Marketing Management - Individual assignment

Tong Nguyen Hong Viet

EMBA14 Class A
The company
On 22/12/2003, Military Petrochemical Joint Stock Company MIPEC was established following the decision of
the Ministry of Defense, consisting of 3 founding shareholders, all active in special fields and conditional
business: Integrated Import-Export Corporation Van Xuan - Ministry of Defense (VAXUCO), Vietnam Petroleum
Company (Petrolimex), Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MBBank).
MIPEC is an enterprise manufacturing lubricants, importing petroleum, offering dockside warehouse services,
and started to join in construction and real estate business in 2008.

Product innovations in recent years

1

Project
Mipec Office,
183 Nguyen
Luong Bang
Str, Hanoi
Mipec Tower,
229 Tay Son
Str, Hanoi

Status
Operated
since
Q3/2011

Features
Project area: 760m2 - 15 floors.
Currently rented by Vietin Bank
Total investment: 158 billion VND

Product advances & innovations

Very first project, entering
new business, single purpose
building

Operated
since 2011

MIPEC
RIVERSIDE,
No. 2 Long
Bien District,
Hanoi

Shopping
center is
expected to
open in Q2
and
apartments to
be handed
over to the
residents in
Q3/2016

Project area: 24.462m2, including 01

office tower (from floor 6 26), a large
scale shopping mall (5 floors) and 02
apartment towers.
The apartments are located from level 6 to
level 25, with an area of 82m2 - 225m2,
including 2 - 4 bedrooms.
12 luxury duplex penthouses with an area
of 250m2 - 500m2 are located on 26 and
27 floors.
Two - floor basement with an area of
20,000m2 can accommodate 600 cars and
thousands of motorcycles.
2011: Commercial buildings was put into
operation
2012: Handover of apartments to owners
Total investment: 2.100 billion VND
Land area: 184.770m2, including 02
towers of 35 floors with 817 apartments
with the area from 69m2 - 150.49m2, 2- 3
bedrooms
Smart and modern design, make the most
of the area in each room, windows,
balconies and natural light, so the
apartments are particularly airy, flexible,
convenient.
Full of modern equipment and utility
systems serving life like commercial

Multi complex project,

targeting different markets
(serviced office and
commercial space; apartment),
as mixing land use is
considered a factor to improve
the lifestyle
Qualified contractors
Completed all legal
procedures and financial
obligations to the state as
prescribed by law (investment
certificates + Building Permit)
Customers sign contracts to
buy apartments directly with
the project developer, not
through agency.
Located in a prime location
Moderate-budget apartments,
diverse options in the area of
use and design for consumers
with real demand for a living
space rather than for
investment and saving
purpose.
High-standard services (higher
monthly service fee applied)

Mipec Hotel,
62 Tran Phu
Str, Nha Trang

Housing
project for
soldiers in
Kien Hung Ha Dong
District

Construction
started in
May 2013

Construction
started in
Q1/2016

centers, parking and community areas

Land area: 4570 m2
Total floor area (excluding basement):
26,905m2, consisting of 26 floors and 01
basement
5-star hotel
07 25-floor towers with 1.564 apartments
and 14.600m2 commercial floor
19 duplex villas
28 town houses
65% of the project to be sold at
discounted price for soldiers, professional
military personnel and defense workers,
officers by the Ministry of Defense.
The rest 35% for commercial consumers.

Expanding to totally new

market

More options in the type of

accommodation and the area
to suit all kinds of demand on
living spaces of Vietnamese
households.
Well-connected districts,
replacement of fences, walls
and barriers with bike paths,
pedestrianized streets and
high-quality public spaces
Put more focus on social
infrastructure, such as
kindergartens and schools,
health care centers because
these are critical factors
affecting the decisions of
customers about where to live

Marketing innovations exploited in 2015

Besides, product innovations in recent years mentioned above, responding effectively to trends and competition,
adapting to customers changing needs, the company also carried a number of marketing innovations in order to
anticipate new trends in attracting customers and pushing the companys income.
Attracting Anchor Tenants
Agreements with anchor tenants are an important ingredient of a successful and sustainable commercial space.
Anchor tenants are attractive to both landlords and prospective tenants. Anchor tenants offer landlords longer term
deals with less flexibility. Their size can safeguard jobs and leverage opportunities for immediate growth. The
international profile and prestige of an anchor can be attractive to other tenants.
For the case of Mipec Tower 229 Tay Son, the company had to rebrand the shopping mall in 2012 but still could
not success until long-term leasing contract signed with Lottemart, now occupies four out of five floors of the
mall. Currently, for the Long Bien Project, the focus has been put more on big potential tenants like Pico,
supermarkets, fitness centers

Brochure, Outdoor Property Advertising & Signage

The company has paid billion VND on advertising its brand and project image through various channels, from
property brochure to the great outdoors, with site hoarding, billboards and more to bring the property, literally to
the streets in Hanoi, Hai Phong, Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh city, increasing awareness before, during and even
after the buildings completion.
Websites
Besides the companys website (mipec.vn), each project has its own website:
-

http://mipectower.com.vn/
http://riverside.mipec.vn

Consumers now often see innovation as something that adds value to a company or to its products. Used properly,
innovation can give the company a commercial advantage since the customers may be willing to pay more for a
well-designed, novel and innovative product or service, rather than choosing a cheaper, but less exciting rival.
It has been over expected success for Mipec Riverside project while all apartments sold out just 3 months after the
launching event and selling was raised to nearly 40 million VND/m2 while initial price was only around 30
million VND/m2.

Factors that contributed to successful innovation

Senior management willingness to take risk and see value in absurdity and their visible involvement are two main
factors that contributed to the companys successful product and marketing innovations in recent years.
To a state-owned company, changes are high risks. However, in this case, many innovative changes has been
implemented in recent years since senior management really eager to take risks, moving toward in order to create
proactive competitive advantage. Besides, from the Chairman to senior managers, all take close watch to every
step of innovation. The chairman even operates weekly meetings with project management team and marketing
team to catch on the most up-to-date progress and results.
However, there are still obstacles for the implementation of the innovations such as not everybody is on board,
skill shortages and problems of competence. Some employees who have worked in state-owned companys
working environment for too long find it very difficult to move forward and adapt to rapidly changing
environment, thus, it is necessary to motivate everyone to involve in the innovation process at every stage.

Suggested marketing innovations

As website becomes increasingly important for companies as a marketing channel in the information boom era,
the company should pay more attention to the websites content and the order of it on search engine sites,
especially Google.
Fully interactive 3D Digital & Virtual Tours of commercial real estate, office space, or warehouse space might be
employed so that fully immerse interactive digital showings can put customer in the space with accurate floor
plans and design. These 3D virtual tours can be accessed from anywhere through the web and mobile. This idea
brings the companys brand identity to life in an entertaining, creative way. Itll definitely set you a part from your
competitors.
Besides, for now, when customers try to search for the companys websites on Google, there are many results
come up, however, those websites of the company are far below real estate agencies sites, causing confusion to
customers. Therefore, more investment on search engine optimization is needed to push the order of those sites
up, easier to reach potential customers.