New creative group Trifecta launches in APAC, unites architecture with branding and comms

Branding and design studio ACRE, architecture firm Kaizen Architecture, and marketing communications agency bSIDE have teamed up to form Trifecta, an interdisciplinary creative group. Offering branding, design, architecture, marketing and communications services, Trifecta was founded by the directors of three firms - ACRE's co-founder and creative director T Y Zheng (pictured second to right); Kaizen Architecture's co-founder and principal architect Melvin Keng (pictured right); and bSIDE's co-founder and managing partner Charissa Guan (pictured left), as well as the co-founder of all three companies, Jason Song (pictured second to left).

According to Song, Trifecta represents “the simple idea of three” and offers a “frictionless integration between the disciplines of branding and identity, architecture and space, marketing and communications”.  This enables it to provide an end-to-end brand journey for hotels, retailers, restaurants, and others. While the three firms collaborate closely, each firm also continues to pursue their own independent projects, explained Song, adding that Trifecta is especially eager to help Singaporean brands flourish and reimagine global brands for its local market.

While the company looks to build its presence in Singapore, Song added that the firm also has strong ambitions to expand into China given its experience and familiarity with the market, and strong relationships it has with local partners. To date, ACRE and Kaizen Architecture have completed projects in China. Among which is a joint project "Cactuss Lifestyle Store", a two story retail space in Chengdu that integrates disparate programs within a single store, "challenging the conventional retail experience in China". 

"We are currently working on creating opportunities for Singaporean companies to test the Chinese market, such as pop-ups for retail brands," he added.

Meanwhile, Guan who is the also the founder of bSIDE, explained that Trifecta's foray into APAC will be met with both challenges and opportunities. "Audience behaviour in APAC — even just within SEA alone — is very fragmented. Clients are looking for a singular point of contact to manage a massive market, and for independent agencies like ours, finding the right partners in each locality is going to be both a challenge and opportunity," she explained. Currently, bSIDE, provides services such as content strategy and writing, social media marketing, public relations, activations, partnerships, and crisis communications. It works with brands such as The Straits Wine Company and Palais Renaissance.

Guan is no stranger to the local market as she was was most recently director of VIM & VIGOUR. At the firm, she led campaigns for brands such as TiNDLE, the Singapore International Film Festival, and Destination NSW while managing agency operations. Previously, she was part of global leadership at The Mango Agency as planning director, Asia, a role created for her after a two-year tenure, where she proved her mettle by doubling the client roster and consequentially pushed double-digit revenue growth year-on-year.

“After leaving the industry in December 2021, I had the time to reflect on the past 11 years working in various marketing capacities both in-house and agency side, and came to the conclusion that I wasn’t done,” she said.  “I believe that there are more flexible and non-traditional ways that agencies can function in order to best serve clients and allow our immense talent pool in Singapore (and beyond) to thrive long-term. bSIDE will work based on an ‘agency+’ model, creating specialist teams of experienced freelancers for each project with a client lead from within the agency." 

When asked what made bSIDE different from other competitors in the market, Guan explained that its borderless, specialist team for each project allows us to work fluidly across time zones, scopes and industries.

Meanwhile, ACRE is a multi-disciplinary brand and strategy consultancy that creates brand identities, spaces, objects and experiences. According to the agency, it has worked with brands such as Banyan Tree (pictured below), CIMB Bank, Mandarin Oriental, OATSIDE, PetCubes and more. It currently houses nine staff members. T Y Zheng told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that one of the key traits ACRE looks out for in staff is a curious mind.

"Since we get our clients from a wide variety of sectors, we try to dive into the subject matter as much as we can, especially ones that are new to us. It takes a certain level of curiosity to achieve the understanding that always helped our design solutions," he said. He also added that other fundamentals for its hires are a strong sense of responsibility, technical proficiencies and aesthetic sense.

Last but not least, Kaizen Architecture has four staff members, and focuses on using architecture as a medium to weave in art, contemporary culture, branding and digital media to create a space that sparks conversations. Undertaking both commercial and residential projects, Kaizen Architecture has worked with brands such as FILA China (pictured below), AXIOM, Ally Singapore and SC Global Developments. 

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