Local start-up Nurture Pods, which was set up in 2011 and provides intervention programmes designed to develop children with special learning needs, engaged the UOB-SMU Asian Enterprise Institute in 2013 to develop a clear brand identity and marketing strategy, with the aid of Spring Singapore's Capability Development Grant for brand development. A team of student consultants, together with a project adviser, analysed the company's competitive landscape and devised marketing strategies over the course of 12 weeks. Under the team's recommendations, Nurture Pods realigned its brand positioning by adding media to its arsenal of mostly print material, overhauling its website and using online marketing, which in turn boosted the number of inquiries it received. Nurture Pods founder Alex Liau said: “The grants by Spring Singapore helped to subsidise the cost of such badly needed studies, yet we can still have a very professionally run branding research project by the UOB-SMU AEI team.”