Nguyen Thanh Thuy – Marketing Manager of Diamond Island in providing us many valuable information that help us fulfill this project with real statistic value and information.. They have
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Diamond Islands is a high quality residential apartment development with river access and view The projects will include approximately 1076 apartments, 24 sky villas ad 144 hotel rooms Total build space is approximately 300,000 sqm (Construction Floor Area CFA)
Diamond Islands also consists of high class commercial and service center (including restaurant, supermarkets, retail stores, cinemas, swimming pools, marina, etc.) and a kindergarten, which is targeted to provide the best facilities for residents of Diamond Islands
It comprises of 5 zones name Zone A, Zone B, Zone C, Zone D and Zone E Each zone will be built once after another, starting with Zone B in 2008 Total construction floor area of this Zone B is 67038 sqm
Some development data of Diamond Islands:
• Allowable Gross Floor Area: 215600 m2 (does not include car parks, etc)
• Maximum number of floor per tower: 29 floors
• Car park requirements: 1.1 covered car parks/dwelling units (minimum 1094 lots)
Diamond Islands is bounded by Thanh My Loi quarter in the East, the Giong Ong To River and Thu Thiem quarter in the West, the Sai Gon River and Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone in the South and An Phu Quarter in the North With this unique location, Diamond Islands can be easily accessed via water traffic such as water taxies and river ferries to and from the city
It is located of a 8 hectare island with a beautiful landscape setting, the island provides a natural exclusivity and yet is still very close to the center of Ho Chi Minh City Being surrounded by Sai Gon and Giong Ong To Rivers in district 2, the green forest and clean water here make the location highly desirable with regards to Feng Shui The island is just like a diamond inside a dragon due to Saigon River shape is just like the Dragon outline Geomancer appreciate such location is the most unique and rare to find, and supposed to provide wealth and growth for people living in This hence gives the Feng Shui to the whole project in particular, unlike the competitors' when buyers can only create Feng Shui inside their apartments
Additionally, the island is located among important traffic systems such as Thu Thiem Tunnel and the
East West Highway, Thu Thiem Bridge, District 1 Bridge, District 4 Bridge, Phu My Bridge, Ho Chi Minh
- Long Thanh - Giau Day highway Therefore transportation access to and from the island is extremely easy
The architect approach for this project is based on the following concepts:
• Porosity: Creating a porous atmosphere in all scales of the project, and open facade for natural ventilation and taking advantage of the river breeze With voids, double height living rooms, terraces and louvers the concept of porosity is achieved Each residential cluster is made of 6 towers which are pulled apart, creating open corridors and maximizing the exterior views and privacy
• Elevated Green Mound: A two stories high structure with sloped edges creates the appearance of a green mound and at the same time hides all parking, MEP and infrastructure areas
• Urban concept of an archipelago: The entire island is treated as an urban island within the context of a larger development of additional islands
• Mountain shaped skyline: With the tallest towers at the south side the towers' height descents towards the north side on a two - to four floor modules
• Sky villas: Because of the lack of ground area, the villas are located at the top of the towers with one villa at each individual tower Each villa is to have maximum river views and a private swimming pool
• Green belt: At the perimeter of the island with the aim of preserving the natural vegetation
Riverside leisure facilities: Small yacht harbor along the west side of the island on the Giong Ong To River
Diamond Island also aims to create a luxury living condition for its inhabitants Before the zoning of the project, the wind was studied with NASA equipment for a year to segment the wind before allocating buildings Careful studies have also been done from the style studies and product concept test to make sure Diamond Island is a luxury resident project in term of iconic architecture and interior design, and with exclusive community for top notch Vietnamese people who value the new luxury living style concept Customers have the choice and the opportunity to actively participate in the design, look and feel of their home They desire their home to be personal, unique and tasteful as well as communicate a message about what is important to them
The project has all facilities and services from the finishing of the home for customers to daily living needs such as free secretarial service, highest security, community style development programs such as regular meetings, training for adult and children as classy behaviors, etc This enables customers to benefit from living in a community of both wealthy and classy people, and daily networking for both life and work
