 For Magisso product, Đại Khánh considers Crescent Mall Phú Mỹ Hưng as our major
client. Magisso product is contracted to be displayed in October, 2015 at Crescent Mall.
 For Kiss cider, we target on restaurants, bars, clubs, beer clubs and convenient stores.
List of contracted clients for Kiss cider is listed in Appendix B.

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Ii – marketing team
1. MARKETING TEAM

General Manager

Marketing
executive

Marketing Marketing
Designer
assistant assistant

Marketing team is responsible for executing ideas and planning events that can help launch the
imported products into Vietnam market.

 Designer is in charge of using software’s, images and raw data to create visual effect for
marketing, including:
a. Identity (logos)
b. Printing advertisement (posters, banners, standees)
c. Photography items (backdrop)
d. Sign boards

 Marketing assistant is responsible for supporting documents for sales division under the
management and direction of marketing executive, including:
a. Marketing proposal
b. Price promotion
c. Event coordination
d. Ideas on marketing publications (banners, posters)
e. Suppliers relationship management
f. Facebook management

 Marketing executive is responsible for:

a. Directing main tasks
b. Reviewing ideas
c. Social media planning
d. Event execution

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For the past few months, marketing team have been working on Kiss cider and Magisso.
The marketing efforts include:
A. KISS CIDER
 Image 1. Poster

These are a poster and

a sample table
standee that the
marketing team came
up with from the idea
to the design. When
marketing in
Vietnam, the brand
name has been made
to be friendly and
approachable to
Vietnamese while
also keeping the
original slogan from
Saku brewery “Life
kisses you”.

 Image 2. Standee

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B. MAGISSO
Đại Khánh is the exclusive distributor of Magisso Finland in Vietnam. The current
catalogues are available for public viewing at Crescent Mall on November 2015.
 Image 3. Naturally Cooling Ceramics for Food

 Image 4. Naturally Cooling Ceramics for Drinks

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2. INTERNSHIP ACTIVITIES
A. DIGITAL MARKETING
Kiss cider Facebook campaign started on July 14th to August 14th, 2015. Paid-
advertisement was made during the first week of the campaign. During the first 2 weeks, Kiss
cider received an astonishing welcome from the online community. From then on, sharing and
fan engagement brings us more likes and better results everyday.
- Find us at www.facebook.com/kissvietnam
- 10,000 likes on August 5th
- 69% women from 18 – 34 years old
- 8,500 people at HCMC
- Targeted market achieved with more than 9,000 Vietnamese fans.
 Image 6. Kiss cider Facebook insight

In order to achieve these above results, I and the marketing team had to brainstorm ideas
on weekly post and mini game to maintain the engagement. The best results for Facebook

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engagement are 5,000 people reach and 300 likes for a sing post on July 28th, 2015. This post
promoted our Mini Game “Nhấp 1 like, nhận 1 Kiss” in which for every 1,000 likes, 1 packs of 4
Kiss cider cans were given for free – Giveaway promotion.

 Image 5. Facebook post on July 28th, 2015

Kiss cider Facebook is where events from bars, beer clubs, clubs are promoted on a
cooperative basis. We introduced the event to our 10,000 fan base, making digital marketing for
clients and for our product.
For testing phase, Kiss cider was launched in Đạt Beer Club on the evening of August
th
14 with marketing support basic package (posters, glasses, coasters, 2 Promotion girls). From
this, our survey showed that 90% of women and 60% preferred Kiss cider over regular beer.
Officially, Kiss cider Facebook is going to introduce Kiss night at Poc Poc Beer Garden on

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September 6th, 2015. This event is going to be the launching night for our product in Ho Chi
Minh city.
 Image 6. Kiss cider Facebook promotion for Đạt beer club.

B. EVENT PLANNING
During the internship time, I got the opportunity to on work on the testing phase of
launching Kiss cider at Đạt Beer club and finding suppliers for Poc Poc Beer garden’s Kiss night
event. Launching a successful events requires the following steps which I enjoyed learning from
the experienced.
Step 1: Brainstorm on the theme, decoration ideas, supporting materials
Step 2: Negotiate with clients on the event ideas.
Step 3: Find suppliers on marketing materials.
Step 4: Negotiate on price deals and close the orders.
Step 5: Look for manpower (promotion girls)
Step 6: Categorize the estimated costs and revenues for one event.
Step 7: Collect feedback on the event day and review the testing phase.

