Y&R opens doors to four start-ups in bid to enhance innovation

Y&R’s 'Spark Plug' initiative gives office space to start-ups with a track record in digital. It will be introduced in Singapore this month before being rolled out across Jakarta, Thailand, China and India.

The programme will see gamification start-up GameMaki, DJ Nomsta, talent management company Riot Records and social media loyalty start-up Squiryl work alongside Y&R Singapore for around six months.

JJ Schmuckler, Y&R’s global chief of staff, said the programme is a way of tapping into and leveraging the growing start-up market around the world.

The start-ups will act as a source of inspiration for Y&R’s creative and strategic teams, and the agency will also look at ways the start-ups can partner with Y&R’s existing clients.

“For us, clients are incredibly engaged [with the programme]," Schmuckler said. "Also for them, to be honest, it’s a little bit of free ideas, added value and something that comes on top of the day-to-day of what they are expecting.

“It’s more than just story-boarding or campaign ideas, it’s something on top that’s a really interesting added value.”  

Camellia Tan, Y&R’s director of network development, said Y&R was keen to host start-ups in the space of gaming, mobile, apps, social platforms and content as these are the “biggest areas of growth”.

“A lot of our clients are looking at how to use music," she continued, "but up to now it’s always been [them saying], ‘I wouldn’t necessarily talk to my agency of record if I want to do something specific to music’, and clients also don’t really know who to talk to. At this point we are saying. ‘We have these guys on board, so let’s bounce ideas and see what we can do’.”