[Photo: Jonathan Bonsey]

By Lee Su Shyan, Assistant Money Editor

IF YOU are one of the people left bamboozled by new-fangled marketing terms such as brand architecture, grab a packet of Maggi noodles.

There is a new healthier version, and the fact that it is getting noticed is due to a bit of nifty brand architecture by the local whizzes at Bonsey Design Partnership.

The firm specialises in taking venerable old products like Maggi noodles and revving up their image - whether through snazzy new packaging, refining labels or enhancing the information on the packet, but without fixing what is not broken.

With Maggi, it helped tweak the packaging to sell a healthier, reformulated, recipe for the popular snacks.

The 'Healthier Choice' endorsement was clearly printed on the packet, as was the 'Less salt, no added MSG, no trans fat' message - yet the brand's familiar yellow colour remained.

The firm was founded by Singapore permanent resident Jonathan Bonsey in 1993 to offer services such as brand evaluation research, graphic design and multimedia positioning for companies across the Asia-Pacific.

Mr Bonsey, 52, was already a dab hand in this business, having headed a design firm in Singapore before spending three years in San Francisco.

He said: 'We set up here with the aim of being an Asian-based firm serving local and international clients.'

He moved into an old office building on River Valley Road and has stayed there through thick and more than his share of thin.

It was a modest start - two clients from Indonesia and one from Malaysia - with his wife helping out as an administrator in the first two years.

'But we broke even within three months,' said Mr Bonsey.

With his background in graphic design and good contacts with multinationals, he was among the first in Singapore to offer such branding services.

Still, the firm hit a rough patch during the Asian financial crisis as companies started cutting back on branding activity.

Fortunately, a couple of the firm's clients were earning in US dollars while expenses were in Indonesian rupiah.

They found they could get more bang for their buck, in terms of more airtime and more print advertisements.

But apart from being on the right side of the currency crisis, Mr Bonsey said one key lesson he learnt then was to help bring value to his clients.

Take Unilever in Indonesia. It had wanted to make its Sari Wangi brand of tea bags more affordable.

Bonsey Design completely overhauled the packaging.

Instead of selling boxes of tea bags in quantities of 25 or 50, these were now packaged in quantities of just five to make each purchase more affordable.

But the re-branding went far beyond just changing the purchase size.

The thickness of the cardboard and other layers of bundling were cut down, thus saving packaging costs as well as helping out the environment.

While the contents of the tea bags stayed the same, the printing costs were streamlined by using fewer colours.

The expensive gold ink and foil finish went out the door, but not at the expense of the image.

At that point, 'we not only helped the client save on costs, we made the client much more efficient. We cut down on waste,' said Mr Bonsey.

The crisis forced the firm to devise a survival plan that has served it well since.

Mr Bonsey said: 'We had a staff of 10, but we didn't let anyone go. Of course, being small, we didn't have far to fall, but we decided to spend our way out of the crisis.'

While other firms indiscriminately cut costs, Bonsey Design took the chance to recruit more people.

'We employed quality sales people so that we could grow our way out of it,' he said. 'We always have the attitude that the glass is half-full rather than half-empty. We find that the businesses which choose to expand in the downturn will last much better when the tide comes in again.'

The bold move paid off with 2000 turning out to be one of the best years for Bonsey. Its established name allowed it to bounce back quickly from the downturn, although the 2003 Sars crisis was much tougher.

By that time, the firm had around 15 people, 'so our overheads were higher, and it made us more vulnerable to downturns', said Mr Bonsey.

Also, 'it was the nature of our business, where we needed the face to face contact and we couldn't meet our clients to proceed with our projects'.

However, Mr Bonsey can look back and see the benefits of the crisis as the firm invested in Internet and telecommunications connections to allow alternative ways of communicating, such as video-conferencing.

All these have paid off, allowing the firm to cut expenses by being more selective about travelling.

Another takeaway from Sars was to ensure the business has a diversified portfolio of clients and services to reduce risks, added Mr Bonsey.

For example, by operating in multiple markets, a slowdown in consumer products in Thailand may be offset by a growth in demand for financial services in Malaysia.

By offering different services, if demand for product branding such as packaging for the fast-moving consumer goods segment falls, screen branding such as building an Internet or TV presence could pick up some of the slack.

'For SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises), they should be looking at such initiatives all the time. All organisations should be looking to find smarter ways of doing things, instead of just being pessimistic and cutting costs across the board.'

'It's like losing weight and going to the gym. It's something that one should always be doing and not waiting for the crisis,' said Mr Bonsey.

The firm is 25-strong, staffed by a mix of locals and expats putting their design magic to good effect on a variety of products and companies, such as F&N, Eu Yan Sang, Procter & Gamble and Nestle.

It designed the logo for the Singapore Management University, which includes a lion. The twist is that the lion's face is made out of the pieces that form the Chinese Tangram puzzle, which is a set of seven geometric pieces set in a square.

With revenue of about $3.5 million, Bonsey Design's founder is confident it can ride out the global crisis.

'We work with multinationals who want to enter the Asian market as well as strong Asian brands who want to venture out of their own domestic market.'

Growth will be there, especially in Asia, he said.

'Trade barriers are coming down. With the rise of the Internet and new media, there are also opportunities for us to make use of this new communication channel.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.