The Straits Times / The Business Times News on OSIM

Two CEOS honoured for creating top brands

TWO of Singapore's most astute marketing maestros were honoured last week for their success in creating - and sustaining - world-beating brands.

The pair - Mr Richard Eu, chief executive (CEO) of Eu Yan Sang International, and OSIM International founder and CEO Ron Sim - operate in highly diverse fields yet both have turned small firms into global enterprises. Their skills have earned them the title of honorary fellow of the Marketing Institute of Singapore (MIS).

STRONG MARKETING: Mr Sim, who feels the bottom line is about gut feel and intuition, has succeeded in turning OSIM from a simple trading company to a global enterprise with more than 1,000 outlets in 28 countries.

The award recognises people who have racked up significant achievements in marketing or have put Singapore on the map through outstanding branding. Both Mr Sim and Mr Eu qualify on all counts, according to MIS president Lee Cheok Yew, at the awards ceremony last week. held at the Grand Plaza Park Hotel.

Mr Lee described the OSIM founder as a 'self-made man with a strong entrepreneurial spirit' who had developed the massage chair firm from a simple trading company to a global enterprise with more than 1,000 outlets in 28 countries.

While Mr Sim succeeds in marketing new products of a relatively young brand, Mr Eu has met the equally daunting challenge of keeping a 127-year-old trademark relevant in the 21st century. He heads a regional chain of 72 self-operated retail stores and over 5,000 point-of-sales outlets worldwide selling the firm's traditional Chinese medicine-based products.

Both men face different marketing challenges and both admit that getting it right is no easy feat.

Mr Eu said: 'I have to keep abreast of the latest trends in marketing and to use all the available tools in order for my company to stay a leader in its field.'

Mr Sim looks at things from a different angle: 'It is good to have all the research, studies and focus groups which provide great guidelines. But the bottom line is really about gut feel and intuition.'