Simon Ong is the Co-Founder and Deputy Chairman of Kingsmen Creatives Ltd. He created the company with a simple idea: that experiences have the power to shape how people feel, think, and connect. Today, Kingsmen Creatives Ltd, Kingsmen Projects US, Inc. and Kingsmen India are a global collective of creators, designers, builders, technologists, and storytellers who are dedicated to crafting environments that inspire. For five decades Simon Ong, has partnered with leading brands, cultural institutions, and governments to bring ambitious visions to life, from immersive museums to world-stage exhibitions. Listen to a conversation that tracks Simon's trajectory in the experience design world as a creative leader who shapes places that move people.
About Simon Ong:
LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-ong-89095b12/
Website: https://kingsmen-int.com
email: simonong@kingsmen-int.com
Bio:
Kingsmen Creatives / Singapore / Deputy Chairman / Co-founder
Simon Ong oversees the strategic planning and development, as well as the creative and brand standards, of Kingsmen, a leading communication design and production group with 18 offices spanning the Asia Pacific region and North America. One of the Group’s two founders, he has significantly contributed to its growth.
Simon is actively serving in the creative industry and is currently an honorary advisor to the Society of Interior Designers Singapore and a member of Singapore Interior Design Accreditation Council. He served as the Chairman of the design sector of Singapore Workforce Development Agency, and a board member of SHOP!, a leading Association of Retail Environments in USA. In 2019, he was inducted into the SHOP! Hall of Fame in recognition of his significant contributions to the industry. Most recently, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Interior Designers Singapore for his substantial contributions to the design industry.
An ardent advocate of education, Simon currently serves as a board director of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. He served as a member of the Advisory Board to the School of Design & Environment at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Temasek Polytechnic School of Design, and a member of the Design Education Review Committee, Singapore (DERC). He was the former Chairman of the School Advisory Board of Cedar Girls’ Secondary School, and Vice-Chairman of the Potong-Pasir CC Management Committee.
Simon graduated with a Master’s Degree in Design from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of South Australia.
SHOW INTRO:
Welcome to Episode 88! of the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast and my conversation with Simon Ong the Deputy Chairman & Co-founder of Kingsmen Creatives in Singapore..
* * * *
As we come to a different phase of our professional life you get to thinking back over the years that you invested in growing something
that it was hard but it was also fun
it was challenging and it was sometimes desperate
sometimes you felt elation sometimes you worried about how we're going to pay the next bill
there's a cycle of experience in 50 years of growing a company like that is worth reflecting on and saying ‘you know we have had big wins and we’ve made mistakes
we've learned a lot about ourselves and how to grow a business - how to remain relevant.
I think the relevancy issue means having a sense of empathy tapping into the zeitgeist around you and saying i need to relate to that because if i don't I’ll become irrelevant and i can't i can't communicate
The challenge is put to new leaders and old to listen, be introspective, be flexible to adjust to the sometimes overwhelming sea of change between now and next.
You hopefully get better at saying both been there done that and been there not doing that anymore period.
When early in my retail design career I had, I guess I would call her a mentor, Jackie Glanz the president of a store fixture manufacturing company called MG Concepts and I recall her drilling into me some core lessons about business and marketing, namely
Maintain your industry friendships even when they are halfway around the world. Because you just never know when you're going to come into a situation where reaching out will make the difference between growth and stagnation, or success and failure or a door opening up or door being closed.
It could be with some of those relationships that you never actually do business with them with the mutual support and the benefit of connection extends beyond a project or profit in the physical sense but sometimes is more valuable in a sense of community already perhaps spiritual way the people along your path make a difference.
I have often shared with people that I certainly like working on projects but in the end it's relationships that I value most.
I'm sure all of us have worked on what we would presume to be great projects but the relationship chemistry just didn't work and it made what was presumed to be wonderful more woeful.
And the reverse… where projects were of average scope or prestige and ended up being prized because of the people
there was a sense of community, a shared responsibility, a willingness to extend beyond what was asked for and to bring something new to the world even though it wouldn't end up winning a prize in design competition or being on the cover of a trade publication.
You stayed doing one thing long enough and you actively engage in the community of your profession working with other leaders to define ideas or policies or grow an emerging cohort of young designers and architects into roles you also begin to have in a certain sense your own brand which is very much about what you believe in not necessarily what the things you bring into the world look like and certainly not a logo.
Beyond the image is the intention, the ideological orientations that drive what you do every day that ultimately give meaning to the things that you focus your time on and that you hope other people align with.
Having a point of view that drives your decision-making matters.
And for the individual, as well as large international mega brands, it is important that what you do and what you say are aligned. When these two things are at odds, it's not hard to see the disconnect, and trust and credibility are critical foundational elements to long term relationships Whether those relationships are personal between you and your work colleagues or between you and your clients.
In a crowded marketplace where many professional firms offer the same services and you might say are equally as good at providing them what is the differentiating factor between a client choosing you over the next guy?
Sometimes, it's simply a feeling a feeling about how the relationship might progress through the phases of a project is the best way to know if the project will be successful...
And this is where we bring in my guest on this episode Simon Ong…
Simon Ong is the Deputy Chairman & Co-founder of Kingsmen Creatives in Singapore
He oversees the strategic planning and development, as well as the creative and brand standards, of Kingsmen, a leading communication design and production group with 18 offices spanning the Asia Pacific region and North America.
After 50 years in the experience design industry, Simon is still actively engaging and is currently an honorary advisor to the Society of Interior Designers Singapore and a member of Singapore Interior Design Accreditation Council.
He served as the Chairman of the design sector of Singapore Workforce Development Agency, and a board member of SHOP!, a leading Association of Retail Environments in USA. In 2019, he was inducted into the SHOP! Hall of Fame in recognition of his significant contributions to the industry.
Most recently, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Interior Designers Singapore for his substantial contributions to the design industry.
An ardent advocate of education, Simon currently serves on multiple academic helping to shape the curriculum of young designers entering into the Experience design industry.
I got together with Simon at Euroshop in Dusselddorf, Germany and sat down for a conversation about his career path, growing a business, design thinking and more.
I am grateful to having Simon both share his experience and to have known him for half of his 50 years in the business.