F&B tech company Oddle checks out with SPRG SG for PR advice

Omnichannel F&B technology company Oddle has appointed Strategic Public Relations Group (SPRG) Singapore as its B2B public relations agency. SPRG will oversee delivering strategic, creative communications to drive awareness, build brand credibility, and engage the business community, as Oddle goes deeper and wider to provide solutions to F&B merchants. Through its communications efforts, the agency hopes to cement brand leadership for Oddle in the F&B technology sector. 

According to Oddle's chief marketing officer, Sylvia Ong, SPRG Singapore impressed the brand with its extensive knowledge in strategic communications, investor branding and corporate communications. She explained that the agency understood Oddle's unique business model, and clearly outlined a plan on how to communicate it to its target audience regionally. "SPRG's past experiences in strengthening the positioning of other startups make us confident that they will be able to help Oddle's vision and mission reach a wider population,” Ong added. 

Edwin Yeo, general manager, SPRG Singapore, said: “One of the best things to happen over the pandemic was our work in the startup field, and we’ve seen venture funds and founders committed to moving towards profit with purpose." He explained that Oddle is one such company and it has redefined the Singapore F&B landscape with a sustainable business model and their 'restaurants first' mindset, which is telling that it is moving the needle to future-proof F&B restaurants with their online-to-offline solutions.

Established in 2014, Oddle provides online-to-offline solutions across the region, which currently comprises e-shop solutions, reservation systems, QR ordering systems and payment terminal solutions. According to the food technology company, it has helped its restaurant partners grow their Gross Merchant Value from US$21 million in 2019 to US$144 million in 2021. At the same time, the brand itself has achieved a revenue of US$18 million in the financial year that ended March 2021. 

As for SPRG Singapore, the agency provides one-stop, integrated communications services to clients in over 165 cities globally, with a workforce of 250 professionals. Additionally, it advises clients on public, investor, media and government relations, marketing and digital communications as well as issues and crisis communication management. According to its website, it has worked with brands such as DBS, National Geographic Channel, Disney, National Heritage Board, and Guocoland, among others. 

Meanwhile, Ong joined Oddle as its CMO in July 2021, where she is currently tasked with growing the overall Oddle business by deeply understanding the needs and unmet needs of restaurant merchants, and working with the team to deliver solutions to grow its business. Additionally, she is now helping solidify Oddle's position to be merchants' F&B tech partner of choice, and establishing OddleEats as the top discovery platform for quality meals delivered island-wide. According to a previous statement to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, this was to bring additional sales for merchants, as well as grow the Oddle business regionally. Prior to her appointment, Ong was from P&G where she held various roles for more than a decade since she joined in 2009, according to her LinkedIn. In her current role, she works alongside co-founder Jonathan Lim. 

In 2020, SPRG Singapore ventured into the production space, as it looked to move from away from a traditional PR model. In a previous interview with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Edwin Yeo, general manager of SPRG said this concept first struck the team when the agency went into the publishing business with the launch of its SPRG Newsroom. As part of that venture, the team developed a news website called The Pride for the Singapore Kindness Movement. SPRG was then regularly tasked to produce videos, and observed an organic engagement from its video content.  

Other than its own media platforms, SPRG also conceptualised and developed video content for some of its clients. “We’re currently filming two Chinese TV series, which have been sold to a cable TV channel. Each episode is about 10 minutes in length and we can see that the demand for short video content is increasing, especially with more mobile consumption of entertainment, which is right up our alley,” he said then. 

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