Qual Research Agency One16 Launches in Singapore

Former Illuminas MD Frank Ma has launched a qualitative research business called One16 in Singapore, focusing on market / user exploratory studies, concept testing, post-launch tracking and UX research.

Ma (pictured) was previously MD of boutique qualitative consumer research agency Sage Asia, before which he worked for Illuminas as MD Shanghai and Hong Kong. Earlier he was a Project Director at Synovate (acquired by Ipsos in 2011), having previously worked for consumer psychology research specialist Censydiam, which later became part of Synovate.

His new company, One16, offers a range of end-user research methodologies to connect clients directly to their customers, uncovering user behaviour, motivations, needs and expectations to help shape brands, products and services. Approaches include end-user segmentation to identify the appropriate target segment; market gap / opportunity identification; and competitive landscape profiling. In addition, the company has developed its own testing framework to identify concepts with the most potential and then optimize them.

Ma comments on the launch: 'End-user research is an integral part of all businesses, big or small. However, the high cost of doing it has restricted it to only big brand names with a budget. Smaller businesses have always been left guessing rather than have these vital data to guide them. This is precisely why I wanted to start this company, so that smaller businesses can also have access to it, at competitive prices. I do so by leveraging on online tools and focusing on smaller sample size'.

Web site: www.one16.co .