Recently, Brand Finance and IAA (International Advertising Association) released the first report on the sustainability perception index of the 500 most valuable brands in the world. According to the report, Viettel Group ranks 137th in the world and is the only Vietnamese enterprise in this list. Among global telecommunications businesses, Viettel ranks No. 1 in Asia and No. 14 globally. According to Brand Finance, Viettel's value of sustainability perceptions reached 1.05 billion USD.

With this ranking, for the first time, brands can see the financial value associated with a reputation for sustainability.

As part of the analysis, Brand Finance also evaluated how sustainable each brand is perceived to be, allocating a ‘Sustainability Perceptions Score’. This strips back the impact of revenues to see which brands consumers think are the most committed to sustainability. In the telecommunications industry, Viettel has a higher sustainability perceptions score than big companies like Verizon, Deutsche Telekom, China Mobile... ranked 2nd in the world and highest in Asia with 5.31 points.

The report also pointed out that the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on changing consumer perception of brands. Sustainability is increasingly becoming a priority for consumers when choosing a brand, and as a result, perception of sustainability has a significant impact on brand valuation. Consumer expectations on brands have shifted from “do no harm” to “must make a positive impact”.

In 2021, Viettel announced its re-branding with a commitment to its vision of "Caring Innovators" and the mission of "Pioneering to create digital society". Viettel's goal in its fourth development phase is to build a digital government so that people can be better served; digital economy to make people richer; cybersecurity to keep people safer; Digital society to make people happier.

Following commitment to sustainable development, at the Mobile World Congress MWC 2023, Viettel also sent a message to the world "Technology with heart ", referring to the popularization of technology so that people can enjoy its benefits, bringing a better life to the community and the world.

Method to decide the Sustainability Perceptions Index

 

Sustainability Drive Score: Identified by using analytical tools to assess the importance of sustainability in the industry. This point shows how important sustainability is to consumers in a particular industry

Telecoms 8.7%, Insurance 8.0%, Oil & Gas: 8.0%, Bank 6.8%, Supermarket 12.6%, Media 10.1%, Beverage 13.7%.....

 

Sustainability Perception Score: calculated using Finance's latest Global Brand Value Monitoring data - shows how consumers perceive a brand's sustainability (removing the impacts of revenue)

To determine this, a series of survey questions related to the perception of brand sustainability were asked, for example: How do you think the brand is making efforts to protect the environment and support for communities and social development? Respondents will be selected 5 answers corresponding to the following points: Sustainable leader (10), has taken actions (5), has made efforts but can still do more (2) , doing but little effort (1), no effort to become a sustainable business (0). The average of these scores will be used to assess the sustainability of the country (maximum 10 points).

This score is then combined with revenue to form a sustainability perception score. This score can be considered as a KPI to manage the perception of long-term sustainability.

Here is an example of how to calculate the Perceived Sustainability Value of a brand in the insurance industry