The Coconut Kingdom and the Branding Problem

When I was doing industrial real estate in Vietnam, I visited a region called Ben Tre. I had lived in Vietnam for four years at that point and somehow had no idea what I was about to walk into.

Everything in Ben Tre is coconut. Coconut candy, coconut crackers, coconut bread, coconut oil, coconut everything. The entire local economy orbits around this one fruit. It was honestly kind of wild, and fascinating.

It got me thinking about something I’ve noticed across emerging markets: they often have incredible products but terrible branding. The raw material is there, the quality is there, the tradition is there. What’s missing is the story.

Turkey is the same way. Turkey produces some of the best olive oil in the world. Turkish pistachios are extraordinary. But if you asked most people in Europe or America, they’d associate olive oil with Italy and pistachios with… also Italy, or maybe Iran. Meanwhile, Italy took Turkish-level pistachios and built an entire pistachio cream industry that everyone knows and loves. The product isn’t necessarily better. The branding is.

Why does this keep happening? Part of it is historical. Many of these countries weren’t open to global markets for long stretches. Part of it is that branding requires a kind of cultural confidence and marketing infrastructure that takes time to build. And part of it is just that nobody thought to do it.

If I had the chance, here’s what I’d do in Ben Tre: build a massive coconut-shaped building right in the center of the region. Make it impossible to miss. Turn it into a destination: a museum, a tasting center, a place where tourists and buyers from around the world come to experience what Ben Tre coconut actually is. Heck, do a coconut oil shower. Who cares! In this Instagram world, that would really fly. That’s not a factory. That’s a brand.

And honestly, I just want more Ben Tre coconut in my life. Even a Ben Tre coconut ice cream is just amazing.

Emerging markets don’t have a product problem. They have a storytelling problem. And the ones that figure out how to tell their story first are going to win.