What Vietnam merch programmes are doing that UK teams can copy

O’Donovan is CEO of ODM Group, a promotional merchandise agency based in Ho Chi Minh City. In Merch Magazine on 6 July 2026 he set out patterns he sees locally and said the opportunity for UK teams is not to reinvent them, but to adapt what is already working, to local audiences and local budgets. That is the brief. These are Asia observations. They are not UK results.

Four named examples from that piece are worth stealing this quarter.

**Make the stand do a job.** In busy retail, Nescafé built a sampling booth shaped like a coffee mug. Instantly readable. Point of sale as part of the experience, not a banner behind the table. O’Donovan’s point is that modest changes in structure or storytelling can do this without a large budget. A UK merchandiser can ask the same question of the next sampling brief: would a stranger know the brand from ten metres, with the logo turned off?

**Let the gift do the selling.** Gift with purchase is common and often lazy. In Vietnam, O’Donovan has seen lower-cost items — children’s gifts bundled with family products — used to influence the decision, not decorate it. The impact, he says, comes less from value and more from relevance. If you are briefing FMCG or a retail bundle in the UK, name the end user of the gift before you name the product.

**Give people something to do.** At a trade environment, ODM saw crochet kits paired with QR-linked tutorials, so the giveaway became an activity over time. Assembly, customisation or guided use extends life and recall. A UK team can copy the mechanic without copying crochet: a kit that gets finished at home beats a tote that gets left under the table.

**Turn loyalty into an object.** Evian partnered with Snoopy for a limited on-pack promotion in Vietnam’s 7-Eleven stores. Buy bottles, collect stamps, redeem an exclusive Snoopy tote. Buy, collect, redeem. Repeat purchase plus a reason to come back. Membership and retail programmes in the UK already have points. O’Donovan’s observation is that a physical reward can make that progress visible.

He also notes that recycled polyester and FSC-certified parts are showing up as standard on everyday products at Vietnam trade shows, not as a premium extra. For a sustainability brief, that is an argument for talking to the supply chain earlier, not for claiming a UK mill has already made the same shift.

None of this needs a new category. It needs a tighter brief: POS that can be read at a glance, a gift that matches the buyer, a product people use after the event, a loyalty mechanic you can hold. Copy the pattern. Do not pretend the campaign already ran in Manchester.