#MarketingExcellenceAwards highlight: How Sage touched the hearts of Singaporeans with 1,000 paper cranes

Singaporeans tend to exude the nationalistic spirit during National Day and payroll software solutions company Sage Software Asia wanted to inspire Singaporeans to engage in acts of kindness. This resulted in the company creating a campaign known as "Thousand Paper Cranes" which aims to bring hope and joy for dementia patients. The campaign helped Sage Software clinch silver for Excellence in Customer Engagement for MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's recent Marketing Excellence Awards 2020.ChallengeSage's EasyPay software helps companies administer payroll for their employees and its target audience are mainly HR and payroll professionals working in Singapore companies. In May this year, it rolled out the payroll analysis for job support scheme report feature in its EasyPay platform to  help HR and payroll professionals generate reports on the monthly wage subsidies provided by the Singapore government for COVID-19 assistance. The company hoped that the visibility will enable Singapore companies better plan their cashflow and rectify challenges ahead early.However, the payroll software market for small and medium-sized businesses in Singapore is over saturated, and Sage knew it had to compete intensely for the attention of its target audience. As it only had a small budget, Sage could only rely on testimonials from customers to promote the new report feature on Sage EasyPay.From March to June this year, monthly online enquiries made by Singapore companies about Sage EasyPay on its website dipped from 78 to 26, a sharp decline of 66%. Sage needed to turnaround and drive up monthly online enquiries made by Singapore companies on sage.com for Sage EasyPay.StrategyIts marketing plans aimed to drive awareness and interest for the new report feature and three objectives were set:1. The idea needs to be innovative to capture the attention of HR and payroll professionals and enable them to participate.2. Singaporeans must feel uplifted by the campaign’s messaging and be inspired to help each other through these difficult times.3. Online enquiries for Sage EasyPay and its payroll analysis for job support scheme report feature must recover by 100%, from 26 to 52 in August 2020.To attract online enquiries from 52 Singapore companies, the Sage's marketing team identified 200 companies from its database and prospects that stood to benefit most from using the new report feature. As Sage's employees have built strong connections with many individuals in the HR industry, organic marketing on social media would be the channel for campaign outreach. From there, the five-week campaign was launched from 6 July, which sought to position Sage as a caring company.The insight of the marketing idea stemmed from the Japanese tradition of crane folding. In Japanese culture, cranes represent good fortune and longevity, and it is popular to fold 1,000 paper cranes for loved ones to wish them hope and healing. As part of the Thousand Paper Cranes campaign, Sage employees will create an artwork for one of its customers, Apex Harmony Lodge. Apex Harmony Lodge is the first purpose-built nursing home for dementia patients in Singapore. Due to the pandemic, family visitations have been restricted, thus affecting the residents’ morale. Through this campaign, Sage aimed to bring hope and joy to Apex Harmony Lodge and remind its residents and employees that the company is by their side.Sage’s management greenlighted the campaign as it ticked all the right boxes:- Helping Apex Harmony Lodge positions Sage as a caring company.- The handmade artwork by Sage employees adds credibility and a personal touch.- Acts of kindness uplift spirits, enabling Singaporeans to associate the positive feelings with Sage.- With National Day around the corner, Singaporeans would be more receptive towards Sage's messages.Content marketing was the engine to drive resonance among Singapore companies and tactics used to make the campaign distinctive and impactful included making Singaporeans vote for their favourite design made from paper cranes - home, love, and music. Sage also designed the artwork in the colours of Singapore's flag and aligned it to the National Day theme of Together, A Stronger Singapore.At the same time, it enabled Singaporeans to vote for their favourite Thousand Paper Cranes design to deepen engagement. Sage felt that aligning the artwork with the theme of Together, A Stronger Singapore fosters affinity amongst Singapore companies for Sage. Using origami as the medium of communication also brings freshness to Sage’s messaging.For this campaign, Sage made sure to leverage LinkedIn and Facebook for organic marketing. From 13 to 24 July this year, Sage employees posted and shared stories of the Thousand Paper Cranes initiative with their HR and payroll connections. The connections were then invited to vote for their favourite design on sage.com and the most popular choice became the artwork design. The voting page contained a message on the new payroll analysis for jobs support scheme report feature in Sage EasyPay and a webinar recording was also provided for individuals to learn more.ExecutionSage's marketing team orchestrated the efforts on three fronts:1. Exciting Singaporeans to do goodIt also launched the campaign on 13 July with a forget me not orgigami flower post on LinkedIn and Facebook. The content highlighted the plight of dementia patients and shared Sage's plans to create the Thousand Paper Cranes artwork for Apex Harmony Lodge. The team then arranged the paper cranes into the special designs of home, love, and music.Home signified how far Singapore has come and Sage wanted individuals to know that by uniting, Singapore will come out stronger as a nation. Love represented the team's appreciation for frontline heroes for braving their lives through the pandemic to keep everyone safe. As for music, even though the world might have come to a standstill, everyone can still sing to the beat of Singapore's classic National Day songs.2. Building rapport with Singapore companiesTop trending news and current affairs stories were chosen and amplified using origami pieces handmade by Sage employees. This was in a bid to foster rapport with HR and payroll professionals. Sage EasyPay’s payroll analysis for jobs support scheme report feature was then shared to help Singapore companies better plan their cashflow and rectify challenges early.Four pieces of content were published between 23 July to 6 August - Train to Busan: Peninsular, Founder Bak Kut Teh, FA Cup final, and Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. Meanwhile from 6 to 21 July, 28 Sage employees learnt how to fold paper cranes and completed 1,000 pieces. With "Love" unveiled as the winning design, the team worked with an art frame maker Merlin to assemble the cranes into the artwork.3. Creation of the Thousand Paper Cranes artworkThe artwork was delivered to Apex Harmony Lodge on 30 July 2020.ResultsThe Thousand Paper Cranes campaign met all of Sage's marketing goals and objectives. From June to August 2020, monthly online enquiries made by Singapore companies on sage.com for Sage EasyPay increased from 26 to 153, a gain of 488%. Meanwhile, out of 200 targeted Singapore companies, 28.5% participated in the voting of the design. The initiative also saw strengthened loyalty from Apex Harmony Lodge, with its deputy CEO penning a thank you note. Sage's consumers commended Sage for giving back to the community and also shared stories of their companies' efforts to support frontline workers and staff.