Making Singapore a Destination, Not Just a Detour
YEAR
1996 – 2002
CLIENT
Singapore Tourism Board
INDUSTRY
International Tourism / Government
SERVICES
Media strategy, public relations, trade marketing, campaign design, content creation, event management
The challenge
Singapore had a perception problem.
In the late ’90s, there was no Facebook. No Instagram. No TikTok travel hacks. If you wanted a holiday, you walked into a travel agent and asked for one. And if they didn’t sell it, you didn’t book it.
Singapore was seen as polished and efficient, but boring. A stopover city for business people, not a holiday destination. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) needed to change that story without losing their core corporate travellers.
The solution wasn’t another glossy ad campaign. STB needed agents on-side. They needed media to care. And they needed holidaymakers to start seeing Singapore for what it really was: vibrant, cultural, and right on their doorstep.
Discovery
We listened to the people with the power to sell—or not sell—Singapore.
STB already had a trade newsletter in market, Singapore in Focus. But agents weren’t reading it. And when we asked why, they were honest: it wasn’t helpful. It wasn’t current. It wasn’t connected to what they needed to actually make a sale.
We also looked hard at the media environment. In a world before influencer trips and digital tracking links, editorial was gold. And earned media had to be exactly that—earned. Post–Cash for Comment, credibility was everything. If you didn’t respect the journalist, you didn’t get the story.
Those two insights reframed the entire approach. Get the agents on board. Give the media something real. Build trust, not spin. And let the results follow.
Design
We turned trade tools into trade weapons.
Singapore in Focus became a six-page A4 newsletter—tight, useful, and built for busy agents. We told them why to sell Singapore, what was trending, and how to turn questions into bookings. Over 5,000 agents received it across Australia and New Zealand.
We designed the Mega Agent Famil: Live It Up!—100 hand-picked agents from across the country on three separate itineraries through Singapore. Five days. Wall-to-wall experiences they could take home, rave about, and sell with confidence.
To launch the Singapore Food Festival in Australia, we brought the food to them. The Gourmet Safari took top-tier media through three Sydney restaurants, each echoing Singapore’s rich food culture. Less cost. More flavour. Maximum coverage.
And we embedded a media strategy that valued integrity over impressions. Every press trip was editorially aligned. Every relationship was earned. And every story was true.
Delivery
This wasn’t a one-off. It was six years of consistent, high-impact work.
- Singapore in Focus distributed monthly to 5,000+ agents
- 100 agents activated through a three-stream Mega Famil
- 50+ media famils executed with strategic alignment
- Monthly media releases with tailored, pitch-first approach
- Gourmet Safari became a must-attend event for Australia’s top food and travel press
- Relationships built with key journalists and editors across travel, business and lifestyle media
Everything was done with journalistic integrity, trade relevance, and cultural insight.
Results
- Tourism to Singapore increased by 9.5% across the campaign window
- Singapore in Focus became a key trade engagement tool
- The Gourmet Safari became a coveted event with ongoing media demand
- STB’s public and media profile in ANZ transformed—becoming known as one of the most trusted tourism bodies in market
- Singapore’s image shifted—from “boring but safe” to vibrant, accessible and full of flavour
This wasn’t just a shift in marketing. It was a shift in mindset. And it happened before social media ever existed.
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