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Project Postcard – Getting Singapore to roar again!
September 4, 2003
Hello and welcome to Connections, the programme that explores Singapore’s links with the rest of the world. In this edition, join me as I take a look at an usual effort to increase tourism in Singapore. I’m Yvonne Gomez. Stay with me in the programme.
For as long as I can remember, the tourism industry has played a big role here in Singapore. It’s contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product at about 5% may not be overly significant, but this island resort has wide appeal, as it attracts tourists from all over the world, who sometimes use Singapore as a base from which to travel the rest of Southeast Asia.
Over the last couple of years, however, the industry has been hit hard, starting with fears of flying after the September 11 attacks in 2001, and events much closer to home, like the Bali bombings of October 2002. Together with the SARS outbreak in the region and the general instability of the world today, these have had a negatve impact on tourism.
As such events are out of our hands to control, the Singapore Tourism Board, or STB, has explored creative ways to lure the tourists back to our sunny island. One of these was Project Postcard.
Project Postcard saw three different postcards distributed with prepaid postage. All Singaporeans and its residents had to do was to mail them out to their family and friends overseas, giving the recipients a chance to win a trip for two to Singapore on Singapore Airlines, and three nights’ hotel accommodation at the luxurious Fullerton Singapore. To top it all off, they would also receive a $1000 shopping voucher.
Those who sent the winning postcards out also won for themselves a $500 shopping voucher each.
STB said that a total of 153,000 postcards were sent out, 88, 379 of them in the third and last week of the contest.
For more on how the STB came up with such an unusual idea to promote tourism, I had a chat with Paul Tan, the STB’s Assistant Director of Destination Communications.
PT: Well basically, Project Postcard is part of our overall recovery programme. After the SARS crisis, there was a need to jumpstart the industry and to get everyone on board. So we had discussions with SPH first to see how we could move this ahead. Then Singpost came into the picture, and then we got our sponsors in. that essentially how the idea was conceived. Without the sponsors, of course, this project wouldn’t have taken off. We really needed certain people on board. As to our wider goals, basically we wanted Singaporeans to feel that they could be good tourism ambassadors, that they had some sense of pride in what Singapore offers to visitors, oth business as well as leisure travellers – to generate buzz and awareness about the recovery campaign.
YG: Your media release says that you thought this was a big success. I’m just wondering if 153,000 justifies this, as it doesn’t seem like a very large number?
PT: Actually, if you were to talk to marketeers, this is a direct marketing campaign, by speaking directly to the potential respondent, 153,000 out of 2.8 million cards distributed, comes up to about 5%, which is actually a very good record. Because for most direct marketing campaigns, you have about 2% - 3%. So we actually think that, at least quantitatively, it’s already very good. But qualitatively, there was a good buzz. A lot of people knew about it, and people visited the website. We had a good spike in our website numbers. People were talking about it and went to the post office to ask for more cards. People called us up to ask for more cards because they said they had many friends. So I think from that qualitative point of view, I think the project was actually very successful.
YG: For example, I received two cards at home, and when I read it, I thought it was a great idea but just never got around to mailing it. Do you think more time should have been given, or what could be the reasons why people didn’t take part in Project Postcard?
PT: Actually, it was a three-week campaign and we had the first card out on National Day, timed to be inserted into the national papers on National Day. And in weeks two and three, they were mailed dropped into residences in Singapore. We couldn’t extend it indefinitely extend it, partly because it was timed for National Day, partly also because the postage was being paid for. But we thought, given the contest mechanics, and given the publicity we had, we thought the three-week campaign window worked quite well for us. We are extending the free postage until the end of this week.
YG: Did more people send postcards to certain countries more than others?
PT: We got Singpost to extrapolate the cards sent out for one particular day, and we found out that the bulk of the cards actually went to China, Australia, United States, Indian and the UK, roughly in that order. And we think for the rest of the campaign, these were the the bulk of the card destinations. But we also found cards sent to far-flung destinations like Luxembourg, Peru and Jordan. It really shows that Singaporeans and residents are a cosmopolitan lot.
YG: What are some other plans of a similar and unusual nature that STB has to encourage visitors from overseas.
PT: Of course we’ll continue to look at creative ways to get Singaporeans to be good ambassadors, but of course one of our goals, as you rightly pointed out, is to get visitors from overseas to come. Certainly a project postcard like this, we won’t rule out for the future, because it’s a good way to generate buzz and a good way to buy in from Singaporeans themselves. Because we believe that tourists will go where locals go anyway. So locals have to believe that the product is something worth shouting about. As for plans, we’ve got regional offices and they’re embarking on a lot of activities. We’ve now for Phua Chu Kang, as well as Ning Baizura as Tourism Ambassadors in Malaysia. Some people may not know this but Malaysia is one of our key markets for Singapore. So having these two high profile celebrities as Tourism Ambassadors, that’s also very good to attract Malaysian arrivals, especially by land.
Bonar Pasaribu had sent out several postcards but his winning entry was the one he sent to his cousin in Jakarta, Indonesia. I spoke to Bonar recently.
YG: What motivated you to take part in the contest?
BP: First of all, it was because my relatives have not visited Singapore for quite a while – the last arrival was in December. And secondly, it was the prizes that could be won. And thirdly, the free postage made it possible to send the postacrds to any part of the world.
YG: So did you only send the postcard to the winner, your cousin, Ms Ornella? Who else did you send postcards to?
BP: I sent postcards to a number of places actually – Australia, to England, Indonesia, Malaysia. I don’t think I have any friends in Thailand!
YG: So how does it make you feel to have won, and do you think your cousin Ornella will actually enjoy her stay here in Singapore?
BP: At first she didn’t believe me actually. She was screaming into the phone to ask me to stop pulling her leg and I said ‘no, it’s true’ and after a while, she was jumping around with joy.
YG: What about you? What are you going to do with your $500?
BP: It’s a voucher. I think vouchers are actually for home accessories and for wives. I wouldn’t know how to spend a voucher, actually. If it was cash, I would know where to go to spend it (laughs).
That was Bonar Pasaribu, one of the three winners of Project Postcard.
With more creative plans such as Project Postcard to look forward to, there is life yet, to be injected back into Singapore’s tourism industry to get it back into roaring form. Find out more about the STB’s Singapore Roars! marketing campaign at www.singaporeroars.com
And that’s a wrap of Connections this week. Tune in again same time next week for another edition of the programme. Thanks for listening. I’m Yvonne Gomez for Radio Singapore International.
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