The project combines a range of finest quality apartments in the guise of a city resort, and provides excellent living conditions to enrich the life essence of its most fortunate residents Combined with the calming riverside environment and relaxing lush landscaping, that underlines the natural beauty of the island, the Diamond Island development is positioned as the safest of investments readied to appreciate in value through time
The exquisite living conditions have been carefully considered to ensure all needs are satisfied for the privilege residents The premium facilities include those to support leisure activities such as the unique Princess Marina Yacht Club, a professional standard gymnasium, and the 5 star Health and Beauty Spa Support facilities include the international standard kindergarten, general and specialist shopping, dental and healthcare clinics, secretarial services, and international property management to ensure the seamless integration of state of the art back of house activities, and highest security assurance
The external environments are as equally inviting as the luxurious apartments themselves The landscapes have been carefully crafted as a living green belt that envelops and welcome all to visit in peace and relax For the business and social minds there are intimate spaces within the landscape for entertaining and to create special community activities and networking opportunities The lucky children will enjoy the excellent living conditions, with ample space for play inside and out within the gardens and fresh air, plus benefit from growing and developing among this privilege and elite community
Binh Thien An Property Joint Stock Company is the investor of Diamond Island Project The company was established under business license issued by Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Investment on December 12, 2005 To develop and execute the project, the company has set up a new legal entity which is Diamond Island Development one member limited company on March 25, 2008
It is planned that once BTA obtains Land use Rights it will contribute it into charter capital of Diamond Island Development The cost related to the project will accordingly be transferred to DID BTA Investment Management Vietnam Co Ltd, a professional project management company shall provide general management services, administrative support and sales & marketing services for the project
The number of employees of BTA Property at December 31, 2006 and 2007 and August
The number of employees of BTA Investment Management at December 31, 2006 and
2007 and August 31, 2008 was 1, 11 and 37 respectively.
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1 Pre-launch Period : 2008 – early 2009 a The Objectives:
The objective in this period of pre-launch is to create the brand awareness for Diamond Island b PR Strategy:
Focus on the unique location of Diamond Island and the special investment on the project to create the most luxury apartments in Ho Chi Minh City c PR Campaign:
HO CHI MINH CITY WILL HAVE DIAMOND ISLAND
Diamond Island - a luxury housing project - will be built on an 8 hectare island near the Sai Gon River This project is invested and managed by Binh Thien An Co with the capital of 300 million USD
ARCHITECTURE COMPETITION FOR DIAMOND ISLAND
(Source: vnexpress - Excitement grows about Diamond Island project in Sai Gon)
To find the most efficient solution for Diamond Project, BTA invested 1 million USD in the International Architect Contest with contestants come from famous architecture firms around the world including Arata Isozaki, Wood Head, AS&P and PTW The winner finally awarded to a German architecture, Arata Isozaki only came second place however he was chosen for the project because BTA thought his style is fit for this particular project (Asian style with Fengshui)
Create a strong and recognizable brand identity: The objective is creating a strong and recognizable brand identity with Diamond Island as the project with luxury apartments and sky villas and BTA as the reputable developer and manager The goal of this stage is to reach minimum 80% of target customer's awareness in the time of 3 month after this communications stage was launched
Build credibility: Show off all superiorities of Diamond Island compared to competitions such as the Lancaster, Southern Palace, Raffles Residence, Sailing Tower
Drive brand preference: Give the impression that Diamond Island is the dream home of fortunate residents They will have benefits of living in a wealthy and classy community, having chance of networking, living in a healthy environment with good Fengshui and the ability to customize their home to make it unique and fit their personalities
