SWITCH

TitleSWITCH
BrandSWITCH
Product / ServiceVIRTUAL EXHIBITION AND CONFERENCE
CategoryG08. Market Disruption
EntrantPICO ART INTERNATIONAL PTE LTD Singapore, SINGAPORE
Idea Creation PICO ART INTERNATIONAL PTE LTD Singapore, SINGAPORE
Production PICO ART INTERNATIONAL PTE LTD Singapore, SINGAPORE

Credits

Name Company Position
Mary Lam Pico Art International Pte Ltd Creative Director
Albert Lee Pico Art International Pte Ltd Associate Creative Director
Claudia Zhou Pico Art International Pte Ltd Associate Creative Director
Shuyi Tan Pico Art International Pte Ltd Associate Creative Director
Aimin Ng Pico Art International Pte Ltd Designer
Natchanan Kijjana Pico Art International Pte Ltd Designer
Jeff Teo Pico Art International Pte Ltd Designer
Mahdi Raditya Pico Art International Pte Ltd Senior Designer
Faiz Zenurdin Pico Art International Pte Ltd Designer
Benny Boo Pico Art International Pte Ltd Senior Producer
June Touw Pico Art International Pte Ltd Assistant Project Director

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) has always been a “in person” event ever since its debut in 2016. This year, we revolutionized the entire experience and brought the event online, creating a first-ever fully virtual event. We expanded the outreach of the event and took advantage of the virtual capabilities to engage more participants and brands at the same time in a non-stop, all day global event. Breaking boundaries and limitations, we managed to elevate SWITCH 2020 onto a whole new level globally.

Background

Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) is a global event that aims to connect people and catalyzes new partnerships between innovation enablers, enterprises and start-ups from Singapore and the rest of the world. Amidst the growing concern over the pandemic and having all physical interactions coming to a pause, innovation takes the helm of overcoming the unprecedented challenges that we are facing. The virtual event needed to create a healthy ecosystem between the exhibitors and the attendees without compromising the user experience, pushing boundaries to combine the intangible physical experiences with a digital approach. We aimed to not only take advantage of this new found digital freedom but to challenge the virtual boundaries, bringing a sense of realism and the physical connection that the event had. It had to be spectacular to excite the attendees and a platform that provided the exhibitors with an amazing stage like never before.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Unbounded by physical borders, SWITCH 2020 had adapted to extraordinary times by creating a round-the-clock event that could be accessed virtually by the global FinTech and Deep Tech communities from Asia and around the world. Featuring a digital city that never sleeps, it was a one-stop platform where innovation meets enterprise. Highlighting Singapore on the world map as a global hub for innovation and tech start-ups, the digital city was modelled after the Buona Vista district due to its nature as a nexus for the buzzing tech community. The experience included navigating 11 unique villages where attendees could immerse in and connect with more than 1000 exhibitors and sponsors. The engagement empowered and provided exposure to the startups while ensuring a seamless connection and building of relationships between people, ideas and organizations.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

With SWITCH 2020 being online and live around the clock, it significantly achieved a greater outreach. The global attendees, ranging from a wide spectrum of young entrepreneurs to seasoned venture capitalist, business owners to innovative talents, the 20s to 50s, were no longer bounded by physical limitations and need not rush through the experiences on site like before. Information, communication and relationship building could be done in their own time and at their own pace. The various immersive design and digital tools put in place improved overall user experiences, increasing their attention span and enabled better connectivity between people. All in all, enhancing visibility for the exhibitors and curating a more comfortable experience for the attendees. Creating a unique event that showcased Singapore while being a one-stop platform for the global audiences to connect.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

With a timeline of 3 months, we had to finalise the concept, site architecture, user experience and a clear design structure to achieve our objectives. With the broad concept of bringing the physical experience online, the spatial quality of an actual visit to Singapore had to be established and in addition, augmented to enhance the audience experience. Every touchpoint in the user journey had been designed and tested. Other than the representation of an overall map of Singapore with its iconic architecture, we highlighted the Buona Vista District to house the sectors and the respective exhibitors in “villages”. Every village was unique, with different designs for its building lobbies, showcases and exhibitor booths. We did a total of 1 overall map design, 3 iconic areas in Singapore, 1 overall Buona Vista District, 11 villages (76 building architecture), 12 lobbies, 12 showcases, 42 booths and 2 special showrooms.

List the results (30% of vote)

The first-ever fully virtual SFFxSWITCH 2020 event over the span of 24 hrs in 5 days, was a massive success. It expanded its global outreach, connecting 31 countries and 42 cities together. A total of 1,300 exhibitors participated with more than 2,000 global speakers and 4,400 meetings facilitated. All in all, the event had touched 60,000 participants from over 160 countries and garnered an extensive attention from 3.5 million views globally. Setting a new benchmark for this biggest innovation and tech event in Singapore like never before.

Please tell us how disruption in your market place inspired the work

As the very first edition of a 100% virtual SWITCH event, that has proven to be effective and sustainable, this experience may very well be the new norm for events / conferences moving forward. Future hybrid events marrying both physical and digital experiences more holistically will be highly anticipated. Being an innovation and technology event, the experience of it has always been to embody its own nature via the design and execution. This integrated experience will be the new benchmark, becoming a disruptor in its own events / conference sector.