Tet 2026 continues to be a major battleground for brands, where the story of “Coming Home” is no longer told through familiar formulas, but reinvented through diverse and meaningful ways of connecting with audiences. As of January 21 — nearly halfway to Tet — 111 marketing campaigns from 32 industries had already been launched.
Overall, compared to Buzzmetrics’ previous update on January 8, the market saw more than 30 additional campaigns and six new industries joining the Tet race. Within less than a month, brands also released 24 music videos and short films featuring top artists, reflecting strong investment in the festive season. Although Tet was still weeks away, competition among Tet campaigns had clearly entered its peak stage. Amid the vibrant Tet marketing landscape, Buzzmetrics recognized the importance of highlighting standout campaigns that successfully created “real” connections with consumers.
As mentioned in Buzzmetrics’ previous blog, Content from Qualified Users became the key metric used to evaluate campaign engagement, replacing Buzz Volume as the primary measure of success. The ranking based on Content from Qualified Users revealed that half of the strongest-performing campaigns on social media centered around the “Coming Home” theme, creating genuine emotional connections with audiences. These campaigns included:
Over the years, “Coming Home” and family reunion have gradually become saturated Tet messages because of their familiarity. Consumers constantly talk about returning home for Tet, while brands continue to build campaigns around the same theme. During Tet 2026 alone, 23 campaigns focused on “Coming Home,” making it the third most common message after themes like prosperity and festive joy. So how did these campaigns approach such a familiar topic in a way that still created authentic connections with users?
All five campaigns told very different “Coming Home” stories. Pepsi delivered a more “classic” Tet story through the message “Golden Moments - Bringing Tet Home,” focusing on familiar images of people living far away trying their best to return home and reunite with family around the year-end dinner table.
This classic spirit was further reinforced through Pepsi’s annual CSR program in collaboration with the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, helping students, workers, and underprivileged people return home for Tet. In every TVC featuring Captain Boy, Pepsi incorporated familiar Tet imagery such as Chung cakes, ancestor altars, and family meals - all coming together to create the “golden moments” of reunion during Tet. The campaign’s momentum was also amplified by a large-scale music festival featuring artists such as Mỹ Tâm, Hòa Minzy, Bray, and Karik. As a result, Content from Qualified Users grew steadily throughout the first 20 days of January.
Meanwhile, Lifebuoy transformed “Coming Home” into an emotional reconnection journey built with remarkable depth and consistency.Instead of focusing on familiar Tet imagery such as fireworks or lucky money, the “Tet Ta Ve” campaign emphasized personal memories and emotional interactions between those returning home and those waiting behind. The campaign began with the “La Tet Cua Mot Ai Do” exhibition - a multisensory experience that guided audiences through nostalgic Tet spaces and encouraged personal reflection.
To sustain this nostalgic atmosphere, Lifebuoy later reintroduced iconic Tet songs from previous campaigns in remixed versions, maintaining audience engagement before eventually reaching a new discussion peak with the launch of the “Tet Ta Ve” MV. This was clearly reflected in the campaign’s Content from Qualified Users trend: conversations remained active during the first half of January thanks to the exhibition and smaller Tet stories, before exploding after the MV release.
Nestlé approached Tet in a much simpler yet still impactful way. Through the meaningful message, “Tet moments together are limited, which makes every present moment even more precious,” Nestlé partnered with Kenh14 and aFamily to launch the “Wishlist Ngay Luc Nay - Cau Gi Hon Phut Giay Nay Ben Nhau” contest. Another highlight was the “Tet Calendar for Today” - a minimalist calendar without dates, displaying only the word “Today” as a reminder for people to cherish the present moment of togetherness. Aside from support from major community pages, the campaign did not rely heavily on KOLs.
The campaigns “Cong Mot Nu Cuoi Tru Ngan Khoang Cach” by P/S and “Toi Ben Toi Bo” by Viettel brought fresh perspectives to the “Coming Home” theme. For P/S, enjoying reunion moments required overcoming not only physical distance, but also generational gaps. This message was reflected in the MV “Tet Cong Nu Cuoi,” featuring MONO, Bạch Tuyết, and Bùi Công Nam, blending modern pop music with traditional cải lương performance. The campaign also introduced a Gemini-powered microsite that helped families experience Tet across different generations.
