Success story that could use a shot of creativity

Singapore lives in a constant state of self-analysis. It’s part of what has made it what it is. There are so many perceived conflicts that seem to need reconciliation that frankly it defies belief. But reconcile they do. Very well indeed.
 

There are the ethnic and religious conflicts that plague every society, but beyond this there is the guilt. It’s a guilty place. People with money seem to want to apologise for their success. People in high places seem to feel the need to play down their position. All while protecting their wealth, their position and their standing in society.

 

There is a financial hierarchy but, in its 50 years, it has developed a level of egalitarianism that puts even the French to shame.
 

And in a marketing sense, Singapore is similar on several levels. As a place of great thinkers and analysts, it puts great store in the development of strategy and yet it has great trouble in converting this to great creative work. On an advertising level, the ability to generate great ideas and fantastic creative work is almost unparalleled (if the awards shows are to be believed) and yet the market is flooded with fairly second-rate work.

 

Similarly, on a working level, despite this schizophrenia everywhere else in the country, Singapore is rapidly winning the race with Hong Kong and Shanghai to become the de facto regional hub for marketing organisations such as Unilever, P&G, Mondelez, Diageo and many others.
 

The crème de la crème of these organisations are here to power their brands across multiple markets, cultures, countries and geographies from a base camp that, frankly, cannot compete with the creativity that exists in many other parts of the region.
 

While over 66% of the region’s big spenders have a management presence in Singapore, less than 5% of their total marketing spend is focused on their home market, according to Millward Brown. This is despite a liquid net worth among Singapore high net worth individuals of over $580 billion (more than the GDP of Norway).

 

Singapore acts as a staging post without picking up any of the intellectual or creative goods being traded there. And while the government is by far the best administrator in the region (and one of the biggest employers), it is only now starting to understand the latent value of creativity in business. 

 

In 2016, there will be elections and the governing People’s Action Party has promised a greater focus on creativity in education, business and the arts. But this comes with greater freedoms and as Singapore ends its first 50 epic years of growth and development, the government and the people it serves are now asking what the next 50 years will bring. 

 

Singapore’s 50th anniversary on 9 August was a huge opportunity to celebrate, to mark the achievements of its founding father, Lee Kuan Yew (even though he himself spurned congratulation of any kind) and to fire the starting gun for the race to 2065.

 

The celebrations were indeed impressive, with fly-pasts from the most advanced airforce in Asia, flags on every building across the island and a weekend of marches and parties in which Singaporeans came together to applaud their unity and nationhood.

 

The brand response was more muted. People who had the opportunity to really show their appreciation and mark the occasion their way instead defaulted to the many government calls for ideas on how to celebrate. The process and the debate was more important than the outcome and many brands – local, franchise and regional – simply resorted to sticking the ubiquitous ‘SG50’ red logo on their packaging, advertising and livery.

 

To me this is not enough for a place that hosts so much abject creativity. There is an opportunity now for marketers and advertising agencies to start to become more experimental – not in a subversive or negative way but in a hearty and sincere way. I think once the people who worry about what genies creativity might unleash can see that it can be a force for good, Singapore can get back to its winning creative ways and create campaigns from Singapore for Singapore, in the same way as they did in the 1970s and 1980s for big brands such as Guinness, F&N,  Coke, Tiger, Singapore Airlines and many others.

 

In its race for administrative supremacy, Singapore has left behind the naivety and zeal that made its home-grown creative product as respected as its first 50 years in existence.

 

And the time is now – a new breed of startups, braver, younger, Asian marketers keen to make their mark and a more open, liquid and connected audience means that at the apex of the digital and social opportunity, Singapore should become the new creative laboratory for communications. Not just for Singapore, not just for Asia, but for the world.

 

If they can cut through the intellectual red tape and the administrative constipation that muffles creativity, Singapore is one place where ideas can be tested, honed, perfected and then let loose. It just needs a new generation of people who are willing to fail, to take that first step. But failure has yet to make its way into the Singaporean national psyche.

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Read more from David Mayo in our Clubhouse.