Stimulate interest and desire: Drive inquiry and generate sales leads with the target of successfully sell 95 units by the end of the complete sales of Zone B in
The key target market is high-net income individuals who have liquid assets of USD 1,000,000 or net income over US$200,000 - US$500,000 per year who are purchasing Diamond Island units as an end user rather than an investment
The secondary market are real estate business, investors, they are local or expatriate who wants to invest in Diamond Island for mid & long term to resell, serviced apartment or the boutique hotel
(Source: Ms Nguyen Thanh Thuy – Marketing Manager of Diamond Island) c Message to Deliver:
Diamond Island Sky Resort is the supreme residential project with luxury and exclusive settings for premium class only
A well-planned and designated project for top class people only This well- plan strategy and clear segmentation also satisfy the needs of wealthy people when they desire a better environment with clearer brand mark that embodies their social status and esteem
With the interior design in Minimalist style with efficient space usage, less partitions and give an open-up feel for relaxation, the buyer can participate in the finishing of the apartment with stylish decoration through the available options and personal consultancy, and expressing their lifestyle and status, and minimizing the cost to compare with the self-decoration status
Superior Customer Design Facilities & Services:
The project has all facilities and services from the finishing of the home for the customer to the daily living needs such as free secretarial service, highest security, community style development programs such as regular meetings, training for adults and children as classy behaviour, etc This enables customers to benefit from living in a community of both wealthy and classy people, and daily networking for both life and work
Being unique in location and the resort-comfort designated lifestyle, DI provides the tenants with not only the best living conditions but also a firm assurance of investment return! d PR & Marketing Strategy:
The PR& Marketing Strategy has three main core implementations:
Outside-in: to use international media as the source of information and platform to attract attention, and localize the content for local media to add more credibility and word-of-mouth
Co-Branding: to capture opportunities with the world famous Brands (both commercial, and people Brand such as Celebrities) to quickly create the association with Diamond Island Brand
Quantified messages: because Diamond Island has so many superior facts, figures, and features than the competitors, we need to use them as indicators for direct comparison and immediately classifying Diamond Island as the top-class project e Marketing Campaign:
Advertising: via Communications materials, print ads, TV programs:
The project has great location with the island is just like a diamond inside the Dragon due to Saigon River shape Geomancer appreciate such location as the most unique and rare to find, and supposed to provide wealth and growth to people living in This hence gives the Feng Shui to the whole project in particular, unlike the competitors’ when the buyers can only create Feng Shui inside their apartments
It also great as a long term investment as well as offer residents a unique luxurious architecture & lifestyles
THE DIAMOND STORIES - PRINT ADS - on lifestyle magazines such as Heritage,
Doanh Nhân Cu i Tu n(Weekly Entrepreneur)
(Source: Ms Nguyen Thanh Thuy – Marketing Manager of Diamond Island)
Public Relations: Editorial about the projects/ corporate & Advertorials / media releases weekly
‘Interview the main contractor’ (Coteccons), primarily Mr Duong - CEO of
Cotteccons in terms of reasons why he and his company join DI construction, and Coteccons' preperations of equipments and techniques to finish phase 1 within 20 months
‘Interview Turner International’ (US) - DI management relating to manage and keep the construction site clean and effective via the most advanced management technique
‘The Big Names guarantee the quality of the project’
‘Arata Isozaki - his typical works over the world, especially AIA masterpiece in VN - Diamond Island’: His design concept thanks to deep study of water and wind flows, the island is covered by rivers and protective forest which is an ideal natural environment rights at the heart of the city Arata Isozaki has a very strict vision about this project including 14% construction density which helps more breathing spaces between structures
‘Portrait building the new citizens of Diamond Island Sky Resort’
+ With endorsement of some famous, intellectual couple (like My Linh & Anh Quan - Singer and composer)
+ Portrait of some successful businessmen/women
'Top-notch community’: the unique, exclusive community for DISR citizens only
