This new edition highlights excellent entries from countries including but not limited to Mainland China, USA, Russia, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Hong Kong, Macao, Thailand, Singapore, India, Turkey, Israel, Taiwan. Consulus’ Tong Ming Xi rebranded identity is selected and featured in the brand category.

For full list of selected designers and agencies, please go to Sandu website.

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In conjuction with HSBC Women’s Champions which will take place from 23-26 February, HSBC has partnered with Raffles Design Institute (RDI) for the annual Caddy Bib Design contest. The top design will be awarded to this year’s Caddy of the Year winner on Saturday of the tournament (23-26 February) and worn across the event weekend. Millions of golf fans will be able to catch a glimpse of the winning design on television throughout broadcasts of the HSBC Women’s Champions.

We are happy to support a project that will allow Singapore design students gain valuable industry experience and global exposure. We look forward to entries from RDI’s Advanced Diploma Graphic Apply Illustration Degree, Graphic Design and Multimedia course undergraduates.

Read more about the competition at the HSBC Women’s Champions website.

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Lawrence Chong, CEO at Consulus, has accepted the invitation to speak at the World Marketing Summit to be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 1st to 3rd March 2012. The summit is convened by renowned Prof. Philip Kotler and hosted by the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Lawrence will be speaking on the following topic: Building purpose-led Asian companies to meet the obligations of a changing world

Visit the summit website for more information.

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“Please accept our sincere regrets for the inconvenience that you may have experienced due to the miscommunication between our staff involving the Consulus Group’s participation for the Trees of the World event. We fully understand your commitment to your partners and the importance of corporate branding for your company”, a letter that we received from Nigel Taylor, director at Singapore Botanic Gardens, said.

We appreciate Singapore Botanic Gardens’ acknowledgement of the mix-up and look forward to working with them on future projects.

The beautiful orchid plant that they sent along with the letter is now a bright spot in our office.

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Lawrence Chong, CEO at Consulus, has accepted the invitation to speak at the 10th GCC Government Excellence and Quality Customer Care Conference to be held in Dubai, UAE from 7th to 9th February 2012. The conference is organised by Datamatix, the leading knowledge service provider in the Middle East.

Visit the conference website for more information.

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Felix Fong, Head of International Markets at Consulus has been appointed to act as the External Examiner for the undergraduate and postgraduate design programmes of Raffles Education Corporation. His appointment, which takes effect immediately, is a sign of Consulus’ commitment to the development of young creative talent.

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Headlined by Mr Lawrence Chong, CEO and Director for Strategy at Consulus, the talk was an hour-long excerpt from the 4th Shape the World Conference entitled “A New World Order is Here. Are Asian Brands Ready?”

Mr Chong challenged Asian brands to deepen their role in leading the future by building world-class, purpose-driven brands that will change the business and social landscape.

Lawrence Chong shares insights with the Zobel Business Club members

Participants, mostly decision makers at their respective companies, were excited to realise that brand strategy entailed a bigger responsibility than they had previously thought.

“I realised that knowing the purpose of an endeavor really plays a big role to its success”, Ms Ianne Borillo, Managing Partner at Wizard of Ads Inc., said.

As the talk concluded, the audience had the chance to share their thoughts on their own brands and how they might take on the challenge of shaping the world with Consulus.

Left: Mr Mark Corpus, Senior Executive at Consulus, with Mr and Mrs Eugene Maderal, Mr John Miranda; Right: Mr Lawrence Chong with Mr Arnold Andaya, President at Philippine Flower Cut Corporation

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This was the question posed to more than 60 private and public sector leaders from around the region, who met at the fourth Shape the World Conference on 24 November at the Fullerton Hotel.

Lawrence Chong opens the morning session with a presentation on brand strategy.

Through speaker presentations, a panel discussion and hands-on workshops, the conference explored the following aspects of the theme:

• trends and challenges affecting the rise of Asian brands;
• the development of a new generation of Asian leaders;
• organisational strategies to enable collaboration and innovation;
• the role of the public sector in nurturing the growth of Asian brands; and
• fresh strategic perspectives derived from an integrated business and design approach.

The panel of speakers comprised Jose Mari Oquiñena, Undersecretary for Special Concerns at the Presidential Communications Operations Office of the Philippine government; Idris T Vasi, CEO at DST, the leading telecommunications company in Brunei Darussalam; Melvin Tan, Managing Director at Cyclect, an engineering services group in Singapore; and Lawrence Chong, CEO at Consulus, the brand consultancy firm that organised the event.

L-R: Jose Mari Oquiñena, Melvin Tan and Idris T Vasi answer questions from the floor during the panel discussion.

“I think the conference had the right focus. There are more than three billion people in Asia. Our share of the world’s GDP is growing, which means our companies, our business and political leaders need to step up and drive business”, Vasi said.

“When you talk about growing a brand, it’s not just about the look and feel but it’s how you change business practices and how you go about implementing and executing on your business imperatives”, he added, saying that senior executives handling strategy and business development would benefit from attending the conference.

According to Tan, the ideas presented would be particularly useful for companies that sought to expand out of their home countries into and beyond the Asia Pacific region, as participants “received different perspectives and ideas on how to steer the businesses into that direction”.

Attendee Khoong Hock Yun, Assistant Chief Executive at iDA Singapore, shared Tan’s sentiment.

“For many Asian companies this is a great opportunity, because Asia is indeed a growing market. I strongly recommend this [conference] to Asian companies who are trying to see how they can penetrate this fast-growing market”, Khoong said.

Conference participants pose questions for the speakers at the panel discussion.

Three interactive workshops or Brand Labs gave participants opportunities to practise applying purpose-driven approaches to leadership strategy, organisational strategy and customer service strategy.

