The 

Marketing Environment includes the Internal factors (employees,

customers, shareholders, retailers & distributors, etc.) and the External
factors( political, legal, social, technological, economic) that surround the
business and influence its marketing operations. Constantly watching and
adapting to the changing marketing environment is important because the
marketing environment offers both opportunities and threats.

I/ INTRO:
In 1994, Pepsico officially entered the VietNam market then in 2013 after merging with Suntory, the
company renamed as Suntory Pepsico VietNam (SPV). With the variety of its product, ranging from
water, tea to soft drink and especially its energy drink, the popularity of SPV has been increasing every
day. In 2002, the company introduced the newest brand which is considered as a breakthrough for energy
drink to conquer Vietnamese consumers - Sting. Having red color and strawberry flavour, it helps to
diffeerentiate Sting from other traditional energy drink. The advent of Sting becomes the “gold egg" for
SPV when building up brand’s value in that industry (Lyle R.Wood, 2017).

I/Microeconomics:
 
1) Customers:
Although the customer base of energy drink is extremely large however, through many marketing
campaigns, Sting more inclines to the “New Generation" – whose ages between 15 and 30. For
examples, when Sting became the official sponsor for The Amazing Race VietNam, it proved that Sting
wanted to attract more young adults consumers because that TV show is very popular for teens (Chen,
2012). It can easily understand that with the high speed life, young generations will prefer Sting because it
can give them the energy to deal with overpressure or an original taste after hard working hours.
Recently, Sting aimed customer is not only domestic but also international. Sting can be found at
wholesalers, supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, e-commerce retailers in Viet Nam or
some Asian countries like Malaysia, Philippines, Myanmar,....

2) Competitor:
Rivals of Sting can include with big names like Number 1, RedBull, Compact or even Monster,… These
are all energy drink brands which attract many customers in VietNam. Nevertheless, the main competior
of Sting which can not be ignored is RedBull. Considering to be one of the first pioneers for energy drink
industry, RedBull takes a high marketshare and makes a huge profit each year. For example, in 2019, its
revenue is over 1000 billions VND (Chi, 2020). Realizing that the VietNam market of beverage has
become more Westernized, Sting now is facing not only with different energy drink competiors but also
with distinct RTD (ready to drink) beverage competitors in general. With the advant of new types in RTD
bevarage such as: milktea, oolong tea, fruit milk, or coffee,… customers will tend to be captivated by
them. As these new products can give consumer new experience about taste or packaging so Sting can
be left behind. Moreover, because of increasing living standards in VietNam, customers may pay much
more attention to nutrition and safety when choosing food and drink, this makes all brands need to be
more careful in production process and leads to the pressure for each competior in beverage industry.

II/ Macroeconomics:
1) Social & Demographic:
As far as 2020, Viet Nam’s population is over 97 million people which ranks 15th out of 228 countries all
over the world. According to the 2019 Population Census Report, 55.5 percent of the population is under
35 years of age. Moreover, Vietnam has a high rate in population growth which means that it will be a part
of increasing the demand. It can easily notice that VietNam will be an ideal market for Sting. Within
VietNam, Sting is distributed to over 1052 supermarkets and hypermarkets, 690 convenient stores
(Nieslen, 2013).

2) Political:
Sting now follows with legal standards and can develop safely under Government’s protection as VietNam
gradually improves its legal system with some new strict laws which can create a fair-competition
environment for bussiness such as: Antitrust Law, Intellectual Property Rights, ….

3) Economic:
According to Statista data, for the past five years since 2015, VietNam’s GDP rate has been experiencing
a possitive growth (around 7% compared to the previous year) (Plecher, 2021). This will affect directly to
the overall consumer demand in VietNam as consumers tend to spend more and it will give a huge
advantage for Sting. However, under the pressure of inflation problem in economy, Sting might increase
its price to substain the business so the worse the situation, the worse the profit for Sting. To defeat in the
fierce battle among enery drink brands, Sting relies much more on digital marketing and technology in
production process. On the official Facebook, Sting often post many photos, mini games, or discounts,…
and also through Facebook, Sting can hear about the customer’s opinions, stories, feelings about its
products. This manner can help Sting to get a close relationship with customers and adjust the bussiness
appropriately.

Chen, S. (2012, December 19). CASE study: How Pepsico's Sting enhanced brand awareness
through gaming: DIGITAL. Retrieved March 26, 2021, from
https://www.campaignasia.com/article/case-study-how-pepsicos-sting-enhanced-brand-
awareness-through-gaming/326594

Chi, Q. (2020, September 22). Chỉ Bán nước tăng lực Nhưng REDBULL Thu lời hiệu quả HƠN
hẳn COCA-COLA hay Pepsi. Retrieved March 26, 2021, from https://doanhnhan.vn/chi-
ban-nuoc-tang-luc-nhung-redbull-thu-loi-hieu-qua-hon-han-coca-cola-hay-pepsi-
33449.html

Completed results of the 2019 Viet Nam population and HOUSING CENSUS. (2020, November
26). Retrieved March 26, 2021, from https://www.gso.gov.vn/en/data-and-
statistics/2020/11/completed-results-of-the-2019-viet-nam-population-and-housing-census/

Brands Vietnam. (n.d.). Sting DÂU - CON bò sữa Của PEPSICO Việt Nam. Retrieved March
26, 2021, from https://www.brandsvietnam.com/4143-Sting-dau-Con-bo-sua-cua-PepsiCo-
Viet-Nam

Plecher. (2021, January 12). Vietnam - gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate 2025.
Retrieved March 26, 2021, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/444616/gross-
domestic-product-gdp-growth-rate-in-vietnam/