CASE STUDY: Making Singapore a kinder place

Background
The Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM) is a charitable collective that aims to inspire 'spontaneous acts of kindness' of any scale to improve peoples’ overall quality of life. Having launched last year with a branding campaign, ‘Kindness: bring it on!’, developed alongside DDB Singapore and depicting acts of kindness that could be practised on a daily basis, the movement needed to maintain the pace of its promotional activities as it approached World Kindness Day on 13 November.

Aim
SKM set out to etch World Kindness Day in the Singaporean public’s minds as indelibly as Christmas, Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day. While the goal was lofty, it was inspired by modern-day equivalents such as World Aids Day and Earth Day, and the growing public interest in socially responsible activities. The goal was to make World Kindness Day (which was initialised in 1998) relevant to people’s lives and ensure that they took its message to heart.

Execution
The strategy was divided into four parts. The initial aim was to increase awareness of World Kindness Day; the day would be profiled in such a way that people were able to register the date, the importance of performing a deed of kindness and the yellow gerbera daisy as a symbol; other tasks were to mobilise the public to take part in ‘kindness ambushes’ and to generate solid PR coverage in the run-up to the day itself.

At the heart of the campaign, which was created in conjunction with DDB and OMD, were two unconventional TV spots. Taking inspiration from reality-TV, SKM solicited nominations for deserving kind people, and sprung ‘kindness ambushes’ on them by overwhelming them with daisies. Video footage was subsequently edited for broadcast on national TV, in cinema halls, across outdoor plasma screens and on social media. 

Additional components included print, online, below-the-line promotions and events. The yellow daisy was chosen to denote happiness as a gift to be exchanged on World Kindness Day.

Online and social media also played an important role in driving participation. Visitors to the kindness site were encouraged to launch their own ‘kindness ambushes’ on their worthy friends, and upload for all to watch. The site was linked to Facebook and Twitter, where a fan page enabled prolonged engagement with participants. It also allowed for year-round twittering of kindness-related tips and activities.

Results
45,000 daisies were distributed on 13 November, World Kindness Day. 
The campaign resulted in a 209 per cent increase in website visits within the first two weeks of launch. 
30 ‘kindness ambush’ videos were submitted by the public within 10 days of TV launch.
21 partners committed to support the kindness cause and helped distribute daisies. Partner companies included F&N, Olio Dome, McDonald’s, Robinsons, Centrepoint and VivoCity.
The campaign received coverage across a range of print and broadcast media including terrestrial channels 5 and 8, Channel News Asia, BlogTV, The Straits Times, Today, Newsradio and Asiaone.

Credits
Project: World Kindness Day
Client: Singapore Kindness Movement
Creative agency: DDB Group Singapore
Executive creative director: Joji Jacob
Copywriter: Khairul Mondzi
Art director: Khoo Meng Hau, Dilys Lim
Account servicing: Joanna Tan, Dominic Lee, Gabriel Lim, Dylan Wang
Media agency: OMD Singapore
Media planners: Sunnie Yau, Ariane Goo
Production house: Mom3ntum
Exposure: Television, print, radio, outdoor, online, events