The ‘Kingsmen experience'
Kingsmen Creatives Ltd, a Singapore-based communication design and production group, with over 20 offices worldwide, has risen to hit the big 40 in 2016. Achieving its mission to revolutionise design and visual communication for almost four decades has not made Kingsmen’s founders Simon Ong and Benedict Soh battle weary but energised them in that they are nurturing a team to continue their work ethos and culture of being ‘Kingsmen’ to all their clients. Over a cup of tea, group managing director Simon Ong shares his reflection with Retail Asia’s managing editor Vanessa Ching …
Running a business is one thing, leading people is another,” says Simon Ong when asked to reflect on his Kingsmen journey, in 1976 with only seven people, and growing the company to more than 1,600 employees in 18 cities around the world.
The company has been serving clients and working on projects such as BMW, Chanel, FJ Benjamin, Fendi, Tiffany & Co, Swarovski, Resorts World Sentosa’s Universal Studios Singapore, Robinsons and Metro. And the list goes on ...
What is the secret to Kingsmen’s success?
The founders have ingrained in their staff thought leadership and a culture to deliver what Ong terms as the ‘Kingsmen Experience’.
Roland Krueger, president and CEO of BMW Group Japan, notes: “People at Kingsmen possess the remarkable ability to deliver results in a short period of time with a very clear understanding of all communicative aspects of a brand and its respective corporate identity.
“This combination of competence and customer orientation has made every one of our projects with Kingsmen successful.”
At the core of Kingsmen’s philoso-phy, according to Ong, are three tenets:
1. To not necessarily be different for the sake of being different;
2. To be the best but not necessarily have to be the biggest; and
3. Always be fair to the staff, partners and vendors.
The founders have set up Kingsmen Academy to encourage new perspec- tives and instill in their staff a culture of learning.
Kingsmen has certainly come a long way — guided by its core principles — by its track record.
“In seeing, it is often not what we see, but how we see, which brings us to anewwayof thinking and positively impacts the creative process.”
— Simon Ong, Founder, Kingsmen Creatives Ltd
Towards new dimensions
The company’s 35th anniversary’s theme ‘towards new dimensions’ set in 2010 is a testament to Kingsmen’s mindset and future thinking.
Ong likes to challenge his staff to see things differently. “In seeing, it is often not what we see, but how we see, which brings us to a new way of thinking and positively impacts the creative process.”
Indeed, Kingsmen’s creative spirit and work can be seen worldwide — its business units cover Exhibitions & Museums, Retail & Corporate Interiors, Research & Design as well as Alternative Marketing.
Among its large clientele are Chanel’s Marina Bay Sands flagship store in Sin- gapore and Swarovski APAC and Middle East. For the latter, Kingsmen created ‘A Crystal Forest’ theme for its stores.
Its work for Robinsons’ 116,000 sqf store at The Gardens in Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, featuring a “ripples in a pond and lily pads on the floor” concept, won five international design awards including the top prize in the ‘New or Completely Renovated Specialty Department Store’ category at the ISP/VM+SD International Store Design Awards 2007 in New York, USA. Kingsmen’s latest 2015 project for the Metro store in Orchard Road, Sing- apore, has also made its mark with its fresh and immersive design and layout.
In the banking sector, Kingsmen gave United Overseas Banks’ 54 branch- es a pan-Asian ambience, and rendered a holistic concept to DBS’ Treasures and branches.
In Exhibitions & Museums, Kings- men’s work for Art Stage Singapore at Marina Bay Sands in January 2011, which featured works from 26 countries and 121 galleries, helped to launch the city-state into the international art fair arena.
Other notable projects include the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix, Venetian Macao Grand Opening, World Expo Shanghai, National Museum of Singa- pore, China National Film Museum, National Taiwan Science Centre and iSpace at Science Centre Singapore.
Kingsmen has been inducted into the Singapore Furniture Industries Council (SFIC) Hall of Fame as part of the Singapore Furniture Industry Awards (SFIA) 2013. It is the first company to be inducted, following three consecutive Interior Builders Award (Gold) wins since the awards were first introduced in 2003.
The new generation
Having achieved numerous business successes and accolades, what’s next for Kingsmen?
Bringing the company to the next stage and passing the torch to the new generation are on the founders’ minds.
The management team of Kingsmen has been thinking about its succession plan in the past few years. It has been grooming its younger leaders so that the current management team can step back and focus on the bigger picture, developing a ‘helicopter’ vision of changing trends, challenges and opportunities.
As a testament to the company’s culture, many of Kingsmen’s staff have been with the company for decades.
The company is now gearing up to celebrate its 40th anniversary and grandfather Ong is still very much the ‘spark’ man ... and looking forward to share and pass on his accumulated wisdom.
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