35 years after national reunification that Generation 7X fought for and claimed, it is almost time for the next generation, 8X, to step up. What are they up to and what are their aspirations? Three stories give us a clue.
Vietnamese advertising coming into its own
A boy in the video clip of Knorr Advertising
Doan Thien Huong conceptualized an advertisement clip for Knorr spice that won an award for Effective Marketing in the Asia-Pacific region in 2008.
She is currently the Senior Art Director of JWT Vietnam - a member of one the largest American advertising companies.
Huong is the youngest senior art director in Vietnam so far.
She passed the Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Science and humanities entrance exam with the highest marks. One year later, she left for Singapore to get a degree in communications.
She joined JWT Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City on her return.
During her two year stint at JWT, her group ran many advertisement campaigns for big corporations including Heineken and Unilever.
Recently they were asked to come up with an ad campaign for the 3G services provided by telecom giant Mobifone.
Huong is confident that Vietnamese advertisements will soon make their mark in the international market.
A Vietnamese Discovery channel
He is not yet 25, but film director Tran Hoai Nam is already making waves. He is the first Vietnamese filmmaker to get to Irian Jaya, a remote area in Indonesia, to make a reality show called “Irian Jaya, the end of the world’
Film director Tran Hoai Nam (center) and his group go to Irian Jaya, Indonesia to make a reality show called “Irian Jaya, the end of the world’. (Photo:Lao Dong)
Able to speak Korean and English fluently, Nam spoke to his friends in many countries and contacted many online libraries for more than a year. Finally, he and three others decided to go to Irian Jaya.
They walked through 300 kilometers for forest paths and climbed mountains as high as 2,500 meters above sea level to reach their destination, using nothing but a hand-drawn map. They benefited from the experience and assistance of some members of the indigenous population.
Nam, who studied in Korea with a major filmmaker, and worked with Sai Gon Tiep Thi Newspaper after his return, believes that Vietnamese can do a discovery channel on their own.
Discovering ‘miraculous’ houses in Vietnam
The 180-year-old house of Ho Thanh Nga family in Phuoc Tich-ancient village, Thua Thien Hue province.
His research topic is “Phuoc Tich village structures during floods.”
Nghia was shocked at what he found in the ancient village. It had many old houses that had managed to withstand all the vagaries of the weather and of time. He felt he had found another Hoi An.
Phuoc Tich should use maintain its architectural heritage to adapt to life today, he feels.
He is confident that his research findings will help him come up with housing solutions for the country, when he returns home after graduating from a university in Tokyo.
