I&CO, a global design agency, has officialsed a strategic alliance with Trambellir, a Malaysia-based online medical tourism booking platform. The collaboration entails enhancing Trambellir’s user interface (UI) and overall business assets through I&CO’s design expertise.
Trambellir serves as an online booking platform for more than 2,000 medical, beauty, and wellness services across 35 cities in 22 countries, boasting a unique Direct-to-Patient model. Since its nomination as a digital partner of the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) in 2022, Trambellir has focused on accessibility and the digitisation of medical tourism in the region.
On the other hand, having engaged with over 200 startups in the region, I&CO aims to extend its operations beyond New York and Tokyo to encompass other Asian regions.
So Iizuka, co-founder and CEO of Trambellir, told WiT that I&CO had approached the platform as they were expanding into regional markets. “I&CO was established in NYC and expanded into Tokyo in 2019, then it established its Asia headquarters in Singapore last year,” said So.
“I think that all Tours and Activities websites are similar in design and functionality at the moment. We are discussing how we can disrupt the current design,” said So Iizuka, CEO of Trambellir
He continued, “Due to SEA expansion, they have been looking for promising startups in the region for their unique design-capital model scheme. We were chosen as their first startup partner. I heard they have been searching for startups on Crunchbase, and we showed up on their radar.
“We believe that design thinking is essential for business development, and I&CO has experience in design and branding which we were looking for. We were lucky to be found by them. We’ve also been looking for our ‘Designer’ since 2021.”
As part of the partnership, Norikuni Takamiya, Head of I&CO APAC, has been appointed as Chief Design Officer (CDO) of Trambellir. Takamiya will play a pivotal role in enhancing corporate value and accelerating business growth from a design perspective.
“Basically, Takamiya supervises all design related activities including UI/UX, Branding materials/strategies, also marketing and PR strategies,” explained So. “On top of that we can use I&CO team as our internal resources for those projects.”
“I&CO empathises with Mr. Iizuka’s aim to bridge Asia and Japan through new business developments and will support this with design and creativity,” stated Takamiya.
As for first steps, So told WiT that, “At first, we are working to improve our current website design and UI. I think that all Tours and Activities websites are similar in design and functionality at the moment. We are discussing how we can disrupt the current design and UI/UX trends in the industry and develop something new which can be the next trend of OTAs.
“We are not only a B2C platform, but we also have basic products in the B2B space for healthcare service providers which we call MSO – Managed Service Organization model – and also inventory supply solutions for travel agencies,” added So. “We are improving those products with design thinking and planning to launch those products in near future officially.
“Moreover, we might be able to explore the opportunities for collaboration or partnership with I&Co’s existing clients who are industry-leading enterprises for our future growth.”
