In her three years at the Banyan Tree Group, where she was director of corporate communications, Ho-Phang noted the difficulties in sourcing marketing communications expertise to help communicate the company's brands to Chinese- speaking markets.
The result is BrandStory and her first client is a Thai-based restaurant chain that is entering Shanghai. "There is value in doing things right from the beginning. It is in the simple things, such as getting the Chinese name right, to having a strategic outlook - positioning the product in the consumer's mind accurately," says the managing director of BrandStory.
The consultancy reflects the bilingual capability Ho-Phang envisioned - it is headquartered in Singapore and Shanghai and staff are bilingual in English and Chinese.
BrandStory will offer strategic brand development, corporate communications, media and public relations campaigns and corporate responsibility programmes not just to those keen on going into the Chinese-speaking markets, but the wider Asia-Pacific markets. It will start with industries Ho-Phang is familiar with: luxury hospitality, destination, healthcare and beauty, fashion and lifestyle, environment and sustainability, information technology and telecommunications. An entrepreneur at heart, Ho-Phang was a founding partner of MakanSutra Media, which published a guidebook and an interactive website for the best food and restaurants in Singapore. "The time is actually right (for setting up the firm). Because of weak economies, companies need to look for new markets more than ever," she says.