Once-famous Brands Struggle For Revival

Many decades-old brands have been revivied

At its 2018 shareholders’ meeting, An Duong Thao Dien Investment & Trade JSC, the new owner of Co Ba (Ms Ba) soap, unexpectedly announced a plan to revive the once-famous brand.

The board of directors said the company is resuming production and preparing a distribution network to launch products soon.

The soap with green color and the image of a woman with a bun once dominated the domestic market and was exported to Laos, Cambodia, Hong Kong and some African countries.

Some analysts doubt the feasibility of the Co Ba brand, partially because the current owner of the brand doesn’t have experience in consumer goods manufacturing. An Duong Thao Dien is a real estate developer.

Da Lan toothpaste, another once-famous brand, has also undergone a thorny path to revive.

The brand once dominated the domestic market in 1993-1994, but then disappeared just several years after teaming up with Colgate Palmolive to set up a joint venture. It came back to the market after the joint venture ended. 

ICC, the owner of Da Lan brand, once brought Da Lan toothpaste and other ICC products to rural markets in mobile sales campaigns. Many people bought Da Lan to encourage the manufacturer. 

However, Da Lan still cannot regain its heyday. The people, who liked Da Lan in the past, now favor Unilever and Colgate products

Some days ago, Trinh Thanh Nhon, ICC’s CEO, said at a workshop that his company is entering the stage of ‘creating a future for sustainable development’.

He said after organizing the retail network, ICC is now focusing on investing in modern technology, considering 2018 as the year of a new development period.

ICC has begun renovating machines and equipment, installing automatic production lines, and using modern management software and IT in market supervision.

Thorakao, a Vietnamese cosmetics brand, is another example of patience and persistence. Lan Hao Cosmetics, the owner of Thorakao, competes with many foreign cosmetics companies which control the domestic market. 

However, the company has never given up. 

According to Lan Hao’s chair Huynh Ky Tran, Thorakao still ‘lives well’ because it has loyal clients – low income earners who love Thorakao because the products are cheap, artists, and Viet Kieu (overseas Vietnamese) who want products made of natural materials.

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Kim Chi