Secret Lives of Singaporeans issue #22: Spotify Wrapped, crypto woes, world's most expensive city

SECRET LIVES OF SINGAPOREANS

#22

5 Dec

Issue

Week commencing

2022 Authored with pride by Esther Lim and Natalie Goh

Secret Lives of Singaporeans is an ongoing collection of marketer friendly briefs on the fascinating people of the little red dot, by planners and PR consultants from the big red agency. It’s not “thought leadership”, it’s “inspiration to DO”.

Each issue comprises

• One thing people in Singapore are talking about

• One thing people in Singapore are searching for

• One thing that’s in the news in Singapore

Image Credits: TodayOnline, Unsplash, Tiktok, YouTube

One thing people in Singapore are talking about :

SPOTIFY 2022 WRAPPED

Image Credits: Spotify, Business Insider

Spotify Wrapped season has landed and this year, they are giving users a ‘music personality’.

Spotify Wrapped is an annual marketing campaign that was launched in 2016. Wrapped allows Spotify users to look back at their activity on Spotify the past year by sifting through data.

Since its introduction, the campaign has gone viral and is a big hit amongst its users. Users are able to share a variety of year end charts, data, graphics that are social friendly.

Harnessing user data has, in recent years, been increasingly challenging for brands as people are more wary of how their data is collected or (mis)used.

But using data is not inherently an “evil” thing. Brands can take a consumer first approach to show the power of data presenting data in a fun and social way allows the narrative around data to be reframed.

For brands, categorising users into tribe like segments may also prove useful when planning and targeting specific consumers with personalised content.

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One thing people in Singapore are searching for :

CRYPTO WOES

Image Credits: The Guardian

FTX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform, recently filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

In Singapore, the FTX news affected both retail and institutional investors.

For context, The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) had banned Binance, another giant in the cryptocurrency exchange space, as Binance was actively soliciting users in Singapore. This resulted in many users flocking to use FTX instead.

Furthermore, investors had comfort in using the platform as Temasek, the investment arm for the Republic, had invested S$377 million in the platform.

Banking, finance or other companies who are looking to explore the web3 space may face challenges as the governments around the world look to tighten regulations.

While that is still underway, companies are still trying to sort out the vague and ambiguous regulations for advertising in the web3/crypto space. However, a good rule of thumb is for brands to only make honest claims that they can back up, to remain genuine to protect the company’s reputation even if not (yet) technically required or regulated by law.

One thing in the news in Singapore:

SINGAPORE: MOST EXPENSIVE CITY IN THE WORLD

Image Credits: The Straits Times

Singapore ranked as the world’s most expensive city to live in for the eighth time in a decade, tying with America’s New York, in the latest ‘Worldwide Cost of Living’ index.

The survey is conducted bi annually, compares more than 400 individual prices across more than 200 products and services in 172 cities.

The survey also revealed that the Republic had faced a consistently high cost of living with the world’s highest transport prices, and high costs for clothing, alcohol and tobacco.

The rising cost of living is unavoidable.

Brands can ensure that communication around costs increase is transparent and shows empathy, instead of remaining silent.

Beyond announcements, brands can grasp this opportunity to give back to their most loyal customers with engaging events. Brand can also identify low income sub segments that align with their business purpose and take active steps to support them. Importantly, such activities need to be sustained or they may come across as just episodic posturing.

Sources: The Straits Times, SG Cares