CPF Board hunts for integrated marketing and creative partner

The Central Provident Fund Board (CPFB) is on the hunt for an integrated marketing agency, either as an individual company or as a consortium. According to Gebiz, the appointment will be for a period of one year with option to extend up to two years on a yearly basis. The incumbent on the account is Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore, which was appointed in April 2018. Prior to that, formul8 held the account with CPFB for a year.

In a tender document seen by Marketing, the appointed agency will be required to develop an overall integrated marketing communications strategy that is aligned with the organisation’s overall messaging narrative for three years (2020 to 2022). The agency will be tasked to conceptualise, implement and manage the integrated marketing campaigns, primarily the annual retirement planning campaign, and undertake the creative execution for other supporting initiatives such as roadshow paid publicity during the contract period. In addition, CPFB also requires the agency to propose optional “always on” components as a demonstration of the overall proposed marketing strategy that include initiatives outside the main campaign period.

The objectives of the campaigns should cover CPFB's overall marketing communications strategy, and proposed initiatives will have to be aligned in aiding CPF members in benefiting from the system. According to CPFB, this comes as part of its ongoing efforts to enable Singaporeans to retire without worrying about their basic needs.

The key objectives also include improving members’ understanding of CPFB’s role in their lives, seeing CPFB as a fundamental aspect of retirement planning, bolster perceptions and sentiments towards CPFB, as well as aid in encouraging more CPFB members to take actions that can help improve their retirement readiness.

The mandatory briefing for interested tenderers will be on 9 January 2020 from 10 am to noon. Agencies bidding for the account will be evaluated on price competitiveness, robustness of proposed overall marketing communications strategy and framework, as well as creativity, originality, applicability and authenticity of concept proposals and messaging.

Last year, CPFB's “Tsk” ad which showed senior citizens expressing their annoyance with a “tsk” copped flak from netizens. According to netizens who deemed the ad “distasteful”, the ad portrays senior citizens in a bad light for tut-tutting and said it is not the way to promote retirement planning. Another netizen commented that this ad was an example of a stereotype that does not go in line with inclusiveness and cohesiveness the nation is working towards. In response to this, a CPFB spokesperson told Marketing then that “a good number” of the respondents in the focus group found the ad “relatable” and was able to resonate with the early retirement planning message.

This was however not the first time CPFB was under the spotlight. In 2018, its ad that encourages married individuals to top up their spouse’s CPF Special Account as a birthday gift also sparked a conversation online. Reactions were ranging from sarcasm to discussions on whether or not doing so was a good idea. A CPFB spokesperson told Marketing then that the series of videos was aimed at different audience segments and “spur” them to start planning for their future.