Meanwhile, Viettel’s “Toi Ben Toi Bo” told a completely reversed “coming home” story. During Tet, people are often too busy to return home on time - so what if the family came to them instead? This unconventional idea was expressed through the message “If I can’t come home, then home will come to me,” leading to the journey of Meritorious Artist Tự Long in the short film “Dan Choi 5G - Toi Ben Toi Bo.” Although the short film was the campaign’s only major activity, its unique storytelling approach generated strong organic discussions. The campaign reached two discussion peaks: one during the film launch, and another fueled by organic user conversations on Threads.
This year’s standout “Coming Home” campaigns proved that even an old message can still resonate strongly when paired with fresh storytelling and new perspectives. Whether emotional like Lifebuoy, classic like Pepsi, culturally blended like P/S, simple like Nestlé, or unconventional like Viettel, each campaign found its own meaningful way to connect with audiences during Tet 2026. More importantly, these campaigns also reflected a larger transformation in the social media landscape: marketers now have far more platform choices for storytelling.
Five years ago, Facebook dominated both campaign launches and viral distribution. Most discussions from every campaign primarily came from Facebook. However, among this year’s standout campaigns, platform strategies became much more diversified. Nestlé’s minigame activities and Pepsi’s CSR initiatives still relied heavily on Facebook. Lifebuoy’s emotionally driven storytelling leaned more toward TikTok and Threads. P/S focused strongly on YouTube, while Viettel became the only campaign primarily driven by Threads. On Threads, users did more than simply watch Viettel’s campaign - many actively analyzed its message and praised its “out-of-the-box” storytelling style. As conversations spread organically, the campaign went viral on Threads with an overwhelming share of Content from Qualified Users.
Overall, with the rise of Threads and TikTok alongside Facebook, marketers now have more ways to tell their stories. At the same time, they must place even greater emphasis on storytelling quality to ensure Tet campaigns create meaningful impact. This shift reflects the inevitable evolution of Social Media Marketing - moving away from the “the louder, the better” era toward an era of “real people, real connections.”
The Lunar New Year (Tet) season has always been the most fiercely competitive "battleground" of the year for Vietnamese marketers, where brands pour their full resources into capturing the minds and hearts of consumers. As no exception, the upcoming Tet 2026 is forecasted to witness a race more intense and cutthroat than ever before.
As previously noted by Buzzmetrics, even before the first week of 2026 had passed, nearly 60 Tet campaigns had already been launched. In just the following 7 days (from January 5th to 12th), the market witnessed a quantum leap:
Campaigns are increasingly differentiating in terms of discussion volume thresholds, reflecting intense competition. Whereas last week the top campaign only reached around 10,000 buzz, the leading group has now surged powerfully into the range of 30,000 to 50,000 buzz.
As the Tet race heats up by the hour, the most pressing question is no longer “How many discussions do we have?” but rather “How many of those discussions are truly meaningful?” In this context, Qualified Metrics- Buzzmetrics’ system of quality-based indicators- has become the guiding compass for uncovering real effectiveness behind explosive numbers.
Tet 2025 marked the first season Buzzmetrics applied Qualified Metrics in campaign evaluation, leading to what can be described as a “positive disruption.” Campaign rankings before and after the application shifted significantly. Campaigns that once appeared dominant in terms of Buzz Volume suddenly dropped, replaced by less noisy campaigns with higher-quality discussions and more valuable user participation.
So, what exactly are Qualified Metrics? And how do they reshape the way campaign impact is measured? Let’s explore together in this article.
In the early days of social media analysis, one commonly referenced metric was Total Audience- the number of users generating discussions. This metric helped brands roughly estimate campaign reach. However, Total Audience fails to account for “abnormal” accounts- those created in bulk or operating at unnatural posting frequencies, often sharing content mechanically. This posed a major challenge in campaign effectiveness evaluation.
Recognizing this issue, Qualified User emerged as a smart filtering layer pioneered by Buzzmetrics. A user is considered Qualified only when they meet strict criteria:
Identifying Qualified Users within a complex social environment marks a significant advancement in data analysis. It helps eliminate noise and refocus efforts on user groups with real conversion potential. When a Qualified User not only discusses a campaign but also expresses preference, support, and voluntarily shares positive brand-related content, they become a Social Advocator. This is the most valuable asset of any Tet campaign, as their voice carries far more weight than conventional advertising posts.
