01 Our Ambition

02 Destination Branding
06 The Singapore Difference
08 Our Brand Positioning
12 Delivering Our Brand
14 Our Creative Driver
16 Our New Identity
18 Communicating The Brand
22 Future Challenges
24 One Brand One Ambition
Our Ambition

01

Our ambition is simple: to present

the essence of Singapore to our
visitors everyday.

That’s what inspires us here at the

Singapore Tourism Board. And this
book will help us articulate that
inspiration. It will focus our vision
on what truly differentiates us, as we
step up to offer the world a diverse
city full of enriching experiences.
Destination Branding

Branding Singapore – A message

from the Singapore Tourism Board’s
Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive.
It’s time for a new perspective, one with a fresh
and exciting potential.

Getting the right and successful destination brand

is no straightforward task. It is more than just
about identifying attributes of Singapore, or
attractive visual imagery or clever taglines: it’s
about the soul of Singapore and about creating
a distinctive brand that captures the spirit of a city
and its people.

As many of you know, all products need a

strong branding effort to win over the hearts of
customers. Similarly, branding a destination is
vital in today’s competitive tourism arena.
 03

Singapore needs to consistently inspire a strong

positive buzz in the global audience and achieve
top-of-mind awareness when travellers make
their plans.

An increase in international visitors results in

many benefits, not just in tourism receipts and
economic spin-offs but also the intangibles, such
as developing national pride and improving the
quality of life in Singapore. The positive impressions
that we forge, we hope, can even spill over to
other sectors and help the world see Singapore
for the unique cosmopolitan city that it is.
Lim Neo Chian
Deputy Chairman and Chief Executive
Singapore Tourism Board
 05

To succeed, we can’t rest on the successes of our

past. We need to establish and develop attributes
that make Singapore unique and special; reinvent
the way we have marketed ourselves to the
world, reshape Singapore’s tourism future.
The brand must not only be credible and
sustainable, it has to inspire everyone – the
industry, travellers and Singaporeans at large.

This journey cannot be taken alone. But our brand

can come alive if we work together. Let’s put our
hearts and minds together and make Singapore
the compelling, must-see, must-experience,
unique destination it deserves to be.
 The Singapore Difference

Destination branding has to rely on identifying

and celebrating the essence of a nation. We
cannot fabricate or engineer the values inherent
in Singapore. Our brand positioning must be
rooted in the fundamental truths about our
destination and our culture, if it’s to succeed.
 07

Research confirmed what we already suspected.

This is what our customers have been telling us
are our credible strengths.

What Singapore is:

A melting pot of different lifestyles and cultures

Contemporary
Sophisticated
Reliable
Efficient
Comfortable
A city destination
Our Brand Positioning

Destination
Singapore is a
beautiful collection
of many elements, a
multiplicity of ideas.
This is a place of
plush modernity
and rich cultures, of
inspiring arts and
state of-the-art
technology, all
effortlessly ordered
and welcoming.
 09

A unique blend
of the best of the
modern world
and rich cultures
to deliver enriching
experiences.
It’s a brand promise we
can deliver: one that truly
reflects Singapore.
A unique blend of the best of the modern
world and rich cultures alludes to Singapore
as a collection of experiences, from the
modern thinking of our people to the
diversity of languages, festivals and foods
that we appreciate, and sometimes take
for granted. These ingredients form a
unique and harmonious mosaic – one
that is cosmopolitan, contemporary with
a proud sense of heritage. The blend also
celebrates Singapore’s innovative spirit,
its ability to create new solutions, products
and experiences.

What Singapore is, clearly cannot be

captured in one image, as what makes
Singapore a city like no other is the rich
blend of experiences, both thoughtfully
and spontaneously combined.

