YourSingapore Brand Story - Singapore Tourism Board

YourSingapore
Brand Story
Cracking the brand conundrum
Many of us have had discussions on Singapore’s attributes as a destination whether over coffee with fellow
residents, chats with visitors, or for brand communicators, over heated debates citing rigorous research.
At the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), creating Singapore’s distinctive destination brand is both science
and art.
STB regularly commissions various brand studies 1 and market research to identify and track perceptions of
Singapore and reasons to visit. These studies have found that audiences hold a highly consistent view of
Singapore, and see it as:
• A cultural melting pot
• A sophisticated city
• Contemporary and future-facing
• Efficient and reliable
• Comfortable and safe.
None of these are likely to surprise even the casual observer. However, the question that STB needs to
answer is: How do we build a brand that captures and crystallises the essence of Singapore and defines its
uniqueness, touches the hearts and wins the minds of individuals with different expectations and
experiences, and who may live half way around the globe from one another?
For several years now, STB has been successfully leveraging Uniquely Singapore as Singapore’s destination
brand, which positions Singapore as a unique blend of the best from the modern world and rich cultures to
deliver enriching experiences for discerning visitors.
Launched in 2004, Uniquely Singapore sought to build on Singapore’s position as a must-visit destination
globally – one with an exciting range of vibrant, trendy and memorable experiences for discerning leisure or
business travellers; delivering a unique, personal experience, which is beyond what words alone can
convey.
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1 Ongoing brand tracking studies and a qualitative study commissioned for the brand evolution conducted
by STB’s appointed research agencies

Uniquely Singapore has had its share of achievements. The Uniquely Singapore brand
campaign broke away from traditional “picture-postcard-perfect” tourism advertisements, and
went beyond showcasing the functional attributes of Singapore to focus on the emotional
connections that visitors experience in Singapore. In the span of 6 years since Uniquely
Singapore was launched, we have seen a strong increase of visitor arrivals from 8.3 million in
2004 to 9.7 million in 2009, representing a growth of 16.8%. Singapore has also witnessed
strong growth in its Tourism Receipts during this period from S$9.8 billion in 2004 to S$15.2
billion in 2008, a growth of 55.1%.
Uniquely Singapore has also inspired a host of exciting tourism industry initiatives that
brought our icons and heritage to life. Underscoring the brand’s success is Singapore’s
promise that it is a destination where no two experiences are the same, as well as being a
place that no two people experience in the same way.
The evolution of the Singapore brand
As Singapore reinvents itself constantly to deliver unique and personal experiences for every
visitor, its destination brand also undergoes a natural evolution. Similarly, the world around
us is also transforming. For example, social media has given rise to virtual communities;
travellers are becoming increasingly knowledgeable and sophisticated as they learn all about
their destinations online, before arriving there, and their decision-making processes in doing
so, inspired STB to revisit Singapore’s destination brand rationale in 2009.
Recognising the successful branding efforts of the Uniquely Singapore campaign over the last
six years, it was clear that the next chapter in the brand story would necessarily be an
evolution, a natural transition, and not an overhaul.
Focus was placed on leveraging the equity created through the Uniquely Singapore campaign
by clearly and single-mindedly qualifying Singapore’s uniqueness as a destination, as well as
build upon the emotional connection that visitors experience in Singapore.
To this end, it was essential that the brand strategy remain informed from three critical
insight areas:
1. Brand insight: truths about Singapore in terms of what it offers and how it is
perceived
2. Target audience insight: motivational factors that drive travel destination
3. Competitive insight: identifying conventions in the marketplace to ensure
differentiation and cut-through.

