Thue Quist Thomasen is the CEO of market research agency Decision Lab in Vietnam. If there's anyone who knows about the trends driving Vietnam forward, it's him. Today, he talks about how the challenge of working in Vietnam is what attracted him to start a business here, what excites him most about Vietnam, and what global audiences tend to misunderstand about this country on the move. He also digs deeper into the results from Decision Lab's most recent financial trends report, which drops amid the 2023 blip in Vietnam's GDP growth story. He uncovers the latest consumer spending, saving and investment behaviours, and how financial brands are responding. He also talks about the upcoming Connected Consumers Report, which looks into all the ways Vietnam is using social media to stay connected, be entertained and make purchases.

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This podcast is brought to you by We Create Content, the content marketing agency that builds audiences for global brands in Vietnam. You can follow our host, Ian Paynton, on LinkedIn, and follow the podcast on Instagram, TikTok and X.

A special thanks to DJ Jase at The Beats Saigon for the soundtrack, and to YOU for listening.

According to studies, more than a quarter of young people in Vietnam are depressed and almost 6% have attempted suicide.  In this episode of You Don't Know Vietnam, We Create Content's cofounder Ian Paynton speaks to Hanh Ha, the CEO of a new mental health app, SoftenMind. Hanh talks about her own journey with depression and therapy, the state of mental health as a taboo topic in Vietnam, and the pressures facing young Vietnamese people today. 

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If you enjoy this conversation or think someone in your network could find value in it, please share it and hit follow to get notified when the next episode drops.

This podcast is brought to you by We Create Content, the content marketing agency that builds audiences for global brands in Vietnam. You can follow our host, Ian Paynton, on LinkedIn, and follow the podcast on Instagram, TikTok and X.

A special thanks to DJ Jase at The Beats Saigon for the soundtrack, and to YOU for listening.

Linh brought the menstrual cup to Vietnam. And she had a real challenge on her hands: how to sell menstrual cups in a place where nobody talked about periods? 8 years later, almost 3,000,000 women in Vietnam have bought a Lincup and Linh says they're just getting started. Today, Linh talks about the entrepreneurial spirit and consumer habits  of Vietnamese women, the pressures faced by women in Vietnam today, and the importance of brand-building in Vietnam.

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If you enjoy this conversation or think someone in your network could find value in it, please share it and hit follow to get notified when the next episode drops.

This podcast is brought to you by We Create Content, the content marketing agency that builds audiences for global brands in Vietnam. You can follow our host, Ian Paynton, on LinkedIn, and follow the podcast on Instagram, TikTok and X.

A special thanks to DJ Jase at The Beats Saigon for the soundtrack, and to YOU for listening.

Since coming back to Vietnam from studying and working overseas, serial tech entrepreneur Dave Bui has absolutely smashed it. He grew a healthcare information platform called ViCare and sold it to VinGroup in 2018. In 2019, he founded an interactive and super engaging presentation software called AhaSlides, which has more than a million users worldwide. His achievements in a short space of time are really impressive. Today he talks about why trust is so important when doing business in a country as unique as Vietnam, why Vietnam is a great place to build tech products and he also sheds some light on the work that's still to be done for Vietnam to compete on a global scale. 

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If you enjoy this conversation or think someone in your network could find value in it, please share it and hit follow to get notified when the next episode drops.

This podcast is brought to you by We Create Content, the content marketing agency that builds audiences for global brands in Vietnam. You can follow our host, Ian Paynton, on LinkedIn, and follow the podcast on Instagram, TikTok and X.

A special thanks to DJ Jase at The Beats Saigon for the soundtrack, and to YOU for listening.

In a country where the go-to music is love songs, Flow.D uses only his mouth to produce growly drum n bass with the goal to get Vietnamese audiences out of their comfort zone. Today, he talks about his personal development as a professional beatboxer, his experience working on commercial projects in Vietnam, and what the phở Vinahouse is all about.  You will also discover the potential for incorporating traditional Vietnamese music into electronic dance music, and the promising new generation of Vietnamese musicians who are producing their own beats. 

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If you enjoy this conversation or think someone in your network could find value in it, please share it and hit follow to get notified when the next episode drops.

This podcast is brought to you by We Create Content, the content marketing agency that builds audiences for global brands in Vietnam. You can follow our host, Ian Paynton, on LinkedIn, and follow the podcast on Instagram, TikTok and X.