'Luxury Apartment – from 1 million USD on the Island in Saigon’: the unique, exclusive community for Real estate dealer in Ho Chi Minh City are shocked with million-dollar apartments in Diamond Island, only 10 minutes river way from district 1 Moreover, these apartments are limited sales only and only celebrities are chosen to have a unique opportunity to become Diamond Island's resident
Event: Launch gala event, special event of Diamond Club
CREATING EXCELENCE TOGETHER – DECEMBER 26 TH , 2009
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On Monday March 5 th , 2012, Diamond Island encountered the greatest Public Relations Crisis when Tuoi Tre newspaper published news that Diamond Island has one or two stories exceeding what had been approved by the local Department Due to the violation, the construction of six apartment blocks at Diamond Island site had been suspended
This also quoted that during a site inspection on February 21 st , 2012 – inspectors from the municipal Department of Construction had asked Diamond Island Investor to stop work on the entire project but the construction continued until February 28 th Besides, Leaders of Binh Trung Tay Ward’s People’s Committee had said that their inspectors had conducted regular visits to the site, but due to the insufficient manpower, they had not been able to spot the violation in time
This crisis has created a very bad impression on all investors, current customers and prospects This lead to all of the marketing activities in year 2012 was not implemented as in the old plan Budgeting for the plan was constrained and dedicated to get over the crisis such as lobbying the reporters and PR crisis management plan
Another indirect crisis is that the “BTA” name of the investor was named after a Kazakhstan bank which was also bankrupted in 2012 Therefore, in order to reduce the crisis and avoiding another bad impression about an untrustworthy organization, the investor decided to change the name to Kusto Kusto is the name of the original corporation in Kazakhstan – the investor/owner/developer of Diamond Island.
ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT POSITION AND SITUATION
1 Real Estate Market in Vietnam:
The Vietnamese real estate market has been going through cycles of up and down in the past decade Its most recently peaked period was between 2006 and 2010 During that time, many positive indicators encouraged both buyers and sellers jump into the market According the data from the Ministry of Construction, there were more than
1000 real estate’s projects in Hanoi alone in that period, Ho Chi Minh City also reached the record of 1400 projects almost every major city in Vietnam including Da Nang, Nha Trang, Hai Phong, etc helped to inflate the bubble in the market
With all that positive signals, real estate in the period of 2006-2010 was considered by many investors as the fastest way to make profits It results in hundreds of real estate companies were established Even existing companies from different industries also invested heavily to the real estate’s gold mine A lot of these new companies - especially smaller ones- did not have enough experiences in the new market They just went in for short term profits and could not anticipation all the complexity of the market
One notable example for this trend is HANIC Even though HANIC's main business is exporting steel, it decided to invest in real estate with 324 billion VND (VEF) After a couple of failed projects including buying the CT1 building from The Pride project, HANIC is having the debt of 401 billion VND in 2011 and on the edge of bankruptcy
With a lot of capital pouring into the market, the housing value was increasing rapidly The price was pump up based only on some vague predictions and rumors and it soon surpassed the actual value of a piece of land or a house The real estate bubble was ready to bust
From 2010, the real estate value started the downward trend Housing values gradually decreased, investors withdrew money from real estate projects, and when 2011 arrives, the market completely freezes up There has been a kind of "stand-off" between sellers and buyers Real estate companies refused to reduce the price anymore as it already hit bottom and they were suffering with great loss; however buyers also believe that the housing price can still drop further and they decided to wait
One reason that leads to the real estate market's bubble bust is the over-dependent in capital borrowed from banks Therefore as soon as banks adjust their interest rate, it affected greatly to real estate projects and made a lot of them could not finish Another reason is most of the projects targeted the middle-high level of customers, therefore the price is out of reach of most of Vietnamese customers These high prices are alright when the market is new and there were a lot of demands (during the 2006-2010 periods) However as soon as the financial depression hit Vietnam, the demand drop rapidly and investor of these projects cannot sell their remaining houses or apartments without suffered great loss
