A new unified brand for SG was rolled out this evening. “Passion Made Possible” is the combined rallying cry of the Singapore Tourism Board and the Economic Development Board. Here’s the story of how and why it became possible.
The new unified brand, “Passion Made Possible”, rolled out by the Singapore Tourism Board and Economic Development Board this evening at a launch attended by international media and industry partners is a breakthrough in many respects.
Three agencies and a brand – from left, Janadas Devan, Ministry of Communications & Information; Dr Beh Swan Gin, Chairman, Economic Development Board; Lionel Yeo, chief executive, Singapore Tourism Board
For starters, It’s the first time the two government agencies have collaborated on a single brand and united behind a common purpose of increasing tourism and business to the city state.
Indeed, throw in a third agency – the Ministry of Communications and Information’s chief of government communications Janadas Devan was also at the media briefing on Tuesday to voice his support for the new brand and SG trademark which aims to position Singapore as a place where anything is possible if you have the passion and where travellers can indulge their passions and be transformed by the experience.
Devan, who said “Passion Made Possible” would be used for ministry activities that fitted the message, said, “I believe in the brand. Based on our own experience, this is an unlikely country – we made the impossible possible and the inconceivable come true.”
This collaboration between three powerful agencies will give the brand more budget as well as more legs and hopefully more staying power than previous tourism brands, the most recent of which was Your Singapore launched in 2010 and prior to that, Uniquely Singapore rolled out in 2004.
Asked why it has taken so long for this collaboration and what was the trigger point that made it finally happen, Dr Beh Swan Gin, chairman of the Economic Development Board, confessed an attempt was made seven years ago but the timing was not right.
“This time, from an EDB perspective, it fits with our approach to economic development, where we are moving from investment-driven to innovation-led. We are not just about attracting investors but also how we can transform businesses. There is now the opportunity of Asia where you can create billion dollar businesses from Singapore – as late as the 90s, Asia was not ready, now it is.
“It’s a good opportunity to combine our business and tourism brands for consistency and better communications, and the brand positioning is what local audiences will have good affinity for.”
Beh cited the example of A*Star (Agency for Science, Technology & Research) which he said is “very excited about the brand because scientists are driven by passion to improve people’s lives.”
Lionel Yeo, chief executive of STB, said, “I am excited for three reasons. One, the unified approach means we can amplify the message and have the SG trademark everywhere. Two, as a Singaporean, I can relate to it and for people familiar with Singapore, they will recognise this is an honest and truthful representation of who we are. Three, what it can do for tourism – it’s in line with the shift in how STB wants to talk about our destination – what you can be versus what you can do, told with passion-driven stories and what visitors can do with their passions.”
All three agencies were shy about mentioning a budget or KPIs, when asked by the media, but Yeo said the tourism marketing campaign was being funded by STB’s marketing budget. “We are spending the money to support this campaign.”
Passion Made Possible features stories of passionate locals: Subaraj Rajathurai who champions nature conservation
Twelve months in the development, the brand, developed by local agency The Secret Little Agency, takes an inside-out approach by telling stories of passionate Singaporeans who have achieved the possible/impossible – from chefs, urban greening experts, nature conservationists, artists to the world’s youngest indoor sky diver. Up to 100 Singaporeans and residents will be featured in films that will be broadcast on various media channels, social media platforms and visitsingapore.com.
In that sense, it feels almost like a nation-building campaign.
Instead of merely being descriptive, it stands for an attitude and belief, said Lynette Pang, assistant chief executive, marketing group. “It is a rallying cry for Singaporeans to dream big and achieve the possible/impossible.”
Pang said two pieces of research conducted showed that while Singapore residents and businesses were proud of how far Singapore had come, they were keen to see a more authentic and local side. “The global audience sought a stronger sense of software to balance the undoubted hardware.”
She added, “The notion of Singapore as a place that makes things happen resonated well with people with 83% of respondents saying they found ‘possibilities’ credible and believable. After all, look what we’ve done with our water management, our gardens, our airport and our F1 night race.”
With the rollout of the new brand, a tourism marketing push will begin in earnest with 15 campaigns being rolled out from tomorrow, starting with Japan and ending with Australia. With a focus on storytelling, a slew of content is being developed – from videos to print to digital – around individual stories. (View the Tourism Brand film here)
“We are customising content for individual markets and will be delivering contextual content – telling our story at the right time,” said Pang. Digital channels like Wego and Expedia are being used among the plethora of media partners.
Content will be developed around passion tribes – explorer, foodie, collector, socialiser, culture shaper, action seeker – and be championed by local personalities who’ve made a mark in those areas. Collaborative content will also be developed in source markets to showcase examples of “Passion Made Possible” through foreign-local connections.
Chef Malcolm Lee who’s behind the Michelin-star Candlenut restaurant: The new campaign targets passion tribes like foodies
“We are targeting passions of consumers and appealing to their aspirations where Singapore’s many possibilities can feed these passions. We’re saying, don’t just eat, be a foodie; don’t just plan or attend business events, be a progressor,” said Pang.
New tours are being created around passion tribes – for example, a new generation hawker tour is being developed, and STB is working with travel agents to play up those areas of interest.
Said Pang, “This campaign will give us a stronger emotional connection to consumers, greater differentiation and the potential to influence consumers even when they are not thinking of travelling in the passive stage. Research has shown that 47% of people have a strong idea of the brand they will choose before they need to make a purchase. There is thus a need to build affinity and positive mindshare of Singapore at the onset.
“This is a shift in marketing approach from transactional to aspirational and from what you can do vs what you can be.”
In rolling out this new brand and marketing campaign, it is clear STB has achieved a key milestone – other than getting other government agencies’ buy-in, it is promoting a message that Singaporeans and those who live in Singapore can rally around as well as appealing to a new type of traveller who want local experiences.
One challenge of destination branding campaigns is getting buy-in from the local population – previous brands had received criticisms from sections of the population who did not feel engaged with the messaging. Of course, you can’t please everyone and there will always be the nay-sayers but the theme of “Passion Made Possible” is as broad an appeal as it can get. Passion is a universal human force and possibilities is a universal human dream. And while some may argue it’s not unique to Singapore – after all, anyone with passion can make anything possible in any environment – it is said that with branding, she who says it best and says it loudest owns it.
The concern is if there is over-management of the message and over-curation of the stories so that it’s perceived as more government propaganda versus real stories of real people, and it will take courage for the STB and EDB to let this brand and its associated stories grow organically – something Singapore with its DNA for efficiency and regulation struggles with.
Another concern is how the theme “Passion Made Possible” is delivered on the ground through the customer experience – how does a traveller from say the US connect with his or her passion tribes when in Singapore? The product must align with the message and those who deliver the customer service must also be activated and trained to deliver the promise of passion fulfilled.
But in terms of timing, this unified brand could not have come at a better time. Competition for the tourism dollar is intense, Singapore tourism needs a fresh push because the novelty of its man-made infrastructure has long worn off, there’s a new generation of travellers who are influenced by interests and passions and if you know the story of Singapore, you will know this is a place made possible by its people because it has very little else, and right now, the nation needs reminding of that.
