Disclaimer:  I am no expert in branding.

This is the new Vietnam tourism logo for the 2011-2015.  Reading from Very Vietnam website.

The few who let their opinions known, don’t “feel” the new logo and tagline.  At least not yet.

Coming out with a logo/tagline goes hand-in-hand with how it will be promoted.  So it still remains to be seen how this will all pan out for Vietnam Tourism.  I’m kinda curious how they will go about promoting Vietnam to be a different kind (I assume) of oriental country.  How will they set Vietnam apart?  For me as a tourist, there are 3 elements that sets a country apart:  people (and their way of doing things), architecture, and food.  I have only been in other 4 oriental countries so far (Thailand, Malaysia, Hongkong and the Philippines) and Vietnam’s uniqueness in all 3 elements is apparent.  Hope that the “difference” Vietnam Tourism will be promoting is substantial and executed well.

Checking out the other entries for the tourism campaign, I found Vietnam:  The Rising Jewel a close second.

I think the use of the conical hat as a jewel is ingenious.  By putting in the tagline, the whole thing was tied up in one neat package.  It makes sense.  Again, I am no expert but I would still have tweaked the above entry a wee bit.  First, they could have done away with “rising” in the tagline.  For me, it would have been better if the country just claims to be The Jewel or the The Oriental Jewel — which sounds more positive.  If you check all the other taglines of the other countries, all focused on “claiming” or “being the adjective” such as wonderful, amazing, truly Asia, incredible, and beautiful.  Second, the bejeweled conical hat would have really looked like a jewel if there was a mirror image or shadow of it at the bottom in a lighter shade — like a diamond.  Lastly, the font face doesn’t seem striking enough.  I kinda understand where the font came from.  It’s the usual oriental-type of writing, but I dunno it just doesn’t work for me.    A friend, who is a branding professional, pointed out that Very Vietnam’s (the website) font face is much more striking than any of the other fonts used as shown in the entries.

I hope Vietnam Tourism uses the winning entry well because as a foreigner living in Vietnam, this country truly has its unique charm, and A STAR in it’s own right.

P.S.  Sana hindi ito maging isyu tulad sa Pilipinas.