Beneath assimilation of modernity and

cultural treasures, a world of fulfilling
experiences welcomes the discerning
visitors.
Brand Attributes 11

1. Cosmopolitan
2. Modern
3. Culturally diverse
4. Efficient quality
5. Blend of disparate things
that co-exist comfortably
Brand attributes are the reputational
characteristics that define and differentiate
the brand. They align our ideas to ensure
a consistent message delivery about
Singapore through various communication
touchpionts, building brand equity in
the process.

Brand Personality
1. Confident
2. Sophisticated
3. Elegant
4. Colourful
5. Good-humoured
This inclusion of human personality traits
brings the destination brand to life in the
manner which the brand expresses itself
both visually and verbally to its target
audience. These traits inform us of the
look and feel, and the tone and manner
we want to project when we communicate
the brand, so as to differentiate our
destination brand from others.
Delivering Our Brand
 13

The success of a brand depends on

the overall experience of its delivery.

Marketing and communications create certain

images and attract visitors, but the experience
must match the promise. Thus another key
requirement of the brand is to inspire those
who deliver the experience.

It is important for the brand to provide a common

purpose, a focus that gives a sense of pride to
the community and makes good marketing
sense to the industry. After all, tourism affects
everyone. It seeps into all aspects of everyday life
– from the travel agent behind the counter to the
concierge of a five-star hotel, from the waiter at
the street side café to the taxi driver who ferries
visitors from the airport.
Our Creative Driver

Our communication partners

play a vital role in delivering our
brand consistently. To drive
communications, we have
developed a succinct version of
our brand positioning to inspire
creative expression. ‘A Unique
Sophisticated Blend’ captures the
essence of our brand positioning
and gives a clear creative direction
to our communication partners.
 15

A Unique
Sophisticated
Blend
Our New Identity

Our new brand positioning

is reflected through our
‘Uniquely Singapore’ signature.

Here’s where the urban

meets the traditional.
Where modern architecture nestles
comfortably amidst lush greens.
Where natural organic materials are
juxtaposed with creative designs.
It’s an amalgamation of a meaningful
past and a dazzling future.
Through a fusion of East and West,
a unique form and style has emerged.
 17

Our tagline neatly encapsulates

the Singapore experience – we
are unique. Two words that
express so much, that represent
the countless facets that make
Singapore different:
Uniquely Singapore.
Communicating The Brand

We have built on our unique tagline to create a

series of unique messages for each of our many
products. Our unique sophisticated blend is most
graphically portrayed through the series of
 19

individual taglines, matched to a unique series

of images. Each picture bar relates to different
experiences and evokes the rich blend that is
truly Singapore.
 21

Even the tone, manner and

content of our words must
continually reflect a unique
sophisticated blend. We have
the licence to create a visual style
of writing rich in diversity and
colours. Painting images with
words, reflecting the multiplicity
of life and experience that is
Singapore. An eloquent
vocabulary full of flavour creates
opportunities to convey our
sense of uniqueness, slices of the
genuine Singapore experience.
 Future Challenges

Today’s visitors are increasingly discerning in

a time-poor world and are more experience
driven. The result is a more competitive
environment to attract visitors who appreciate
truly unique experiences.
 23

The winners are those destinations that create a

strong emotional relationship with their consumers
by offering more than a shopping list of things to
do. Branding helps to articulate that character
and capture the distinct personality of a destination
which holds memorable and emotional
associations for the consumer.
One Brand One Ambition

We are here because we believe.

With a commitment to our brand positioning,

we can live up to the one thing that brought us
here in the first place. That is, to make Singapore
a unique destination in a sophisticated world.

Great brands can create and define the markets

they lead. Singapore is already one of Asia’s leading
countries and our brand is one of our most
valuable assets. Let us work together – with passion
and drive – and show the world the unique and
compelling destination that we know as Singapore.
Singapore Tourism Board
Tourism Court, 1 Orchard Spring Lane,
Singapore 247729

Tel: (65) 6736 6622

Fax: (65) 6736 9423

Touristline: 1800 736 2000

(toll-free in Singapore)

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