Qualified User is not just another data point. In practice, it functions as an underlying “operating system” that influences and constrains other metrics, forming the broader Qualified Metrics ecosystem.
When Qualified User is used as the foundation, the following key metrics are directly impacted:
So how have Qualified Metrics tangibly influenced campaign evaluation? Looking at the long-term picture across the first eight months of 2025, since Qualified Metrics were applied to the BSI Top 10 Campaigns ranking, the marketing landscape has become more dynamic than ever. New categories and smaller brands with creative approaches have appeared in the BSI Top10. This provides well-deserved recognition for campaigns that generate "real engagement, real buzz."
It encourages Agencies and Brands to focus on creative content rather than an arms race based on "artificial volume." This is also the basis for Buzzmetrics to continue applying Qualified Metrics to evaluate Tet 2026 campaigns. It can be said that Qualified Metrics are no longer an option but have become a mandatory requirement in social media conversation analysis.
Although Tet 2026 campaigns have only reached the halfway mark, the market is already vibrant and highly creative. With rapid growth in both campaign volume and discussion intensity, evaluation based on Qualified Metrics is no longer a luxury-it is a necessity. Qualified Metrics not only help protect brand value but also enable real-time campaign optimization. Don’t let inflated numbers drown out the authentic voice of real users.
Social Listening is a type of research done by “listening” to discussions on social media. Identifying the right campaign tracking metrics right from the pre-campaign stage is important, as it will help the brand have a clear direction for creative ideas. Moreover, during the implementation of the campaign, the constant monitoring of these indicators helps to adjust, optimize and allocate resources accordingly.
Social Listening is a type of research done by ”listening to discussions on social media. Properly identifying Campaign Tracking metrics right from the pre-campaign stage is important, as it will help brands have a clear direction for creative ideas. What's more, in the course of a campaign, constant monitoring of these metrics helps to adjust, optimize, and allocate resources appropriately. Does the brand have a grasp of the necessary Campaign Tracking metrics & how to combine them for the most accurate assessment? The article below will help to summarize the basic indicators that are commonly used in the social listening reports by BuzzMetrics.
There are many indicators to assess the creative effectiveness of the campaign. However, Campaign Tracking metrics can be classified into two large groups: (1) Awareness and (2) Discussion Quality, which correspond to two major questions:
Buzz Volume is an indicator of how noisy a topic is. This is the most basic unit of measurement in Social Listening. Every post, comment, or share related to a brand's campaign counts as Buzz. This indicator will help the brand answer the question: How many discussions about the campaign on social media?
For example:Campaign A generated 100 posts, 1,000 shares, and 2,000 comments. So, campaign A collected 3,100 buzz.
Share of Voice is an indicator that compares the amount of discussion a brand generates compared to its competitors during a campaign run.
Competitors here are campaigns that compete for influence on social networks. With social media, it can be campaigns by other brands in the industry, other campaigns of the same type, or other campaigns running at the same time
This indicator indicates whether the campaign is attracting more attention than the competitors. And this rate depends on the competitor & the number of competitors the brand compares with. SOV is a relative indicator, which depends a lot on who the brand's perspective is looking to compare directly with.
For example:In May 2020, there were 2,000 buzz talking about the B brand. Meanwhile, 8,000 buzz is about other brands in the same industry. So, the Share of Voice of Brand B will be 2000/ (2000+8000) = 20%.
Audience Scale is an indicator of the number of participants in a public discussion about a research topic (event/campaign/brand). A user can generate a lot of buzz (by sharing a post multiple times). And 1,000 buzz generated by 1,000 people will mean a lot different than 1,000 buzz generated by 100 people. So, this indicator shows the degree of spread of the campaign (virality).
For example: Between November 1, 2019 and January 15, 2020, the New Year campaign “Generali - Song Nhu Y” garnered 31,603 buzz and was discussed by 17,606 people. On average, one person generates 1.8 campaign discussions.
