With the OCOP program, this change poses a big challenge, but at the same time, it is also a great opportunity to restructure the local specialty development strategy in the long term, regional linkages and towards a wider market.
If in the past, an OCOP product was associated with a commune or village name, now, with the expansion of boundaries and the rearrangement of the area, localities are forced to consider linking to create strong brands that represent the whole region.
In fact, the situation of "each commune having many products" is causing the OCOP brand to be at risk of being thinning, lacking highlights and making it difficult to make a difference in the market.
The style of spreading out and dividing equally into small administrative units has come to be replaced by a filtered mindset, selecting truly typical products with high competitiveness and supported by a complete value chain.
That is also the reason why after the merger, localities need to proactively link according to industry, according to production space and according to a centralized promotion strategy.
For example, the Dong Thap - Tien Giang area after the merger can become a true "fruit district" if it knows how to coordinate the crop season, share raw material areas and unify common brands for key products such as mango, durian, star apple, longan, etc.
At that time, consumers will not only remember a quaint commune name, but will be impressed with an entire land with outstanding fruits, organized for professional production and consumption.
The post-merger link also opens up the possibility of cooperation in promotion work. Instead of each commune setting up its own booth, making its own label, and running its own small-scale media, localities can completely share the trade promotion infrastructure, appear on e-commerce platforms together, and participate in large thematic fairs with a unified identification set.
Thus, communication efficiency will be higher, brand image will also be stronger and more professional. Most importantly, the participation of provincial authorities in the role of regional coordination.
Localities after the merger need to promptly re-plan the OCOP industry, identify key product groups as representatives and build a long-term promotion strategy associated with the new characteristics of the expanded land. In addition, it is necessary to invest in digital transformation platforms, OCOP digital maps and centralized data systems.
From a rural development program, OCOP is facing the opportunity to become a new economic - cultural symbol of regions, to reach larger markets, both domestic and foreign.
