Behind the scenes: Heating up the tourism climate

Y&R associate account director Pearlina Chan guides Marketing through the set of the Singapore Tourism Board's new TVC as it sets out to stir up Singaporeans' passion for Singapore's tourism industry, Phyllis Toh reports.

With the upcoming possibilities offered by Singapore's dynamically changing tourism landscape, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has been pumping its resources into boosting the tourism sector. To encourage Singaporeans to seek a career in tourism, Y&R Singapore was called to work on the ‘Tourism Careers Campaign', which will be a three-year ongoing effort.

Launched on 25 October this year, the campaign involves not just TVCs, but print and online media ads as well.

The two-day TVC shoot was shot in multitude of locations around Singapore that embodies the old and new of Singapore such as Haji Lane and Esplanade Park.

The concept was simple and easy to relate to: Singaporeans from different walks of life and holding different jobs from the tourism industry getting ready for Singapore's tourism boom.10 main talents and 32 extras were lined up for the shoot assuming various roles such as bell hops, chambermaids, chefs, F&B hostesses, attractions hosts, tour guides and MICE managers.

The STB TVC also highlights future developments and attractions that have yet to be completed such as the Formula One (F1) Singapore Grand Prix. That posed a slight challenge which was solved by using computer graphics (CG), making it an integral part of the shoot.

Chan expects the advertisement to catch the audience's attention and prompt them to contribute to the growing tourism business.

We want people to sit up and take notice of this buzzing, thriving new industry that is up and coming. In the years to come, tourism will be an important sector in our economy. This means that there will be many more jobs created and many more opportunities that Singaporeans can take up. We want them to play an active and passionate role in this business and we want them to aspire to a career in Tourism." she said.

Although the crew had a lot of fun on set, the team wished they could invest more time in the planning and execution of the TVC. Chan thought it could be improved if more future developments like Universal Studios and Sentosa's Resorts World were included.

Despite that, the skies seemed to agree with the shoot, choosing to favour the production schedule by not raining during outdoor shoots and then continuing to pour only when it was time for the crew to move onto the next scene. "The production house must have done their Bomoh job well," Chan joked.