Sentiment Score is an indicator of how users feel about a brand's campaign. This indicator is calculated by the formula: (Positive Discussion - Negative Discussion)/(Positive Discussion+Negative Discussion), whose value is in the range of [-1,1]. Getting closer to 1 means that positive discussion is absolutely overwhelming the amount of negative discussion. Conversely, a low value can be an early sign of a crisis. A Buzzmetrics study shows that 1 negative discussion can be nullified by 4 positive discussions. Therefore, this indicator is recommended to be between 0.58-1.
Brand Mention is the amount of discussion that directly refers to the brand name. The metrics indicates a user's interest and remembrance of the brand. Any user comment, whether positive or negative, that mentions the name of the brand is counted as a brand mention. Brand names include official names, Vietnamized names and other variations.
Message Recall is the amount of discussion directly referring to the message of a campaign.
Every social media campaign comes from an idea and is encapsulated in a certain key message. Any user comment that mentions that information counts as a Message Recall.
The indicator helps brands answer the question: Do users recognize the message the brand wants to send?
For example:In Biti's “Go Back” campaign, user discussions containing the keywords “reunion,” “meeting,” “home” count as Message Recall.
Relevant Buzz volume is an indicator of brand-related discussions, which includes Brand Mention and Message Recall.
For example: Still in Biti's “Go Back” campaign, although users do not mention “reunions”, they ask where to buy shoes or how much they cost. These questions count towards the Relevant Buzz Volume.
Attribute Mention is the amount of discussion that mentions product or service attributes. This indicator reflects whether the campaign interested users in product attributes.
One of the campaign goals may be to build a brand image. To achieve this goal, brands must build content and lead discussions around brand image attributes.
The indicator helps brands answer the question: Do users recognize or care about the strengths of the product?
Paid media are channels that are paid to run content. Owned media are channels owned by the brand. Meanwhile, Earned media is an organic channel, when the customer himself becomes the speaker for brand. Earned Media can be viewed as a result of Paid media and Owned media. Each user comment or share is counted towards Earned Media.
Determining the ratio of the three types of media will help brands and agencies to know that with numerical How much discussion can be generated by paid media, the equivalent of knowing how much each discussion will cost the brand. Thus, the brand will evaluate the effectiveness of the communication channels.
For example: There are two media campaigns that together generate 100k buzz. However, campaign A had 67% of discussions generated from earned media, while campaign B had only 32% of discussions generated from earned media. This shows that campaign A uses fewer resources but still has the same impact as campaign B (in terms of discussion volume). In terms of the quality of the discussion, the A campaign is better because of the high level of user discussion.
As much as possible: “I need to satisfy as many indicators as possible”
These aforementioned indicators had the role of measuring & evaluating the performance of brands/campaigns after a period on social networks. This means that after running the campaign, they measure all Campaign Tracking metrics & assume that “The better these metrics, the better the brand activity implies”.
However, each indicator has its own meaning, responding to a separate marketing goal. And the brand's job is to answer the question “What does my social media marketing campaign need to work for?“. Then, find the right set of KPIs & use it to orient the active sequences
Therefore, instead of trying to do well with every possible indicator, the brand should focus on those that are really important, which are related to the goals of the campaign. This helps to better focus & distribute resources
Further reference:
The Higher the Better: “The Higher the Buzz Volume, the Higher the Sentiment, the Better”
“How much is enough” is the second question that needs to be answered. The KPI must be in line with the discussion situation of the industry & the level of user interest. Too high or too low doesn't help brands properly evaluate their social media efforts.
For this, brands should refer to Buzzmetrics benchmarks.
So, how do I choose the right metrics and identify benchmarks for my campaign?
The choice of campaign tracking indicator depends on many factors, including: the goal and type of campaign, the characteristics of the product industry, the nature of the message. The form of research itself will also affect Campaign Tracking. For example, a new product promotion campaign will pay attention to the indicators that indicate the user's intention to buy, while a community campaign will be interested in the user's support actions (share posts, draw endorsements, etc.)
Often, the questions that are asked to help determine the indicator are:
In addition to the indicators of the campaign tracking report, the brand can also refer to the indicators from Ecommerce Auditing reports to look at how effective a campaign reflects on a brand's sales performance on e-commerce sites. Further reference: Video on how to evaluate and measure the creative effectiveness of a social media campaign or Contact Buzzmetrics.
