Building OCOP brand associated with product story

Many stories have convinced customers to make the decision to choose to use the product. Thereby contributing to market development and increasing competitiveness for OCOP products.

In the National Criteria for OCOP Product Evaluation and Classification, the product story accounts for 12/100 points in the OCOP product evaluation and classification scale. Therefore, when participating in the OCOP program, in addition to completing the production and business plan, building an environmental protection plan, self-declaring product quality, designing labels, packaging, etc., writing a story about the product is quite important. Each product is a story that shows the efforts and pride of the subject in its production process.

Many OCOP products in localities displayed at stores and supermarkets are chosen by consumers through product stories printed on the packaging.

Building a product story for Nga Son Tofu Co., Ltd. (Tay Hoa commune) is an example. When preparing a profile to participate in the program, Mr. Tran Van Khoa, the company director, took the idea from his childhood, born and raised in a village with a traditional tofu making profession, to build a story about the bean curd product.

Mr. Khoa confided: "Since I was a child, I have witnessed my grandparents and parents working diligently in the small kitchen, where each batch of beans is created not only by effort but also by passion. With the desire to "keep the fire" of the family's traditional profession, and at the same time wanting to find solutions to modernize the production process, I decided to leave the city to return to the countryside to start a business. The story I wrote was highly appreciated by the Provincial OCOP Council in terms of content, as well as the message it wanted to convey."

As for the Superior coffee product that meets the 4-star OCOP standard of Huong Huong Phu Trading and Service Company Limited (Binh Kien Ward), it is associated with the story of the product "emotional beginning". According to Ms. Tran Thi Thu Huong, Director of Huong Huong Phu Trading and Service Company Limited, more than 30 years ago, she and her husband spent a lot of effort to research and learn the secret to creating a unique, rich coffee flavor with a pleasant bitterness that easily touches people's hearts, creating their own unforgettable flavor.

According to the assessment of the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Dak Lak, the product story criterion is an important factor in promoting the product. However, in reality, through the evaluation and classification of OCOP products, most of the subjects encountered difficulties in expressing and presenting the product story. Many products only introduced the area and potential, while the product story was almost left open, not creating interest or unique highlights about the product for customers, so the score in this part was not high.

The product story "emotional start" from Superior coffee was highly appreciated by the Provincial OCOP Council in terms of content as well as the message it wanted to convey.

In reality, small producers, including cooperatives and small businesses, find it difficult to compete with large-scale producers. They cannot afford daily advertising; the production scale is not large enough to supply agents, stores and supermarkets nationwide. Therefore, OCOP products must approach the market in a different way. That is, relying on the uniqueness of the locality and the product story is an effective tool for communication and promotion.

According to Ms. Dang Thi Thuy, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the product story is a brand story. If the story is attractive and authentic, it will make customers feel absorbed, deeply engraved in their minds and spend money to buy that product. Therefore, in order to promote, promote trade, and build brands for OCOP products effectively, the agricultural sector will continue to coordinate with localities to effectively carry out propaganda work, support OCOP subjects to build product stories that attract consumers. At the same time, constantly improve the capacity of responsible officers to respond well to the work of consulting and supporting subjects.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/kinh-te/202508/xay-dung-thuong-hieu-ocop-gan-voi-cau-chuyen-san-pham-d32170d/