The set-up will be headed by Robert Hutchison, previously the regional strategic research manager for Disney consumer products.
Springboard will have a separate fee structure and it expects to work for some DDB clients - such as Asia Pacific Breweries and DHL - but its priority will be to build up a roster of non-agency clients.
Its service offering will include research on brand competitiveness and the relationships consumers have with particular brands, formulating brand programmes, naming and brand identity design. Springboard will also undertake brand tracking studies.
In April, Springboard will release the Asia-Pacific findings of its "Brand Capital
study - a qualitative consumer research covering hundreds of brands in Singapore, China, Japan and Australia.
David Tang, managing director of DDB, said ad agencies often under-sell themselves when undertaking brand consultancy work.
For example, the most DDB has charged for a brand plan is S$80,000 (US$43,600), which the client paid after Boston Consulting quoted S$250,000 (US$136,500).
Tang said he was amazed to learn that clients were willing to pay brand and management consultants hefty fees, but balk when ad agencies wanted similar compensation for the same assignment.
Despite reticence among clients about paying ad agencies for brand consultancy work, Tang said Springboard would succeed because the Brand Capital study provided it with essential proprietary research and valuable consumer insights.
"I think when clients see the research we have on their brand, they'll recognise that if they were to commission that research themselves it would cost a lot of money,
he said.
