National brand must be built from cultural internal strength: A fulcrum for the national image to step out into the world

To have momentum in any field, there is also a fulcrum for leverage, as Archimedes once said "Give me a fulcrum, I will lift the earth up".

Culture and art need a fulcrum, which is the selection criteria, to create national brands of international stature, in their own way. Currently, there are still no specific criteria for national brands in the field of culture and art.

What measure for a national brand

The Vietnam National Brand Program (Vietnam Value) was initiated in 2003 under Decision No. 253/2003/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister, jointly implemented by the Ministry of Trade (now the Ministry of Industry and Trade).

The criteria for selecting Vietnam's National Brand (NTG) have been regulated and applied since the promulgation of Decision 30/2019/QD-TTg, Circular 33/2019/TT-BCT (in 2019) and amended and supplemented (Circular 25/2021) with 3 core criteria: Quality - Innovation - Pioneering Capacity.

Accordingly, many criteria are set for goods manufacturing enterprises, to have products that achieve national brands, it is necessary to achieve over 650 points/1,000 points, including many ISO certifications on food safety, environment, product packaging...

Since 2021, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has had working sessions with relevant units on building criteria for determining national brand products in the fields of culture and art. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has worked with leaders of departments including: Department of Performing Arts, Department of Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibitions, Department of Cinema, Copyright Office.

In 2021, a number of units in the field of culture and art identified national brand products in their fields such as: Fine arts with the Project to build and promote the national brand "Vietnamese Lacquer Art" in the period 2020-2030, Photography with the Project to build the national brand "Vietnam International Photography Festival" in the period 2020-2030... In the field of cinema, international film festivals in Vietnam have been considered and evaluated for selection of national brands.

These proposals are based on the tasks and solutions to attract and support investment of Circular 33/2019/TT-BCT - in the Vietnam National Brand program of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

However, according to the reporter's investigation, up to now, the criteria for selecting the National Brand in the field of culture and art are still in the process of research and completion.

Talking to Lao Dong reporters about this, Mr. Nguyen Van Tan - Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Cinema Association - gave his opinion: "I believe that cinema, performing arts, fashion... are very specific industries, and cannot be applied according to national brand selection criteria such as businesses, units producing goods, consumer goods. Art is dedicated to the public in a different way, and cannot be equated with consumer goods.

Criteria for each art field

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Tan, it is necessary to have a detailed, methodical, and specific plan for national brand selection criteria for each separate art field, because cinema is different from fashion, performing arts are different from cultural tourism.

Director Ham Tran of the movie "Death in the Air" who studied in the US for a long time, said that cinematic works in Vietnam in terms of sound and image quality are still far behind international standards.

“We currently have to rent very small sound studios when making films, lacking modern technology. While in the US, sound processing rooms can be as large as a cinema with full of state-of-the-art equipment. Many Vietnamese film crews today still have to go to Thailand to rent out post-production. With a film work, to become a national brand and step out into the world, first of all, it is necessary to meet international standards in terms of technical parameters. Then, content, script, story, acting will be discussed...” - director Ham Tran said.

Director Ham Tran agrees with Mr. Nguyen Van Tan - Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Cinema Association - cinema and arts fields, unlike ordinary goods, there needs to be a separate set of criteria when considering national brands.

The biggest goal of the cultural industry is to bring Vietnamese culture into the world, promoting the national image.

I think it is necessary to consider the criteria of technology, parameters, spread, cultural beauty, national identity, rather than considering ISO certificates for product packaging or food safety" - director Ham Tran shared.

Dr. Bui Nhu Lai - Rector of Hanoi University of Theater and Cinema - said that to have specific, detailed, and clear criteria for selecting national brands in the field of culture, experts, relevant agencies, the Department of Performing Arts, the Department of Cinema... need to sit down, research, and calculate, to have reasonable evaluation criteria for unique products of culture and art.

Standing from his perspective, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hoai Son - Member of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture and Society - said: "To have a national brand for culture, it must be considered a large-scale social organization project, not a communication campaign. The national brand is not born from slogans, but from the nation's storytelling capacity that is "industrialized": Creativity, production, distribution, standards, and accumulation of trust.

According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bui Hoai Son, to build a brand, develop a brand and elevate it to a national brand reaching out to the world.

To have a sustainable brand, there must be clear "play rules": Intellectual property rights protection, strict copyright enforcement, standardization of quality standards, and transparency of post-inspection mechanisms" - Mr. Son said.