
The facility will serve as a global hub based in Singapore. It will hire, train and mentor talent in data analytics. It will give analysts access to a range of resources and proprietary measurement tools, and operate as a “development lab”, according to a statement from Wunderman.
Speaking to Campaign Asia-Pacific at Spikes Asia (where he presented on the agency's talent-acquisition efforts), Wunderman’s regional president Martin Conneen pointed to a “greater need for people fluent in data”. He said the centre would help attract the “brightest talent” from Singapore and give them the opportunity to work in the rest of the world.
“There is huge demand,” he said. “Clients are awash in data. They want to understand how to use it and measure it across channels.”
According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), the value of big data services will reach nearly US$2.4 billion in Singapore by 2017. In the statement, Kelvin Wong, the EDB’s assistant managing director, said the centre would complement Singapore’s “ecosystem of digital technology, data and media companies”.
The EDB has also worked with Wunderman to develop a programme to give young marketers the chance to work internationally, the Z Graduate Programme, which has sent more than 30 people to work in 12 offices across the Wunderman network.