This results in many real estates in Vietnam having debt that they cannot pay According to vef.vn, STL (Song Da Thang Long company) is having a debt of 4929 billion VND in 2011, HQC (Hoang Quan Real Estate) is having a debt of 1789 billion VND the price of these projects were dropping average 30% compared to the peak period but still cannot find enough buyers
According to Compareal, there are more than 4800 luxury apartments in Ho Chi Minh City still cannot find customers They estimate that it needs about 3-5 years to sell these remained apartments Mr Le Quoc Duy (CEO of Hoa Binh House) also commented that investors are losing interest in luxury apartment as they require high cost to build but target only a small fragment of customers
The Vietnamese economy is slowing down in the first six months of 2012 does not help the real estate market The economy growth rate is only reach 4.38% in the first 6 months, the lowest rate in many years Loan interest rates also rising creates difficulties for both investors and buyers in real estate transactions (the loan rating rates of real estate is currently 16% of the total loaned capital) The increasing interest rate made real estate’s company cannot find enough money to operate and the debt become unpaid-able debt In the peak of the real estate balloon, only 20% money of real estate comes from banks, 80% remains come from advanced money of buyers Since 2010, the percentage has been reversed; companies now need 80% money from banks to survive
Reuters also reported that Hoang Anh Gia Lai, one of the biggest co-operations in Vietnam, was hit so badly by the real estate bubble burst that it had to abort 3 real estate projects If in 2010, 90% income of the company came from real estate, right now it only remains 20%
With the economy depression, the distrust of real estate buyers and bad debt from major Vietnamese banks; it seems that the real estate market needs times to recover Right now a lot of companies is experiencing with restructuring to solve short term problems One of the solution is to increasing the percentage of budget apartments and decrease the number of luxury ones The problem with luxury housing in Vietnam is it does not have an open standard Each investor decided the price themselves and does not look at the market This trend confused buyers and make them do not want to take risk at buying houses or wait for the price to decrease more
This solution however is only for short term in the crisis To have a stable real estate market, we need a balanced percentage between budget, middle and luxury housing for customers However to the economy need to be better with lower interest rate to make that happen
2 Forecast of the Economy and Real Estate Market in 2013:
Despite the previous forecast due to the economy depression, the Vietnam Political Picture is improving since Jan 2013 with more positive moves on banking restructuring and bad debt solving A state owned debt solving company will be established in the second quarter of year 2012 in order to deal with bad debt from state-owned companies and property companies Other than that, many new policies are proposed such as allowing for pilot casino or foreigners buying house with no conditions those can be advantage for Real Estate industry
Secondly, due to the recent conflict between China and Japan, Vietnamese, Philippines, there is news that the ODA, FDI and FII funds would be committed to other countries such as India, Vietnam, etc
NEW MARKETING AND ADVERTISING PLAN FOR YEAR
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1 Real Estate Market in Vietnam:
The Vietnamese real estate market has been going through cycles of up and down in the past decade Its most recently peaked period was between 2006 and 2010 During that time, many positive indicators encouraged both buyers and sellers jump into the market According the data from the Ministry of Construction, there were more than
1000 real estate’s projects in Hanoi alone in that period, Ho Chi Minh City also reached the record of 1400 projects almost every major city in Vietnam including Da Nang, Nha Trang, Hai Phong, etc helped to inflate the bubble in the market
With all that positive signals, real estate in the period of 2006-2010 was considered by many investors as the fastest way to make profits It results in hundreds of real estate companies were established Even existing companies from different industries also invested heavily to the real estate’s gold mine A lot of these new companies - especially smaller ones- did not have enough experiences in the new market They just went in for short term profits and could not anticipation all the complexity of the market
One notable example for this trend is HANIC Even though HANIC's main business is exporting steel, it decided to invest in real estate with 324 billion VND (VEF) After a couple of failed projects including buying the CT1 building from The Pride project, HANIC is having the debt of 401 billion VND in 2011 and on the edge of bankruptcy
