The Campaign

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Results

Issue: SingTel, Singapore’s largest telecommunications company, has struggled to reposition itself from a traditional telco to an innovative multimedia company. Challenge: Whilst many Singaporean’s respect this powerful brand they feel it’s remote and distant from their everyday interests and lives. Strategy: To use SingTel’s multimedia technology to help Singaporeans champion what they love (and thereby bring some warmth and friendliness to the brand personality). Insight: For Singaporean’s, food is a matter of personal – and national – pride. Idea: The Singapore vs Ramsay Challenge. Execution: The campaign started by leveraging news of local hawker food decline. SingTel, asked people to vote for their favourite Hawker Heroes and posed a challenge to Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay to take the 3 winning Hawkers on. He did. Gordon, visited each of the Hawkers in turn to learn the dishes before holding a competitive cook-off, setting his Gordon Ramsay versions of the dishes against the Hawkers’. Singaporeans were then invited to come, taste and judge the best. The content created was then cut into a series of documentaries, to be sold as part of SingTel’s mioTV Video-on-Demand service.

A mix of SingTel multimedia assets were used, influencers/bloggers and some paid media. People were drawn to vote for their favourite Hawker Heroes by: influencer bloggers; online editorials in inSing.com, Singapore’s local what’s on/news site and Hungry Go Where, Singapore’s largest restaurant website (both SingTel owned); videos streamed online, on mioTV Channels (SingTel’s cable TV stations) and paid TV; SingTel retail stores promotions; plus radio coverage. The same mix, was used to promote the on-ground events and final Singapore vs Ramsay Challenge.

The campaign roused Singaporeans into action, sparking debate: • 2.5 million votes were cast • 2.2 million Facebook impressions • 920,000 YouTube views of footage from the campaign, including user-generated content • 85% of those that participated shared on social media Positively raising SingTel’s profile and making people feel SingTel is more relevant and warmer than ever before: • 95% of Singaporeans were aware of this SingTel Campaign • 82% liked the SingTel Hawker Hero voting stage of the campaign, with 81% liking the final SingTel Hawkers vs Ramsay Challenge cook-off • 86% of those aware of the campaign said they would be likely to consider SingTel for their next purchase • 60% increase in people feeling SingTel is a warm and friendly brand (versus previous brand campaign) • S$4.1million PR Value Unexpectedly, the campaign became such a part of Singapore culture, that the National Library has requested it be archived as part of their national Singapore Memory Project. They felt that this event organised by SingTel was of great resonance as it touched on the cultural foundation of Singapore, of our local food and our hawkers. They want the memory of when our local cuisine triumphed over a Michelin-starred chef to be preserved for many years to come.