Advertising and promotion here is a strange thing. Yesterday at Vincom Megamall in Thao Dien the centre advertised upto 100% off sale.. which would suggest to the average westerner it's free. I asked one girl promoting the discount what is free and she say you don't understand... Have to buy something to get something free. I tried to explain the sign needed to mention subject to terms and conditions or buy one get one free. Alien concept that 100% discount means something is free.
Vinfast in same mall showing off the very nice Vinfast SA20 Lux to foreigner who say never heard of it... Who'll it be reliable. I told the guy it's a BMW X5 platform and mechanicals. Salesman almost cry and so now it is not. Show him company website showing the BMW link... Foreigner walks off. Power of association with BMW would be a plus point and probably hooked the customer.
Next up... Gadget shop, cannot remember the name. No customers, two staff sit playing a playstation game and store manager playing on his phone, when I walk in all three jump up.. and proceed to follow me around the store like a shadow.
Moving on to Estella over the road and go to Planet Sports. Again followed round by bored staff, who when I said why are you following me reply we are told to do so to help customer. I said I know what I am looking for and where, if I need help I will call you over... She still follow me.
Same on digital advertising... HR staff for any company who advertise on linkedin position. Required to send email with CV and get reply only for Vietnamese... That's fine but when linkedin is a global platform surely they know others will submit ? So why not state eligibility on the post ?
Final one.. back to Estella, promotion and free gift from kindycity advertising lessons at weekend practicing both languages especially designed for Saturday.
When I asked how it was especially for Saturday they looked puzzled....
Even after 6 months here I'm still surprised at some of the things I see.
Crazy World of Advertising in Vietnam
Looking toi change ISP/TV provider, fed up with slow internet FPT, but want BBC programs BBC NEWS, LIFESTYLE & KNOWLEGE. Lady in apartment block recommends Viettel & sends me a link to their combo packs. Family Pack 2 suits me perfect. Goes along to the Viettel shop to get it & pay 6 months advance get 1 month free!! 
The sales guy gives me their Brochure & they dont have 3 combo packs just 1 & NO BBC programs on it. So I said where BBC, he said "NO HAVE" I say "but your internet advert says you have 3 family packs & pack 2 & 3 have BBC".............he says again...."NO HAVE. WTF is that all about. Lived here long enough so it should not surprise me!
https://www.viettelhochiminh.vn/tin-tuc … ily-2.html
Yesterday GF contacted VNPT (highly recommended for fast internet connection by neighbors).........we want VNPT internet connection but want to keep FPT TV channels.....can/no can??........answer CAN.
So this morning the tech came & installed the VNPT internet connection!!
1.....Internet connection every bit as slow as FPT
2.....No FPT TV channels & cant have them he said & then proceeded to show me BBC news on Youtube.
3.....Told Tech to take away VNPT & connect back FPT.........."no can, you need FPT come re connect" ..........WTF!
Its odd, they advertise services that dont exist. Without using a VPN most BBC services are blocked.. BBC iplayer the on ej woild eant most is blocked... there is a work around but just makes life more complicated.
Viettel box for TV channels - most are jn vietnames, thats fine i accept that, boxmovies etc are in english, worst case just use 123movies.
Best one was planetsports, hate ealking round their store being followed and notice they list on lazada at cheaper prices. Saw some trainers i liked at a good price and checked my size and asked it they are genuine, yes theh are.... sk taheh are rewl adidas and not copies from china, again yes. So ordered them... arrived two days later and clearly fake, so walked back the locAl store and ask them why... ahhh have to come into the store to buy to make sure you get real ones.
Jlgarbutt wrote:Its odd, they advertise services that dont exist. Without using a VPN most BBC services are blocked.. BBC iplayer the on ej woild eant most is blocked... there is a work around but just makes life more complicated.
FPT TV give you BBC World News, BBC Earth & BBC Lifestyle no problem.
Mind you BBC World News is going down hill fast, prefer DW English, used to be back in the day BBC News or the world service was the one everyone watched or listened too for sort of un biased news, think them days are long gone sadly!
Jlgarbutt wrote:Its odd, they advertise services that dont exist. Without using a VPN most BBC services are blocked.. BBC iplayer the on ej woild eant most is blocked... there is a work around but just makes life more complicated.
goodolboy wrote:FPT TV give you BBC World News, BBC Earth & BBC Lifestyle no problem.
There's no blocking on BBC channels with FPT. The tenant on the floor above us just had it installed on July 1st. Without VPN, he has the BBC channels that goodolboy mentioned above, plus TV5Monde (French News), other regular English-speaking movie channels, and 50MB Wifi. All for 235K/m. The 7th month is free when 6 payments are paid in advance.
As each apartment has 2 TVs, his FPT is attached to one TV. The other TV is with VNPT, so is the existing WiFi included in the rent. IOW, he has 2 WiFi networks and 2 TV providers in the same apartment. So do we, but we have VNPT and Viettel.
with the FPT pack I have, there are 25 English speaking channels, 10 of which ( BBC, CNN, CNBC, DW, FBNC, CNA, NHK, ABC, FRANCE 24 & ARIRANG) are news/finance, 3 of which are sport & I am very happy with FPT TV.
My gripe with FPT has been that even although we have the super 60 package the internet connection was very slow & sometimes in the evening it was so slow it would not open my Schwab US trading account for example, it just kept timing out.
However this morning when FPT got disconnected & then re connected by the engineer in the afternoon there seems to be a vast improvement with the internet speed (fingers crossed)
To get BBC iPlayer and access to the TV shows you have to use a VPN.
Somedays trying to access the BBC news website wont load certain stories... BBC news app a little better, but there does seem to be some content that gets blocked by the mobile network.
Ahhh often get better internet speed if you disconnect for a few hours and get assigned a new IP address
The world of fakes and scam and endless spam emails. Plenty of idiots around, who spend money on such.
15 years here and I still not understand, that such fakes and scams. They make me just walk an extra mile to bypass such companies and products
Articles to help you in your expat project in Saigon
If you are looking for an affordable destination with beautiful landscapes, culture, and delicious cuisine ...
A wide range of sports and recreational activities are available to locals and expatriates in Vietnam. Gyms ...
Located in the very southwest of Vietnam, Phu Quoc Island, also known as Pearl Island, forms part of the Kien ...
As a tourists’ destination, Ha Long has plenty of activities for travellers of all age groups.
If you are traveling to Vietnam, sampling all the delicious cuisine should be a top priority. Read on to discover ...
We know there's a lot of attention on the drinking culture in Hanoi, but what about the options for a healthy ...
