Secret Lives of Singaporeans issue #36: A rebrand, a crisis, a chance to score

SECRET LIVES OF SINGAPOREANS: A REBRAND, A CRISIS, A CHANCE TO SCORE

Issue #36 – Week commencing 7 August 2023

Authored by Joanne Hoe and Liming Yu

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: Burger King, Tottenham Hotspurs

One thing people in Singapore are talking about:

TWITTER’S REBRANDING: DISRUPTION OR DESTRUCTION?

Image Credits: Adryan Samuel Hutagalung / Shutterstock

Twitter has officially been rebranded to X as owner Elon Musk announced last week. The iconic blue bird logo has been removed and an interim X logo has now taken over the platform. The X.com site domain was faced with multiple legal concerns including being banned as a porn and gambling site in Indonesia. The platform domain has now reverted to twitter.com, but worldwide visits to the site have dropped by 9.43% year-on-year in June.

The sudden rebranding of Twitter to X has destroyed the brand’s ethos and tradition, alienating core users of the platform. Without a clear and tangible change to X, users are not seeing the value of the new brand at the moment.

In Singapore, Twitter’s monthly active users are at 32% of total Internet users, falling behind LinkedIn at 37.9%. Twitter has lost its charm amongst Singaporeans in the past years as newer and more visual-led platforms like Instagram and TikTok have emerged. When asked to choose their favourite social media platforms, only 1.5% of Singaporeans chose Twitter, leaving it last on the rankings.

While Twitter (or X) is not as popular in Singapore, Meta’s new platform, Threads, is a close competitor that has sparked interest among Singaporeans. With access to the Instagram user network, Threads seems to have a better chance at gaining critical mass in Singapore.

For brands wondering if it is worth adding either one to their arsenal of social platforms, it would be wise to wait for platform features and usage patterns to stabilise before diving into them.

One thing that’s in the news in Singapore:

CHAN BROTHERS & WANG LEI: IMPORTANCE OF CUSTOMER SERVICE IN MITIGATING CRISES

Image Credits: Chan Brothers

The relationship between travel agency Chan Brothers and local artiste Wang Lei is turning sour with the latter’s recent livestream statements pertaining to a private Europe tour.

On 16 July, Wang Lei made several allegations about his tour experience with Chan Brothers: about misrepresentation (“I bought a salmon, you gave me a sea bass. I bought a ‘mao shan wang’ (durian), you gave me a D24”) and unresponsiveness to feedback.

The shareability and virality on social media tend to escalate issues further. In this digital space, brands should have a team that conducts daily community management and is responsive to social chatter.

For issues that are gaining traction, brands should aim to reach out to the complainant and publish a holding statement on social media within one hour, or latest – one day to share a public statement.

His 27-minute-long livestream had over 300k views with 7k reactions and comments, with some netizens sharing the same sentiments.

consumers have with their brands. The POC should have:

1. Speed in acknowledging feedback and concerns

2. Empathetic and share a listening ear

Two weeks later, on 31 July, Chan Brothers declared that they will take legal action against Wang Lei for the “false and unfair allegations”.

3. Provide prompt assistance

4. Positive attitude and respect

It will mitigate the chances of bad customer experiences escalating into PR crises.

Sources: The Straits Times, Marketing-Interactive, Mothership, Chan Brothers, Wang Lei

One thing people in Singapore are searching for:

SINGAPORE FESTIVAL OF FOOTBALL: JUMPING ON THE FOOTBALL FRENZY

Image Credits: The Straits Times, Yahoo!, AIA,Tiger Beer

The Singapore Festival of Football hosted friendly matches with top teams like Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur over the past two weeks. The festival was wellreceived, with over 49,983 spectators at the final match.

Marketers and brands did not let this high-visibility event go to waste. From engaging celebrity football players as brand ambassadors to sponsorships and promotions, retailers have reported a boost in sales of up to 50%.

A large-scale sporting event may seem to only reach a niche segment of audiences, but when we look at them through a human lens, we can find opportunity and relevance for brands across categories.

Some of the notable collaborations include AIA appointing Spurs’ Son Heung-min as their first Singapore brand ambassador, and CDG Zig being the official transportation partner for the event.

Some ways-in to work with sporting events:

• Sponsorship /ambassadorship: Aligning brand values with the spirit and attitudes of sportsmen to enhance brand image

• Event partner: Being present and solving a functional need at the event to increase brand awareness and boost sales

• Consumption occasion: Tap on the consumption occasion for fans watching the match at home or in pubs