#MarketingExcellenceAwards SG 2021 highlight: National Youth Council unites Singaporeans for NDP with SGMojis

Every year, the National Youth Council (NYC) would engage youths for their perspectives and sentiments on national issues. Historically, this would often be conducted through physical engagements and workshops. However, since the pandemic hit, NYC decided to utilise virtual discussions instead. That said, these formats were not scalable and limited the number of sentiments gathered. 

Furthermore, NYC realised that the topics for discussion usually revolve around "Our Youth's Take on Budget 2021" or "Women's Development in Singapore", among others. With each of these engagements positioned and marketed as one for national interest, the council was faced with the risk of getting a narrow view on what youths at large really thought, as it was always the same profile of youths getting engaged each time – youths who were already vested in such topics. 

With this in mind, NYC decided to launch the "SGMoji: Singapore’s First Avatar Builder" campaign, to stir up youth conversations about Singapore's identity in this day and age. The campaign managed to impress the judges, and clinched the gold award for Excellence in Integrated Marketing at MARKETING INTERACTIVE's Marketing Excellence Awards Singapore 2021. 

Challenges 

With Singapore’s 56th birthday around the corner, NYC came together with the National Day Parade (NDP) to collaborate on a campaign for the youths. For NYC, the campaign was especially important. Coming off a nationwide circuit breaker and Singapore entering its deepest recession yet, over 100,000 Singaporeans petitioned to opt out of the NDP Funpacks last year, which even led to questions of "Should NDP even be conducted?” and “Can the funds used to organise NDP be better used elsewhere in these times of need?"

This sparked a huge debate amongst Singaporeans, which was if the NDP was seen as an event or an expense. For years, the programme and the show have taken precedence over everything that NDP did. Marketing was programme-led, with content mostly surrounding the show and the people participating in the show -- the build-up seems like a concert with little to no content about what the bigger narrative of NDP really is. This contributed to Singaporeans' perception that NDP is just an event, and like any event during the COVID-19 period, it was dispensable and the public could do without it. 

Following the theme of "Together, Our Singapore Spirit, NYC x NDP" sought to ask youths what their interpretation of the Singapore Spirit meant to them. In doing so, NYC hoped it would be able to help the next generation to not only reflect upon the Singapore spirit, but also drum up awareness on the true intent of the NDP celebration. Keeping in mind the need for a diverse range of views, NYC sought the help of marketing agency DSTNCT to think of a campaign that could encourage people to reflect and express their thoughts but also to draw in a myriad of youths to participate and chime in.

Strategy 

By questioning what makes up Singapore's identity, NYC created a campaign that will get Singaporeans from different walks of life to reflect upon these topics, by using NDP as a platform to bind everyone together in an unadulterated show of patriotism.

Furthermore by riding on the viral wave of "Memojis", through Singapore's very own "SGMoji", NYC was be able to stir the youth to find their representation of what makes being a Singaporean, Singaporean. 

Execution

Rather than asking for outright pledges which may come across as forceful, NYC opted to create a "SGMoji". With this "SGMoji", youths were able to tap into individuality, by coming up with an emoji that could be seen as a creative expression. Through that creative expression, NYC aimed to help youths realise a message that with each instinctive choice made, it is a representation of a true Singaporean. 

With this knowledge in mind, NYC got the ball rolling by activating youth communities and KOLs in fields such as dancers, content creators, musicians, arts and culture and young families. These influencers were required to share their experiences when creating "SGMojis" on various social platforms. Additionally, NYC tapped on the country's ministers to drum up awareness of the campaign. 

On the social media front, NYC and DSTNCT created shareable content pieces that were based around its "SGMojis" assets. 

Results

Through the campaign, NYC garnered a total reach of more than two million. Furthermore, in the span of three days, the website view managed to reach more than 40,000 views. According to NYC, the "SGMojis" was able to drive a purposeful reflection and creative expression of what makes an individual a true Singaporean. It was also able to mobilise the audience to deeply reflect on what the Singapore Spirit truly means, which made the celebration of that year's NDP all the more meaningful.