Brand Vietnam is coming your way: AGI 2025 is a defining moment for the country’s creative future
The organisers of AGI Vietnam reflect on the fast-evolving country and reshaping perceptions of ‘Made in Vietnam’ from a production label into a brand of global influence and world-class makers.
This November, Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon to those of us who live here) will host AGI Open – the annual gathering of the Alliance Graphique Internationale, an association of the world’s leading graphic designers. With more than 500 members from nearly 50 countries, it’s the first time the organisation is bringing its meetings and conference to Southeast Asia. The participants will arrive in a country on the brink of something extraordinary.
Vietnam is not just riding a wave of economic growth or manufacturing scale – it’s approaching a moment of redefinition. A shift from being the workshop for the world to a maker of brands that matter, in engineering, AI, coffee and sport. Where commerce blossoms, cultural exports often follow and Vietnam’s soft power is bubbling up around the globe – from award-winning films at Cannes to fashion worn by Gen-Z tastemakers such as Billie Eilish.
The resources are here. The talent is here. The market is young, savvy and involved. What’s needed now is intent. The question is: who will get it right? Who will cut through the noise and “make it” as a stand-out brand?
Take Highlands Coffee. Established in the 1990s, it now has nearly 1,000 shops nationwide and is poised to go global. But size alone doesn’t equate to world-class. To lead, Highlands must tell a story rooted in origin, culture and craft. Vietnam produces a vast share of the world’s coffee and the label is investing heavily in elevating farm-to-cup quality. The brand can rival Starbucks by being unapologetically Vietnamese.
But the path isn’t guaranteed. There’s another, less-appealing but commonly driven road, where marketing outpaces product and hype is mistaken for trust. The world has yet to make up its mind about “Made in Vietnam”, so business and industry have an opportunity – a responsibility, even – to shape the country’s reputation abroad in a positive way.
That shift is already underway. At Rice, the studio we founded in Saigon in 2011, we talk about “Brand Vietnam” almost daily. Marou Chocolate was our first client, and for years, it felt like a lonely ambassador for Brand Vietnam on the world’s supermarket shelves. But a decade later, far more brands are on the way. Our work today comes from Vietnamese founders across industries new and old, from blockchain and sports to steel and mining. Factory owners realise that building their own brands offers better margins, but beyond that, prestige. And fortunately for Vietnam, the lessons from Japan, South Korea and China are clear: combine rich resources and distinctive culture with disciplined brand building. In an era when consumers care about provenance and understand the fragility of supply chains, achieving that will make us hard to beat.
When the AGI wraps up in November and our peers head back to New York, London, Zürich and Tokyo, they will be taking home more than just conference notes and tins of Vietnamese cacao. They’ll take a first-hand impression of a country redefining itself and a new generation of creative and commercial talent that’s ready to lead rather than imitate. If we get it right, the world won’t just look out for Brand Vietnam – they’ll look up to it.
