In this long-awaited return of The Bureau Podcast after a lengthy hiatus, The Chief (Matt Cowan) gets Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam editor-at-large Chris Thompson on the blower, who tells us whether or not his predictions came true for Vietnam hospitality trends during this weird and unpredictable era of COVID-19.
Chris also reveals what F&B trends are emerging and are likely to become a “thing” moving into 2021, and he tells us about a place that’s off most Saigoner’s radars that they really should visit, especially while international tourists are absent.
After that, we deep-dive into the prickly and controversial world of influencer marketing, celebrities, content creators and social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram with The Bureau’s own content manager Melanie Casul who also happens to lecture on digital marketing at RMIT Vietnam in Saigon.
Mel enlightens us on what digital marketing actually is and points out the amount of tiers (no, not tears) of influencers there are and what they constitute, in the meantime letting Matt down gently once he comes to the realisation he’s not a micro-influencer as he thought, but rather (perhaps) just scrapes in as a nano-influencer – either way, he’s at the bottom of the heap!
Beers are never too far from the microphones during the recording of any Bureau Podcast and this time is no different. Matt and Mel blind taste a couple of locally-made craft frothies – Pasteur Street Brewing Co’s Pomelo IPA, and a newcomer to the scene, Mix Tape’s Peaches & Cream IPA.
Somehow after the tasting, Matt and Mel manage to get through Get Excited! in which they tell each other what venue in Saigon has got them excited.
Then they finish off with the cheeky new fun segment Insta-worthless, in which Matt calls out a couple of Instagram accounts for their whacked updates that you would never be able to come up with in a million years!
Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, stop, pop the top off a cold one, sit down and enjoy the listen.
00:00 – Introduction
03:15 – The latest in Saigon hospitality with Chris Thompson
16:55 – Influencer marketing with Melanie Casul
38:50 – Craft beer blind tasting
51:30 – Get Excited!
1:00:55 – Insta-worthless
1:06:24 – End
Produced by Matthew Cowan. Follow Matt on Instagram at @mattcowansaigon
Edited by Melanie Casul. Melanie is The Bureau’s Content Manager. Follow her on Instagram at @melaniecasul
The Bureau Podcast cover art by Richie Fawcett. Follow Richie on Instagram at @richie_fawcett
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