Extraordinary Endeavors in Turbulent Times: Asian Innovation, Inclusion, and Impact during COVID-19

ASIA BUSINESS COUNCIL HONG KONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 2 1 DatVietVAC Group Holdings (Vietnam) Extraordinary Endeavors in Turbulent Times 900,000 interactions on posts by Vietnamese celebrities introducing BlueZone, giving download instructions, and encouraging their fans to use the app. DatVietVAC also ran short clips about BlueZone on its proprietary content channels, with an estimated reach of more than 300 million impressions on Facebook and 2 billion on YouTube. DatVietVAC stands proud to have contributed to efforts to make Vietnam safer during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its support of the nation-wide rollout of BlueZone reflected the ambition to change how Vietnamese people consumed digital content. Not only did the company believe it could use digital media for good, via social platforms like YouTube and Facebook, it was also taking a giant step toward becoming that type of platform itself. Launching Online Streaming Service VieON Over the past four years, DatVietVAC had begun an operation to transform itself from a leading media company to a leading media technology company. Having seen the rise of over-the-top (OTT) players in other markets, such as Netflix or Amazon Prime, DatVietVAC saw a gap in Vietnam. To meet the demand, it began developing a streaming platform called VieON that integrates over 100 TV channels and provides 100,000 hours of copyrighted content. What the company did not realize at the beginning was how COVID-19 would speed up that timeline. Indeed, COVID-19 and the uncertainty surrounding it was a unique opportunity for DatVietVAC to advance its plans. In June 2020, amidst the global public health crisis, Thanh made the decision quickly to launch VieON, even before a formal arrangement had been reached with its partner BCG Digital Ventures. The VieON team started working to meet the new release timeline immediately; it adapted plans, moved the launch event online, and organized a promotional concert in under three weeks. On the first day of launch, VieON became the most downloaded app both on Android and iOS platforms in Vietnam. Part of the appeal was the one-stop-shop DatVietVAC mobilized Vietnamese celebrities to promote BlueZone