CITY OF POSSIBILITIES

TitleCITY OF POSSIBILITIES
BrandSINGAPORE TOURISM BOARD
Product / ServiceSINGAPORE
CategoryD05. Spatial & Sculptural Exhibitions and Experiences
EntrantTBWA\SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Idea Creation TBWA\SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Production TBWA\SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Production 2 AIRBAG Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Hagan de Villiers TBWA\Singapore Executive Creative Director
Gary Steele TBWA\Singapore Executive Creative Director
Anam AS TBWA\Singapore Creative Director
Marvin Liang TBWA\Singapore Senior Art Director
Lena Paik TBWA\Singapore Copywriter
Toby Thurston TBWA\Singapore Head of Techonolgoy
Mandy Wong TBWA\Singapore Managing Partner
Ellen Tan TBWA\Singapore Brand Director
Jerine Lee TBWA\Singapore Brand Manager
Sariyanti Sannie Sixtoes Agency Producer
Nash Tan TBWA\Singapore Project Manager
Adrian Bosich Airbag Managing Partner
Steven Nicholson AIRBAG Productions Technology Director
Aaron Wilson AIRBAG Productions Director
David Curry AIRBAG Productions Producer
Nick Venn AIRBAG Productions Producer
Aaron Wilson Airbag Ofline
Janice Tay SixToes.TV Offline
Amos Tan SixToes.TV Offline
Edel Rafferty Airbag Colour Grading
Ryan Brett Airbag Online
Daniel MacNish Airbag Tech Assistant
Nick Pledge Airbag Model Maker

Background

Every year, Singapore Tourism Board (STB) participates in key leisure and MICE trade shows around the world involving over 10,000 exhibitors such as airlines, hotels, travel agents, online travel platforms and other national tourism organsations. This is done with the aim of helping to connect and foster collaborations between Singapore tourism stakeholders and overseas potential partners as well as raise Singapore’s profile as a choice leisure and business destination. Against this context, we were challenged to find a way to stand out in the hyper-distracting context of trade shows and attract people to actively engage with us, within a 3m by 3m space. Our key objectives were as defined: 1. Drive engagement at trade shows with an experience that brings Singapore to life 2. Strengthen the positive perception of STB’s brand positioning - “Passion Made 3. Position STB at the forefront of bold and creative storytelling

Describe the creative idea (40% of vote)

Singapore is innovative, modern, progressive, artistic. So when it came to showcasing it to the world, it had to be well, innovative, modern, progressive, artistic. So we created the City Of Possibilities (CoP)—an entire country packed into a suitcase, and shipped around the world. How? By harnessing the world of tactile and technology. We reimagined the Singapore map. Distorting its scale to pack the entire city into a 1.8m by 1m table, and reinterpreting its landscape to create a whimsical, sculptural representation of the city. With a physical avatar, you could navigate and explore around the city through immersive 360 location spheres. Hop around, hang out with locals, catch a concert, chill on the beach, marvel at the Supertrees or wander through an aquarium—over 40 mixed-media content showcased the sights, sounds and stories of Singapore.

Describe the execution (40% of vote)

The project ties together a variety of touchpoints; technology, tactile design and digital content. We begin by building a "console" that is scalable, modular and portable. And that requires a creative interpretation of the Singapore landscape, resulting in a one-of-a-kind, composite map specially built for the activation. Thoughtfully crafted as a whimsical representation of the city while offering an authentic experience. The result was a city model that's big enough to have presence, small enough within an arm's reach. Buildings, trees, roads and even the river were carefully designed and constructed to be sturdy but playful and approachable. To encourage deeper exploration, we introduced users to their personal avatar, enticing them to discover over 40 mixed media content hidden in the CoP. Upon placing the avatar down on various RFID-tagged landmarks, users were served up a 360 visual feast of the location that they could control and navigate freely.

List the results (20% of vote)

Across 4 trade shows, we achieved an average of 1min 41s per player session. 95% agreed or strongly agreed that CoP provided greater appreciation of our brand purpose and how it can be relevant to travellers with different interests. Qualitative data obtained from the various shows indicated that Partners and clients were particularly impressed with COP saying it helped to position Singapore as a “cutting edge” and “innovative” destination.” The deliberate combination of technologies, visual audio content and the mash up with the physical act of exploration to simulate a first person’s experience, enabled event attendees’ miles away from Singapore to feel the richness of travelling and experiencing Singapore. This helped Singapore stand out from a sea of beautiful, albeit wallpaper, floor-to-ceiling visual displays. All of these led overseas viewers to enjoy an immersive and true Singapore experience, without needing to be there physically.