Ask any Vietnamese foodie and they’ll tell you: a great bowl of phở isn’t just soup. It’s a delicate balance of broth, herbs, noodles, and protein. Each layer contributes to something greater than the sum of its parts.
Now imagine your marketing measurement strategy like that bowl of phở. When done right, it’s layered with meaningful data, rich with insights, and just right for guiding smart decisions. But when the mix is off? You end up with murky reporting, confused stakeholders, and wasted budget, kind of like oversalted broth. Let’s not go there.
In Vietnam’s fragmented media ecosystem where Facebook, Zalo, TikTok, and local retail still share the same dining table, marketers need more than just tools. They need a full recipe. So, let’s break it down like a perfect bowl of phở.
The Broth: The Holistic Measurement That Holds Everything Together
The first thing anyone notices in phở is the broth: clear, rich, and full of depth. It carries the essence of every ingredient and ties the whole bowl together. In marketing, holistic measurement plays the same role: it’s the foundation that connects your fragmented data sources into one unified, insightful view.
But what exactly is holistic measurement?
Holistic measurement refers to an integrated approach to tracking and analyzing performance across the entire customer journey. It doesn’t just look at one channel or one touchpoint. Instead, it combines:
- Online and offline activity (from digital ads to in-store purchases)
- Paid, owned, and earned media (from Facebook ads to organic TikTok buzz)
- Customer data and media data (first-party CRM data, third-party insights, platform performance)
The goal? To provide a complete picture of how your marketing efforts, across all platforms and stages, are influencing real-world outcomes.
Why It Matters in Vietnam
Vietnamese consumers are highly digital but still strongly connected to physical retail. According to DataReportal 2024, the country has 78 million internet users and nearly 73 million social media users, yet offline retail still dominates in many categories like FMCG, home goods, and fashion.
That means a consumer might:
- Discover your product on TikTok
- Click through to your website from Zalo
- Visit your shop in Binh Thanh, HCMC
- Then leave a review on Facebook
If your measurement system only tracks the digital ad click, you’re missing most of the journey. Holistic tools help you see the whole thing, and act on it.
What Holistic Measurement Looks Like in Practice
A strong holistic measurement system might include:
- Cross-channel attribution dashboards that blend data from Meta, TikTok, Google, and Zalo
- Store visit tracking linked to digital exposure via device signals or loyalty data
- CRM integration that connects ad impressions to real customer actions
- Unified KPIs that give both performance marketers and brand teams a shared view of success
It’s not about adding more data. It’s about connecting the right data, cutting through silos, and turning complexity into clarity.
When done right, holistic measurement doesn’t just show what happened. It reveals what’s working, what’s wasting your budget, and what’s quietly outperforming expectations. That’s the richness you want in your broth, not something cloudy, but clear, layered, and deeply satisfying.
The Noodles: MMM and MTA to Add Substance
Now that your broth is set, it’s time to drop in the noodles. The core structure that makes your measurement strategy satisfying.
Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) gives you a wide-angle view. It shows how each channel contributes to outcomes while adjusting for external influences like Tet promotions, weather shifts, or economic changes. That’s crucial in a market where digital ad spending hit $1.29 billion in 2024, projected to grow at 14.4% annually (TechSci Research).
Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) zooms in closer, distributing credit across every step of the customer journey. In a country where online shopping frequency doubled year-over-year (Vietstock 2024), knowing what touchpoints lead to conversion is key, not just the final click, but the story that got them there.
Together, MMM and MTA offer both structure and depth: broad trends, fine details, and the insights to shape both budget and creative decisions.
The Herbs: Experimentation and Local Flavor
No bowl of phở is complete without herbs. They may seem like garnish, but they complete the experience with a local signature. Likewise, in marketing measurement, local insight and experimentation aren’t just nice-to-haves, they’re what turn a standard strategy into one that truly connects.
Vietnam’s media consumption isn’t cut-and-paste from global trends. Facebook, Zalo, and YouTube dominate the social landscape, each playing a unique role in the consumer journey (Decision Lab). Meanwhile, TikTok Shop has emerged as a commerce powerhouse, now contributing 20% of Southeast Asia’s GMV (Feedforce), a stat that would’ve seemed wild just two years ago.
And it doesn’t stop at platforms. Vietnamese businesses are also stepping up their game on the tech front: 78% have adopted AI tools in their marketing, showing a clear shift toward data-driven experimentation and personalization (RMIT Vietnam).
But here’s where the real flavor comes in: cultural and sentiment analysis. It’s no longer enough to measure what people do, you need to understand how they feel. What emotions are driving engagement for the Northens, and how it differs in the South? How does cultural context shape responses to your messaging? Whether it’s excitement during Tet (Lunar New Year), community pride in local campaigns, or sensitivity around price and value during economic shifts. These emotional signals can radically impact campaign performance.
So, what does this mean for your measurement strategy?
It means you need to move beyond surface-level metrics and embrace measurement that’s responsive, local, and emotionally intelligent:
- Test culturally tailored creatives on platforms like Zalo, TikTok, or even Lotus
- Adjust messaging and timing for urban vs. rural audiences, or for specific life events like Lunar New Year or graduation season
- Monitor regional sentiment to understand how different areas perceive your brand and respond to your campaigns
- Track emotional drivers as it’s not just clicks and conversions, but what’s behind them: trust, humor, urgency, pride
Just like no two bowls of phở taste the same from North to South, your measurement approach should reflect the varied palates of your audience. Ignore these nuances, and you risk serving up something forgettable. Lean into them, and you’ll deliver marketing that’s deeply satisfying, the kind people remember and come back for.
The Garnish: Ongoing Optimization for a Personal Finish
Finally, just before serving, you add that last wedge of lime or dash of chili. That’s ongoing optimization: the tweaks, learnings, and iterations that make each campaign better than the last.
Vietnam’s e-commerce market is set to reach $32 billion by 2025 (VCCI Business Forum), and consumer behavior continues to evolve as fast as TikTok trends. If your measurement system isn’t keeping up, then you’re letting your phở go cold.
The Last Spoonful
Marketing measurement doesn’t need to be complicated. It just needs to be balanced.
Start with a clear, connected foundation. Add strong, reliable modeling. Season with experimentation and local insights. And never stop refining.
Because when your strategy is built like a bowl of phở, (layered, rich, and just right), your marketing stops feeling fragmented. It starts feeling like growth.
