Situation:

Though Singaporeans are extremely familiar with the platform, TikTok had never ran a brand campaign in Singapore. On Singapore’s 52nd National Day, we took the opportunity to show how the platform played a key role in Singapore culture.

Brief:

We wanted to be like our platform – To make a connection. To do this, we had to create something that truly resonates with all Singaporeans. Though the practice is to create touching content during this period, that just won’t cut through. Moreover, it doesn’t feel TikTok. So, we distilled the brief down to: if Singapore created a TikTok, what would it look like?

Objectives:

The goal was to build on this brand image of a fun, entertaining platform, but really cut through show the platform’s relevance in the lives of everyday Singaporeans.

Our inspiration began as a piece of news that originated on social media. Marina Bay Sands, a Singapore landmark, was incorrectly labeled by a foreign user to be in ‘beautiful Tennessee’. Overnight, memes flooded Singapore channels, either humorously claiming other country’s icons as our own or giving nostalgic Singapore icons more ‘international acclaim’. This was patriotism, in the age of social.

There was also a deeper cultural insight uncovered through this: Dealing with misperceptions of the nation is part and parcel of being a Singaporean. We’ve all had to deal with “Why are you able to speak such good English?”. Or “Which part of (Insert larger country) is Singapore in?”. Or, more recently, “Are you guys all Crazy Rich Asians?”

Here, it’s likely that to explain what Singapore is, at some point, you’ve had to clarify what the country is not. This became our idea.

This film is about Singapore, but also about TikTok. It was important to not lose the brand’s role in the campaign, and our answer was to celebrate the nation while showing how TikTok was integral in Singapore culture. All done in the fun, entertaining vibe our platform provides.

This was done to cut through a crowded media period flooded with touching long-form stories of pioneers and heroes. The key was not to lose relevance. It was important to show how TikTok understands what it means to be Singaporean. To achieve this, each scene in the 97 second film featured scenes Singaporeans not only recognized but could’ve dealt with just last week.

We weaved these insights together with a catchy beat, local TikTok creator community, and the result was TikTok’s love letter to the nation.

Capturing the Singaporean insights was the fun, and also the easy part. The challenge was to demonstrate the role our brand played in the middle of it all. On top of demonstrating the strong understanding we have as a key part of local culture, we also made sure our platform was at the heart of everything:

The film was made entirely with the TikTok community – We heroed UGC content, and filmed local creators from all walks of life to make our point. By featuring creators such as @charlenechew3005, a burns victim who creates make-up content, we were able to make a strong argument on the strength of Singaporeans, and also show the diversity of our community.

On top of featuring our product UI, we also showcased how else we’re adding to national day with a merlion effect and a Singapore quiz effect that users can try on the platform.

The film went live on social channels such as YouTube, Facebook and TikTok on August 4th. Paid media support ended on national day five days later, on August 9th.

Even in this short campaign period, the film gathered total views amounting to over 6.8 million views. Given that this campaign was targeted only to Singaporeans, that figure far exceeded the Singapore population (5.9m)

The film has also received close to 20k likes, 9k shares and 793K social engagements. The campaign received overwhelmingly positive sentiments (above 90%) and brand indices have also spiked positively.