In essence, the task for strategy development was to uncover and leverage brand insights,
connect these with insights about the traveller and break the conventions that cloud and
crowd the destination brand marketplace.
Brand research 1 found that what fascinated and attracted visitors to Singapore is what it
represents as an idea. Beyond the concentration of world-class attractions in one destination,
or the ease of getting to and around, visitors, especially affluent Asian travellers, saw
Singapore as a city that inspires, one which offers a sense of shared Asian attributes and
familiarity but yet is so surprisingly distinct.
What the typical traveller to Singapore perceived as an ideal travel experience was also
examined. This was found to be relatively straightforward and can be simply captured by the
phrase: “travelling on my own terms, but not out of my comfort zone”.
Today, travellers want to be empowered to personalise their travel experience according to
their individual needs and tastes. Social media and internet based search and e-commerce
tools have fundamentally changed the way people plan and book travel – over 50% of
visitors to Singapore who sourced for pre-arrival info cite the Internet as their most important
source for planning and booking travel.
Furthermore, social media has changed the nature of word of mouth referral in travel from
that of asking travel agents advice to that of asking friends and peer reviews through social
media networks.
The shift in consumption habits is evidenced by the fact that 75% of internet users say that
they rely on the internet to plan and book their trips (source: Google). Current trends show
that in STB’s target markets:
• 7 in 10 Chinese leisure travellers access destination websites and 6 in 10 use online
travel forums (source: Nielsen "New Chinese Outbound Travel Monitor 2008")
• 48% of overseas leisure travellers from India use the Internet for information
(source: Nielsen "Indian Outbound Travel Monitor 2008")
• 55% of UK Internet users book holidays online (source: Nielsen / Net Ratings)
• Even in Indonesia where internet penetration is still relatively low, 82% of Indonesian
travellers use the internet as a key source of information to plan where to go
(source: MasterCard Pan Asian Travel Index H2, 2008)
1 Ongoing brand tracking studies and a qualitative study commissioned for the brand
evolution conducted by STB’s appointed research agencies

Internet penetration is typically high in most of STB’s key markets with between 65% and
80% penetration in Australia, Korea, Japan, UK, North America, Germany and Malaysia
(source: www.internetworldstats.com). In other markets where internet penetration is
currently low (e.g. China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand), the internet
audience is huge and mostly made up of affluent individuals. For example, China currently
has the world's largest number of internet users at 384m as at Dec 2009, with 13.4% earning
more than US$500 and above (source: China Internet Network Information Centre).
Having identified the increasing demand for independent and individualised travel early, the
Uniquely Singapore brand gave Singapore an early-mover advantage in establishing itself as a
destination offering a highly personalised and user-centric visitor experience.
Over the past few years, destination marketing has become increasingly competitive and less
differentiated as more countries compete with similar branding positioning and creative
execution. Within Asia Pacific alone, new destination brands such as Incredible India, Korea
Sparkling, and Definitely Dubai are jostling alongside stalwarts like Malaysia – Truly Asia and
Amazing Thailand for the same consumer mindshare. To continue to compete, it is
imperative for Singapore break through the advertising clutter by sharpening and refreshing
our brand communications.
To cut-through and differentiate Singapore as a destination requires breaking a number of
conventions that currently dominate the tourism category behaviour. This includes embracing
the shift in media consumption and updating our brand expression to one that reflects today’s
landscape and differentiates Singapore from our competition.
STB’s plan is to claim the digital space by putting digital at the heart of our destination
marketing strategy. Traditional media will not be excluded from our communications strategy,
but it will play a more specific role, to emotionally engage our audience and drive potential
visitors to digital platforms where they can experience and glimpse what Singapore has to
offer or even book a travel itinerary to Singapore.
You + Singapore + Digital
Distilling these insights and the trend of travellers going digital when exploring, selecting and
planning their destinations and travel itineraries, STB arrived at the evolved brand idea.

YourSingapore
YourSingapore is underpinned by Singapore’s strengths as a destination – an experience
which can be easily personalised thanks to Singapore’s concentration of sights, sounds,
tastes, culture and attractions coupled with unparalleled user-centricity.
YourSingapore differentiates Singapore’s value proposition from that of competitors; ensuring
Singapore remains relevant and compelling to today’s travellers, as brand equity and brand
recall impact visitor arrivals and tourism receipts.
YourSingapore and its website, www.yoursingapore.com, enables visitors to own their
Singapore experience and to customize their itinerary. It connotes that no two
interpretations of the destination are the same.
Additionally, YourSingapore delivers on Singapore’s promise of a multi-faceted and usercentric
travel experience, and also positions the destination as one that is future-facing; one
where visitors are invited to make their virtual experience of Singapore a reality.
www.yoursingapore.com is an innovative and interactive platform that allows travellers to
conceptualise and plan their individual Singapore travel itinerary in a user-friendly manner.
The campaign website facilitates sharing of experiences among travellers and local residents
alike, and will be powered by up-to-date multimedia content about all things Singapore. The
website www.yoursingapore.com will deliver a new virtual reality experience that no other
destination website currently offers.
In the YourSingapore marketing campaign, the single minded representation of
YourSingapore in the logo as YourSingapore.com is intended to drive people to visit the
campaign website, where they will be inspired to explore what Singapore has to offer and be
motivated into creating their personal itinerary for their trip, from securing a room in the
latest boutique hotel to booking seats for a musical matinee. At www.yoursingapore.com,
there will be something for everyone, and for every facet of you.