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 Image 7. Testing phase – Event day at Đạt beer club.

C. ADMINISTRATION
In order to monitor of launching this new product, my internship includes keeping tracks
of the inventory for retailing and initial sales volume, invoices from suppliers; translating
contracts (regarding meaning) to my supervisor; and contacting clients for meetings regarding on
the event and marketing support.
During my internship period, I got the chance to use Salesbinder as an automatic
management system for invoices and inventory.

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3. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
The marketing team is under the guidance of experienced expatriates; therefore, I was
give the rights to be flexible in our working time to come up with new ideas and proposals. As
long as these ideas fit the product target, my ideas and the marketing team’s thoughts are
generally welcome to be applied. A normal working day was given with task-to-do and end-
target, I, as an intern, and the marketing team were given enough time and support to finish our
tasks without too much pressure.
Up until now, the marketing team still plays a vital role to new product introduction.
Since Đại Khánh focuses on luxurious merchandise, our niche market needs considerable efforts
in promotion. However, Đại Khánh does not have sufficient budgets like those found from big
competitors such as Heineken, Budweiser, Nhà Xinh, Unilever; therefore, during my internship,
the marketing team was instructed to follow guerrilla marketing. Some of our efforts included:
creative stickers, handouts, using the leverage of Facebook sharing, etc.
Despite of strong determined minds, marketing team of Đại Khánh sometimes had
difficulties in generating ideas that will fit target budget. Young graduates are open-minded and
have strong willingness to learn, but are also people who have much academic ideals and
applications that are not practical under the company present budget.
A startup company has its beauty in being flexible with changing tasks but also has a
problem of generating idle time in which little work was carried out and waiting time because of
the clients’ slow responses. Event negotiation and the uncooperativeness from big clients (such
as Park Hyatt, Family Mart, Poc Poc Beer Garden) who have large hierarchy of management, are
usually time-wasting and head-scratching for the marketing team. That is to come up with
proposals and the appropriate support for the sales division to deal with these clients. However,
through much complications, the marketing team has become more effective when Đại Khánh is
going to be a partner with An Nam Gourmet, Family Mart, Crescent Mall and Poc Poc Beer
Garden.

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Iii – assessment of the internship

As a part of the marketing, I am responsible to launch Kiss Cider – the new alcoholic
beverage into Ho Chi Minh market during June, July and August.
My responsibilities include:
Daily
 Writing Facebook post and manage the fan engagement
 Handle online retailing of Kiss cider and promoting the fan page.
 Keep track of inventory on Salesbinder – an online purchased software of managing sales
and inventories.
 Making suggestion on promoting ideas through pricing strategy and marketing mix.
 Answer to sales division on marketing support packages.

On-demand

 Write marketing proposal for each client which would like co-operate with us in re-selling
the product.
 Contact suppliers for marketing materials, including printing companies, advertising
agencies, event organizer for continuous events around Ho Chi Minh city.
 Searching for potential clients and customers. Transfer these contacts to sales team.
 Contact Fidal representative on legal matters and translate legal documents into English
under common format.
 Support marketing team on proposals to clients by making power point presentations and
negotiation route.

Magisso was my second priority responsibility, my tasks for this product line includes
making proposal, price list (given from Sales division) for target clients.

1. PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE
From working as a marketing/communication intern, I had the chance to learn the
following skills/ qualifications:
 Time-conscious: Learn about Facebook peak time for posts, from benchmarking Coca-Cola,
Heineken, etc.
 Detail-oriented: Learn to pay attention to details when managing inventory.
 Be responsible: Take responsibilities when working with can-do attitude; Handle
information neatly and negotiate with suppliers.
 Teamwork: Work as a team with people from different backgrounds and personalities.
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 Research analysis: Learn about consumer behavior from receiving feedback online on
pricing, packaging and outdoor testing on taste preference in which it is found that
Vietnamese prefer uncommon tastes such as cherry, berries on Beverage and prefer medium
price range (from 50,000 -100,000 VND) for one meal when going out.

