SINCE 2014, Sentosa has had the “State of Fun” tagline to its name. That all changed this year when Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) announced its new tagline, “Where Discovery Never Ends” while initiating a total brand refresh, which also included a new motif and new frontiers beyond just a physical space.

As part of the campaign, the refreshed tagline, “where discovery never ends”, is centered on four new brand values:

• Island Soul—A celebration of the natural, physical attributes of the island, including the sun, sand, sea and nature.
• Island Connection—Enabling the creation of experiences for guests to form new connections and strengthen existing ones, with loved ones and themselves.
• Island Discovery—Igniting curiosity and desire to explore and discover new sides of Sentosa or to use Sentosa as a gateway to new experiences, perspectives and destinations.
  
• 
  Island Future—Commitment to sustainability and social responsibility towards preserving and invigorating the island for the enjoyment of future generations.

Consumer behaviour is the key

The timing of the new campaign and the global transition towards endemicity isn’t coincidental, either. “Amidst the global travel restrictions due to the pandemic, we took the opportunity to take a step back to better understand the needs of our guests,” Mira Bharin (Divisional Director, Marketing & Guest Experience, Sentosa Development Corporation) explains.

“While fun experiences were still important, our guests were becoming more discerning with the type of leisure experiences they were seeking. They want offerings which were authentic and experiences which allowed for a sense of introspection. The brand refresh thus is timely to allow us to better communicate the range of experiences and discoveries to be made on Sentosa.”

The change in consumer behaviour and demands over the last 3 years cannot be understated. Mira emphasises that Sentosa’s facelift was guided by global trends and travel insights, such as the 2022 ‘Understanding The New Traveller’ report by WGSN for the SingapoReimagine Global Conversations. According to the study, some travellers are looking for renewed purpose through new experiences and opportunities for self-discovery.

Additionally, having a holistic and deep understanding of its guests is a key priority for SDC, and the organisation regularly conducts first-party research to garner new insights on guests’ needs. In November 2022, SDC commissioned research house IPSOS to conduct a survey to find out what were some lessons that Singaporeans and local residents have learnt two years on from the COVID-19 pandemic, and how this has shifted their attitudes towards work-life and leisure time.

Some results in particular stood out for SDC:

• Leisure time has been found to be a necessity, with three in four respondents agreeing that leisure time helps them to find the space to discover themselves to be their best.

• Also, one in three respondents enjoy less leisure time than desired, with the gap between their ideal and actual amount of leisure especially pronounced on weekdays.

Creating a new, familiar identity

Obviously, embarking on a company-wide campaign doesn’t happen overnight. According to Mira, the exercise took the team over a year and included conceptualisation, consumer testing, and engagement with stakeholders. Sentosa collaborated with GOVT, the creative agency that led the new campaign, Universal McCann, Zeno Group, Section Digital and Oliver Marketing. 

The most striking customer-facing change is the unveiling of a new motif, designed alongside illustrator Tiffany Lovage. The elements in the motif represent key themes that the island embraces such as the celebration of botany, celebration of people and social bonds, and Sentosa’s commitment to a sustainable future. 

“Sentosa has a strong brand identity that is rooted in our brand values, vision, and mission,” Mira elaborates. “As we refresh our brand, we have retained strong brand elements like colour, to drive the connection we have with the public, while leveraging on brand equity.”

According to Mira, some of the key strategies that Sentosa employed to stand out from the crowd include “leveraging on market research to better understand our target audience and ensuring that our proposition and image is distinctive yet resonates with them” as well as “creating compelling content and using effective channels and platforms that reach our target audience. We monitor these channels and platforms constantly to ensure our audience is receptive to our marketing messages.” 

“Consistency, time, and persistence are key factors to establish a memorable brand image in people’s minds. That is why we have planned out a colourful pipeline of events, such as the return of the well-received Zentosa Fest and Sentosa Food Fest among other exciting festivalisations for the year.”

Guests can also look forward to more offerings coming on-stream that will be experienced for the first time on the island, including:

• Tipsy Unicorn Beach Club at Siloso Beach – first beach club in Singapore with a focus on fitness and body-building offerings
• Raffles Sentosa Resort & Spa – Singapore’s first villa-only hotel featuring 62 villas
• The Palawan @ Sentosa – Shangri-La Group’s first standalone lifestyle precinct at Palawan Beach
• Sentosa Sensoryscape – first milestone of the Sentosa-Brani Master Plan
• SentoSights – Sentosa’s sustainability and heritage-themed guided tours and installations like the Giant Explorers of Sentosa made from upcycled materials.