“[We] talked about how we give people the first impression of our company, how we condition the people, how we engage our customers and what kind of memory we want to leave with our customers”, Lim Cheong Kee, Managing Director at Life Transcends, a startup that specialises in coaching, training and mentoring, said.

“It’s been a very insightful event. I’ve learned that when I start up the company is the best time to prepare it with a purpose—not just for the company to earn money, but how we can add value to society as well”, Lim added.

The purpose-driven approach to branding showcased at the conference struck a chord with Oquiñena, who champions volunteerism through his work in Gawad Kalinga, a non-government organisation that builds communities to end poverty.

He mentioned that he saw the conference as a platform for collaboration in collectively addressing global challenges and exploring how Asian brands can become more purpose driven and sustainable.

“The Shape the World Conference is becoming a forum for Asian leaders who are interested to network and to use their power wisely to shape a new Asia, one that goes beyond profit and impacts corporate cultures and helps drive sustainable innovation”, Chong said.

Felix Fong, Head of International Markets at Consulus, chats with Nathaniel Imperial, Consul General at the Philippine Embassy in Singapore, during a networking break.

Among the objectives of every Shape the World Conference is to come up with tangible action plans. This year’s discussions led to an agreement to form a leadership network to encourage collaboration and drive partnerships among the members.

Attendees also started plans to launch an award for emerging Asian leaders at the next Shape the World Conference, scheduled to be held in October 2012 in Singapore.

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This fourth edition of the conference, which will take place at the historic Fullerton Hotel, will gather 100 leaders from 30 nations.

With Europe in turmoil and a US economy still struggling to find its feet, Asian economies now play a bigger role in driving sustainable growth globally. However, while Asia is expected to serve as a growing market for consumer products, few Asian brands are near the top league of brands.

To lead the future Asian companies must catch up in terms of creating intellectual property, developing unique business models and designing new experiences.

“This gathering acts as a platform for promising Asian leaders to re-imagine their business models and find relevant partners in order to achieve a sustained competitive advantage,” Lawrence Chong, CEO at Consulus, said.

Organised by Consulus and supported by the Association for Small and Medium Enterprises, the 4th Shape the World Conference will explore the following issues:

• trends and challenges affecting the rise of Asian brands;
• the development of a new generation of Asian leaders;
• organisational strategies to enable collaboration and innovation;
• the role of the public sector in nurturing the growth of Asian brands; and
• fresh strategic perspectives derived from an integrated business and design approach.

“It is very important to involve policy makers in this conversation and allow business leaders to learn from a diverse group of talents such as designers, thinkers and innovators,” Chong said.

The panel of speakers comprises the following:

• Usec Jose Mari Oquiñena, Undersecretary, Presidential Communications, Operations Office, Office for Special Concerns, Philippine Government;
• Mr Idris T Vasi, Chief Executive Officer, DST, the leading telecommunications company in Brunei Darussalam;
• Mr Melvin Tan, Managing Director, Cyclect Group; and
• Mr Lawrence Chong, CEO, Consulus.

After the speaker presentations and panel discussions, the following interactive workshops or Brand Labs will be held in the afternoon:

• Brand Lab 1: Leadership Strategy – Continue the conversation with panel speakers and develop new strategies to help Asian leaders rethink their business models and dominate the future.
• Brand Lab 2: Organisational Strategy – Learn how an authentic purpose is crucial to building a sustainable brand and enhancing business innovation and performance.
• Brand Lab 3: Customer Service Strategy – Learn how a holistic approach to customer service strategy can generate more affinity and higher recall for your brand.

Leaders from government, business and non-profit sectors, including senior management from multinational corporations and small and medium enterprises from Asia, are expected to attend.

Interested parties may register online or email shapetheworld2011@consulusgroup.com for assistance.

To receive more information or to arrange interviews with speakers, please contact Mr Felix Fong at +65 6341 5022 or felix_fong@consulusgroup.com.

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The Shape the World Conference (STWC) titled “Time to build iconic product brands for Vietnam” was focused on changing the mindset of CEOs and Product Development Directors towards building a holistic product experience. Co-organised by Consulus, a regional brand consultancy firm, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce & Industry (VCCI) and Babylons, the conference was attended by some 80 participants from diversified SMEs across Vietnam. The event was held in Hanoi, Vietnam and officially opened by Mr Nguyen Tien Son, Deputy Head of Business Information Center at VCCI.

Mr Nguyen giving the opening speech

Ms Helena Pham, Senior Manager, Vietnam at Consulus, subsequently started the session. Mr Lawrence Chong, Director for Strategy, and Mr Felix Fong, Head of International Markets shared insights on the following:

• How to stand out in a changing world

• How to shape the world in changing times
• How Vietnam will shape the world
• Differences between Lion Brands & Deer Brands
• How to create a powerful product by changing the perception of the world
• Case Studies: Applying 4 frames for a unique product experience to shape the world of consumers
• Case Studies: Applying 3 Signs for a unique design experience to shape the world of luxury

Mr Felix Fong sharing a luxury case study

Participants broke into smaller groups during the two strategy labs in the afternoon and brainstormed on how to set the lasting formula for a brand symbol of longevity and consequently on how to develop the holistic experience for the given milk product brand.

Participant presenting the formula for 3 Signs

Mr Jeffrey Chiu, Director of Finance awarded the certificates to the winning team who adopted best the 4-frame methodology.

“I’m now aware of every single step of building a brand”, shared by Ms Nguyen Thu Hang at VA Group.

“This is my first time to Consulus workshop and I find the topic very fresh and useful for my line of work”, shared by Ms Trinh Ngoc Thao, Branding Executive at Vinacontrol.

Click here for more photos of the conference

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