This Master Class is right for you!

This Master Class is not theoretical. It is practical, interdisciplinary, immersive and radically people-led innovation programme. It is designed to meet the business needs of the Halal F&B industry which needs to understand the Muslim travellers’ needs, wants and desires for the Japanese market. Together with key thought-leaders in design thinking approach, you will learn how to adopt a user-centric approach to identify market overlap or unexploited potential, and make immediate and positive step-change in your current brand or business strategy. 

This programme is built on over two decades of experience in creating brand experiences, and people-led innovation capability building for leading international brands and Singapore’s transformation into the new Asia’s hub for innovation. It is the only one of its kind in the world and a break from the traditional new market development methods. It focuses on market immersion and people-led innovation approach covering the entire innovation process: conducting fieldwork to uncover the Muslim travellers’ unmet needs, wants and desires, mining powerful insights that can enhance brand experiences and drive revenue, creating an abundance of fresh ideas, evaluating and prioritizing ideas, prototyping winning concepts and testing them with the users.

Why the Halal F&B Industry in Japan?

According to the Mastercard-Halal Trip Muslim Millennial Travel Report 2017, Japan is ranked third as the preferred destination choice after Malaysia and Indonesia. Muslim arrivals to Japan increased from around 150,000 in 2004 to 700,000 in 2016 and is expected to surpass the 1 million in 2018. 60% of the Muslim visitor arrivals are from ASEAN, with Indonesia and Malaysia representing respectively 27% and 23% of the arrivals. It is estimated that Muslim Millennials represent 20% of the market.

The Master Class will be held in Tokyo which is the most popular destination in Japan for Muslim travellers and ranked in the top position in the Japan Muslim Travel Index (JMTI) 2017. The JMTI index benchmarks services to the Muslim travellers across Japan. 

Knowing the Muslim Traveller in Japan

You will learn how to sharpen your understanding about the Muslim travellers in Japan from their point of view through quick design ethnography and contextual inquiry fieldwork, find new opportunities of market disruption and capture new value propositions.


You will walk away knowing how to:

• Conduct quick design ethnography to unlock meaningful customer insights,
• Use synthesis techniques to mine insights that can enhance brand experiences and drive revenues,
• Design persona for strategic branding and marketing,
• Create an abundance of ideas,
• Use strategic tools to evaluate and prioritise ideas,
• Prototype winning concepts, 
• Test concepts with users, and
• Develop potential enhanced brand experiences and business concept strategies for sustainable competitive advantage in the Halal F&B industry for Japan.

Participant Profile

This Master Class is designed for mid to senior executives who hold significant responsibility and who want to unlock the potential of people-led innovation approach for their business. Typical participants include CEOs, managing directors, C-suite executives, senior managers, executive vice-presidents, board members and chairpersons. 

Programme Outline

DAY 1
• Understanding the Ground Rules for Effective Innovation
• People-led Innovation Bootcamp
• Understanding User’s Needs, Wants and Desires through Rapid Design Ethnography
• Conducting a Rapid Design Ethnography Fieldwork 

DAY 2
• Designing a Persona for Meaningful Innovation and Brand Strategies
• Translating Fieldwork Data into Key Meaningful Insights 

DAY 3
• Generating an Abundance of Ideas
• Evaluating and Prioritising Ideas for Sustainable Competitive Advantage
• Exploring New Concepts 
• Prototyping New Concepts for User Testing
• Testing New Concepts with Users

DAY 4
• Refining Concepts
• Developing Potential Enhanced Brand Experiences and Business Concept Strategies

The Expert Facilitators

Shang Lim
Shang is Co-Founder and Brand Experience Creator at FreshlyGround. She brings invaluable branding expertise in Asia Pacific and has worked extensively with consumer insights and innovation for businesses large and small. She previously headed a team for the government of Singapore to plan and strategise, then implement programmes and projects that encourage enterprises to adopt Design Thinking strategies.

Thierry Do
Thierry is Co-Founder and Customer Experience Maker at FreshlyGround. Through a career path that spanned over two decades and three continents, Thierry has honed his skills as customer experience maker by deepening his understanding of cultures and people. His experiences include working on the interior design of the first French high-speed train TGV Duplex and putting in place the national Design Thinking framework for Singapore’s transformation into the new Asia’s hub for innovation.

About the Pricing
Price includes 
• all training materials
• planned cultural activities during the programme
• light refreshments during the workshop
• a party/networking event 
• certificate
• administration fees

Price does not include
• banks transfer fees
• food at meal time
• travel expenses & costs
• visa
• accommodation or any other extra expenses

Register by
31 August 2018
(Seats are limited to 16 participants only)