2. THEORETICAL APPLICATION
 E-commerce
Regarding digital marketing, I observed that there was still a noticeable gap between
Facebook engagement and the real rip-off from this E-commerce activities. It was estimated in
the marketing online form, only 10% of the likes/engagement actually purchased the products
out of their interests. Although E-commerce has been flourishing in Vietnam, I sensed that there
is no certain guarantee of the real purchasing power from audience who engage in online
advertising. However, social media advertising will still remain to be the most feasible solution
for all businesses. One of the most successful companies in Vietnam which optimizes Facebook
advertisement is Coca-Cola, with daily posts that add engagement and games. With huge budget
for advertisement and the strategy to outsource its marketing activities, Coca-Cola remains a
strong dominant in the soft drinks industry.
It is noticeable that while digital marketing has been written as powerful tool in most
textbooks, only with the right budget and good strategies can it brings noticeable results from
sales.

 Market research
Market research is important for a startup company even when it is costly. One problem
that Đại Khánh had was that it did not have enough resource to sponsor proper market research.
Although the product Kiss cider received generally positive results, it was rejected by some bars
which gave out non-can policy. Despite this fact is uncommon among bars, it was the first
obstacle that we faced launching the product. While there can be many bargains regarding the
tastes, price and promotion, a strict no-can policy, if implemented across the majority of bars,
could have seriously hurt the business.

 Principles of marketing
The basic 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) is one of the most applicable concepts
that I came across during my internship which is used to locate the basics before deciding on
product launch.
Guerilla marketing was also useful to be apply with small budget. However, in Vietnam,
some guerilla marketing idea was inapplicable in Vietnam because of strict regulations. For
example: street orchestra, street graffiti, public flash mob, public stickers, etc.

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3. FUTURE CAREER PATH

From working at Đại Khánh, I got a better look on the export-import sector of Food and
Beverages business and marketing activities of clients. At the moment, jobs in marketing sector
and international business are both exciting. Because they requires continuous learning, detail-
oriented and effortless creativity. The following future jobs that I might take after graduation are:
 Marketing assistant and content creator: with detail-oriented, creative tasks for enthusiastic
learners.
 Project management: for integrated digital marketing campaign including social media
marketing for different clients.
 Marketing & Public relation management: planning and executing PR strategies; liaising
with and answering enquiries from media, organizing events, managing potential crisis
situations
 Supply chain management: manage the movement of goods, storage of goods, work-in-
process inventory, especially for export-import company.

Iv – conclusion
Even though Đại Khánh is a startup company with considerably smaller budget in which
some of the functions are still being improved, it did provide me a good look on marketing
responsibilities from the client side and the export-import business under the current market
demand and government regulations.
Having the opportunity to working alongside with the marketing team, I got some
interesting and diverse experience not-doing-just-one-job. Things shifted and changed everyday,
from doing marketing online, to help making proposals, to event planning, to administration and
translating. All of these tasks help with a more comprehensive look at the business world and
which jobs my skills, personalities are suitable for.
Current observation lets me see that: Strict government regulations regarding special
consumption are limiting the imports of a lot of goods. While this benefits the government
budget, these rules weakens the consumer purchasing power and options regarding foreign
brands. Consequently, this lessens the imports from countries that lie outside our common
trading zone. However, with a market of almost 10 millions people in Ho Chi Minh city that
request a diversity of product brands, export-import industry still has a lot of potentials in strive.
While startup companies such as one like Đại Khánh usually build a marketing for cost-
saving and flexibility. With a growing brand and stronger budget, it is advised that outsourcing
this activity to a reputable agency usually brings better effects, this can be found in big
companies of food and beverage industry (Heineken, Coca-Cola, McDonald, etc.).

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v – references
Mr. Robert Kajarlainen – Founder, General Manager of Đại Khánh Ltd. Co.
Contact: robert.kajarlainen@dasiak.com
Mr. Claudio Kajarlainen – Co-founder of Đại Khánh Ltd. Co
Contact: claudio.kajarlainen@dasiak.com

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vi – appendices
Appendix A

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Appendix b

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Appendix b

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