Edward Ong

Background

About Edward Ong

Ideas are borderless. The makers of Guinness saw an opportunity when they heard customers bragging at the bar. The first Guinness Book of Records (to promote the stout) was published in 1955. Today, the franchise includes museums, and a television series. To encourage travelling, Michelin Tyres published a guide to the best restaurants around France. The year was 1900 and it was a rather brave decision- considering there were only cars on the road and Henry Ford still hadn’t found a way to mass produce the automobile. The wheels of the second industrial revolution were moving like never before. Countries traded. Industries flourished. Brands dotted the horizon. Ad agencies mushroomed. While Creative Directors were busy collecting shiny widgets, digital crept over the horizon. We brushed it aside, called it new media and got distracted by YouTube. In reality, digital was a gamechanger. A virus that took over its host. A No-Face that gobbled everything in sight. A tidal wave that came crashing down on creatives sipping Pina Colada in the south of France. Digital agencies grew and expanded faster than anybody expected. Today, agencies no longer sell creative ideas. Agencies sell data. Data that tells the client exactly where her money has gone; how many likes and eyeballs the campaign will get, what is the cost per impression, per click, per lead, per acquisition, per whatever."We have 5 mins left, would you like to see the creative work?""Thanks, won't be necessary." I left the big agency scene in Dec 2015 to set up my own shop. I wanted to start at the source. Instead of selling 'the big idea', I want to make and build ideas with clients. With engineers, chemists, taxidermists, publishers, perfume makers, performers, designers, dreamers, inventors of stuff. Help put together something so irresistible, so awesome that advertising becomes a by-the-way. And so, BORDERLESS was born. A creative and strategic consultancy that makes good things happen. I know where I want and ought to go. Except I'm probably holding the map upside down, constantly negotiating an unknown terrain, wondering if I have the proper equipment, if I'm actually qualified to do this, if my eyesight is faulty, and will this mad endeavour ever pay off? Then again, if stout brewers stayed indoors, and tyre makers never looked out of the window- where would we be? Join us at IdeasAreBorderless.com