Singapore Tourism Board

The objective

Amping up Singapore’s travel appeal through TikTok

TikTok has become a top platform for holiday-hungry audiences to feed their wanderlust—it’s where people get ideas for their next trip, add to their bucket list, and uncover hidden gems. Seeing demand for travel surge in the Asia-Pacific region, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) saw an opportunity to turn the spotlight on Singapore through a TikTok campaign.

Singapore’s destination brand is “Passion Made Possible”. STB wanted to put a fresh spin on this familiar brand by focusing on how ordinary or familiar moments are made extraordinary in Singapore.

This gave birth to "Made in Singapore," a global campaign introduced in September 2023 that showcases authentic stories of Singapore, from its iconic attractions to its hidden gems. This campaign would position the nation as a destination where ordinary moments could transform into extraordinary experiences, such as "forest bathing" at the unexpected setting of Jewel Changi Airport's Rain Vortex or witnessing a colorful "air show" at the Mandai Bird Paradise.

There were many avenues for STB to drive awareness of Singapore as a vibrant and unique destination. Working with TikTok enabled STB to work with content creators at scale to spread the word on these destination stories in an authentic and engaging way, to keep the city-state top of mind among travelers in the region.

The solution

Leveraging TikTok’s community to tell authentic stories

To draw out fresh and authentic stories of Singapore, STB kicked off Branded Missions across eight key markets: Australia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.

TikTok’s Branded Missions enable brands to crowdsource original content from creators on the platform. By engaging TikTok’s community to participate in branded campaigns, brands can easily tap into the storytelling powers of diverse creators and choose their favorite videos to boost as ads.

Using the hashtag #MadeInSingapore, STB challenged creators to showcase how Singapore has been unexpected for them—from quintessentially Singaporean attractions to familiar moments with an unexpected twist. This enabled the board to uncover surprising narratives that would grab the attention of TikTok users and get them to view Singapore in a new light.

TikTok Creative Exchange (TTCX) was the primary ad creative solution that supported the entire campaign. It enabled STB to discover certified creative service partners who can make engaging TikTok content that aligns with current trends. Through TTCX and their badged creative partner, Amplify, STB produced 38 separate assets for all eight markets' Branded Missions to drive outstanding performance.

In addition to crowdsourcing organic submissions, STB flew in a total of 19 creators into Singapore to produce these 38 assets, creatively showcasing a juxtaposition between typical holiday activities and the unique experiences that Singapore offers.

To drive awareness of the campaign, STB leveraged TikTok’s Reach & Frequency as well. Reach & Frequency is a campaign buying type that allows brands on the platform to control the audience size they reach and when ads will be delivered. Brands aiming for large-scale awareness generation can use Reach & Frequency to maximize their budget and get as many people to engage with their content as possible.

Reach & Frequency was an ideal fit for STB to engage travelers across eight countries, enabling the storytelling approach of #MadeInSingapore to reach its fullest potential.

The results

Creator-led campaigns make large-scale engagement a breeze

After running the #MadeInSingapore campaign for a month—between 3 November to 5 December 2023—STB achieved a significant uplift in awareness of Singapore as an attractive destination across the eight markets.

Tapping into authentic content from TikTok’s community proved to be an effective answer to the challenges of large-scale engagement. The Branded Missions saw strong engagement with video creations from over 1,500 creators. STB boosted 66 shortlisted videos, which together drew 95 million views and reached 24 million unique users—a testament to #MadeInSingapore’s robust exposure among its selected target audiences.

STB’s move to supplement the Branded Missions with a Reach & Frequency campaign also paid off. The paid creatives hit a combined reach of 74.8 million unique users, reaching at least 50% of the target population in six out of eight markets. In addition, the six-second View-Through Rate (VTR) for most markets met or exceeded TikTok Travel benchmarks, demonstrating that viewers were captivated by the campaign’s creator-led, storytelling approach.

TikTok conducted a Brand Lift Study on the campaign to measure its impact on viewer perceptions of Singapore. In five out of eight markets, #MadeInSingapore spurred a strong uplift in ad recall. There was also a significant rise in the number of users who would recommend Singapore as a destination to others, across five out of eight markets.

Kantar Ad Effectiveness Studies were additionally performed for the Australia, Japan and Korea markets. The results were clear: #MadeInSingapore successfully uplifted most intended branding associations of Singapore, such as “unexpected”, “vibrant”, and “creative”. What’s more, all markets saw a strong rise in respondents’ intent to visit Singapore. This suggests that STB’s TikTok strategy has not only driven awareness but inspired travelers in diverse countries to take action.

Travel and tourism organizations like STB can look to TikTok’s Ad Manager for ad solutions that entertain, engage, and inspire—wherever in the world your audiences may be.