With a lot of capital pouring into the market, the housing value was increasing rapidly The price was pump up based only on some vague predictions and rumors and it soon surpassed the actual value of a piece of land or a house The real estate bubble was ready to bust
From 2010, the real estate value started the downward trend Housing values gradually decreased, investors withdrew money from real estate projects, and when 2011 arrives, the market completely freezes up There has been a kind of "stand-off" between sellers and buyers Real estate companies refused to reduce the price anymore as it already hit bottom and they were suffering with great loss; however buyers also believe that the housing price can still drop further and they decided to wait
One reason that leads to the real estate market's bubble bust is the over-dependent in capital borrowed from banks Therefore as soon as banks adjust their interest rate, it affected greatly to real estate projects and made a lot of them could not finish Another reason is most of the projects targeted the middle-high level of customers, therefore the price is out of reach of most of Vietnamese customers These high prices are alright when the market is new and there were a lot of demands (during the 2006-2010 periods) However as soon as the financial depression hit Vietnam, the demand drop rapidly and investor of these projects cannot sell their remaining houses or apartments without suffered great loss
This results in many real estates in Vietnam having debt that they cannot pay According to vef.vn, STL (Song Da Thang Long company) is having a debt of 4929 billion VND in 2011, HQC (Hoang Quan Real Estate) is having a debt of 1789 billion VND the price of these projects were dropping average 30% compared to the peak period but still cannot find enough buyers
According to Compareal, there are more than 4800 luxury apartments in Ho Chi Minh City still cannot find customers They estimate that it needs about 3-5 years to sell these remained apartments Mr Le Quoc Duy (CEO of Hoa Binh House) also commented that investors are losing interest in luxury apartment as they require high cost to build but target only a small fragment of customers
The Vietnamese economy is slowing down in the first six months of 2012 does not help the real estate market The economy growth rate is only reach 4.38% in the first 6 months, the lowest rate in many years Loan interest rates also rising creates difficulties for both investors and buyers in real estate transactions (the loan rating rates of real estate is currently 16% of the total loaned capital) The increasing interest rate made real estate’s company cannot find enough money to operate and the debt become unpaid-able debt In the peak of the real estate balloon, only 20% money of real estate comes from banks, 80% remains come from advanced money of buyers Since 2010, the percentage has been reversed; companies now need 80% money from banks to survive
Reuters also reported that Hoang Anh Gia Lai, one of the biggest co-operations in Vietnam, was hit so badly by the real estate bubble burst that it had to abort 3 real estate projects If in 2010, 90% income of the company came from real estate, right now it only remains 20%
With the economy depression, the distrust of real estate buyers and bad debt from major Vietnamese banks; it seems that the real estate market needs times to recover Right now a lot of companies is experiencing with restructuring to solve short term problems One of the solution is to increasing the percentage of budget apartments and decrease the number of luxury ones The problem with luxury housing in Vietnam is it does not have an open standard Each investor decided the price themselves and does not look at the market This trend confused buyers and make them do not want to take risk at buying houses or wait for the price to decrease more
This solution however is only for short term in the crisis To have a stable real estate market, we need a balanced percentage between budget, middle and luxury housing for customers However to the economy need to be better with lower interest rate to make that happen
2 Forecast of the Economy and Real Estate Market in 2013:
Despite the previous forecast due to the economy depression, the Vietnam Political Picture is improving since Jan 2013 with more positive moves on banking restructuring and bad debt solving A state owned debt solving company will be established in the second quarter of year 2012 in order to deal with bad debt from state-owned companies and property companies Other than that, many new policies are proposed such as allowing for pilot casino or foreigners buying house with no conditions those can be advantage for Real Estate industry
Secondly, due to the recent conflict between China and Japan, Vietnamese, Philippines, there is news that the ODA, FDI and FII funds would be committed to other countries such as India, Vietnam, etc