A special thanks to DJ Jase at The Beats Saigon for the soundtrack, and to YOU for listening.

If anyone knows about lovers in Vietnam, it's Thao. Along with her team, she's planned more than 500 weddings - most of which in the up-and-coming wedding destination of Danang. Today, she talks about how the traditional wedding is changing in Vietnam, the conflicts Vietnamese couples have with their parents when planning weddings, the evolving tastes of Vietnamese lovers and how Tik Tok is finding its way into Vietnamese ceremonies. 

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If you enjoy this conversation or think someone in your network could find value in it, please share it and hit follow to get notified when the next episode drops.

This podcast is brought to you by We Create Content, the content marketing agency that builds audiences for global brands in Vietnam. You can follow our host, Ian Paynton, on LinkedIn, and follow the podcast on Instagram, TikTok and X.

A special thanks to DJ Jase at The Beats Saigon for the soundtrack, and to YOU for listening.

Hanoi Rock City has been giving musicians in Vietnam a platform for more than 12 years. It's an institution that DA has proudly kept alive despite the financial difficulties associated with such grassroots endeavours. Today he talks about how Hanoi Rock City has changed during the years, the newfound success of indie bands in Vietnam, and what his dream is for Vietnam's wealth of talented up and coming musicians. 

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If you enjoy this conversation or think someone in your network could find value in it, please share it and hit follow to get notified when the next episode drops.

This podcast is brought to you by We Create Content, the content marketing agency that builds audiences for global brands in Vietnam. You can follow our host, Ian Paynton, on LinkedIn, and follow the podcast on Instagram, TikTok and X.

A special thanks to DJ Jase at The Beats Saigon for the soundtrack, and to YOU for listening.

Quang moved from Vietnam's northern mountains to Hanoi to follow his dream in documentary filmmaking. He created a film about Grindr that was shortlisted for awards - and also banned. Since then, he's produced multiple shorts about Vietnam's queer scene and is now working on a documentary about his sister's journey from mental health challenges to motherhood, which has recently won a grant from Bangkok-based film fund Purin Pictures. In this episode, he talks about why the Oscar-shortlisted documentary  "Children of the Mist" is so important for Vietnam (and well worth watching!) and recommends other Vietnamese documentaries to look out for.  

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If you enjoy this conversation or think someone in your network could find value in it, please share it and hit follow to get notified when the next episode drops.

This podcast is brought to you by We Create Content, the content marketing agency that builds audiences for global brands in Vietnam. You can follow our host, Ian Paynton, on LinkedIn, and follow the podcast on Instagram, TikTok and X.

A special thanks to DJ Jase at The Beats Saigon for the soundtrack, and to YOU for listening.

If there's an electronic live act to catch coming out of Vietnam, it's Tiny Giant - a genre-defying music duo made up of Linh Ha and Tomes. Their live sets really take you on a journey, with a mixture of electronic beat productions, layered vocal looping, analogue synths and an acoustic instruments. Today, they talk about the influence Vietnam has on their music, being sensitive to cultural appropriation, Vietnam's festival scene, and how they want to evolve their sound and live performances. Image photograph of Tiny Giant by Nicki LaPierre. 

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If you enjoy this conversation or think someone in your network could find value in it, please share it and hit follow to get notified when the next episode drops.

This podcast is brought to you by We Create Content, the content marketing agency that builds audiences for global brands in Vietnam. You can follow our host, Ian Paynton, on LinkedIn, and follow the podcast on Instagram, TikTok and X.

A special thanks to DJ Jase at The Beats Saigon for the soundtrack, and to YOU for listening.

Annie Possible is the cofounder and CEO of tech startup Tubudd. It's a local concierge platform that connects Vietnam's foreign visitors with locals to ensure guests have a unique and pleasant experience during their stay. Today, she talks about why people can have a bad time in Vietnam and what it's like to be a woman in Vietnam's growing tech startup scene. 

Send us a text

If you enjoy this conversation or think someone in your network could find value in it, please share it and hit follow to get notified when the next episode drops.

This podcast is brought to you by We Create Content, the content marketing agency that builds audiences for global brands in Vietnam. You can follow our host, Ian Paynton, on LinkedIn, and follow the podcast on Instagram, TikTok and X.

A special thanks to DJ Jase at The Beats Saigon for the soundtrack, and to YOU for listening.