 A short 15-minute boat ride from Sentosa, sustainable accommodation Tiny Away Escape @ Lazarus, amenities and leisure activities will soon be available at the Southern Islands, aiming to encourage guests to discover, form new connections and strengthen existing ones, against the backdrop of tranquil surroundings and rustic island charm.

Engaging with new faces on the metaverse

Part of Sentosa’s brand refresh is the launch of SentosaLand – a virtual island built on the gaming platform, Roblox, and housed in the metaverse. While this is the SDC’s first foray into the metaverse, it’s not uncommon for the company to engage with their younger demographics on modern social and gaming platforms. 

Communicating with new consumers can be tricky, though. New trends, new lingo, and new social media platforms are constantly popping up across the internet, so it’s important to stay authentic when reaching out to new generations.

Since its launch on January 10, SentosaLand has attracted more than 36,600 players – a number that the company finds very encouraging. 

According to Mira, “Sentosa is constantly innovating and finding new ways to connect with the younger generation and audiences to strengthen its community. Creating new immersive experiences to the digitally-savvy audience creates immense opportunities for acquisition of a broader audience.”

“We had also leveraged Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons to introduce Virtual Sentosa in 2020, to better engage with the younger generation during the pandemic. More recently, as part of our Golden Jubilee celebrations, we brought together 15 Singapore-based artists to launch the Sentosa Discovery Neverending NFT collection, a series of unique artwork reflecting each artist’s unique interpretation of their Sentosa experience.”

It’s no surprise that the metaverse presents lucrative opportunities to early adopters as well as businesses looking to enhance brand awareness in the digital space. 

“Aside from our guests and players, we were able to reach out to businesses on the island to enrich the in-gaming experience with real-world rewards,” Mira says. 

“We launched SentosaLand with four participating businesses and more have since expressed interest to be a part of this exciting space. SentosaLand presents exciting opportunities for us to collaborate with businesses and look at win-win ways to reach our guests.”

Looking to the future

As mentioned, one of the core themes of Sentosa is the commitment to sustainability and invigorating the island for the enjoyment of future generations. As the world recovers from the events of the last few years, and travel continues to show robust growth worldwide, the folks at Sentosa Development Corporation, Mira included, expect to have their hands full and minds busy for years to come.

Mira says, “As Sentosa has recently undergone a brand refresh, the island is welcoming a diverse range of new leisure and experiential offerings.  These include new low-carbon leisure experiences such as sustainable accommodation, on the nearby Southern Islands, which will extend the Sentosa getaway and help guests better appreciate the islands’ rich flora and fauna.”

“SDC has also unveiled exciting possibilities for Sentosa, with Pulau Brani as one of the zones in the landmark masterplan, redeveloping these islands into a leisure and tourism destination, leveraging their unique island charm, geographical qualities, as well as proximity to the city.”

Mira adds that the first milestone project for the newly refreshed Sentosa is Sentosa Sensoryscape, which will link Resorts World Sentosa in the north to Sentosa’s beaches in the south through a multi-sensory experience, replacing the existing pedestrian thoroughfare.  

“The redeveloped precinct will incorporate Universal Design principles to ensure easy access for all guests, as well as feature break-out spaces and expanded vistas through new photo and look-out points overlooking the beaches. All of these features are designed to enhance the overall experience of guests strolling through the island in the day or night.”

Since Sentosa’s last tagline was launched nearly a decade ago, we had to ask Mira what Sentosa’s aspirations were for the next 10 years. As unpredictable as it may seem, Mira emphasised that SDC’s vision remains the same –  to be the world’s best loved leisure and lifestyle resort destination. 

“Our mission is to create and deliver the One Sentosa Experience through outstanding service and world class offerings,” she adds.

“Going forward, we will take the lead in showcasing how tourist destinations can work towards safeguarding our future for generations to come, by curating both sustainable experiences for leisure and corporate visitors, both local and from abroad.  We will continue to look at novel ways to inspire the sense of discovery among our guests, with every visit. Meanwhile, as part of the Sustainable Sentosa strategic roadmap, we remain on track to hit our target to attain carbon neutrality by 2030 and become a globally recognised, certified sustainable tourism destination.”