Singapore’s ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ experience of city branding

Publication Type

Case

Publication Date

6-2019

Abstract

Tourism has been an important economic pillar for Singapore for decades, contributing 4% to Singapore’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). While Singapore is a well-known destination with Asians and Europeans, the country has yet to become a popular choice for US travellers who lived outside the gateway cities on the eastern and western coasts. Being the second largest economy in the world, the US presents huge potential for tourism in Asia, and specifically Singapore.

Under the premise of the ‘Passion Made Possible’ brand for Singapore, jointly launched by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) in 2017, STB collaborated with Warner Bros. in promoting the film Crazy Rich Asians, a Hollywood romantic comedy based on a book by the same title.

The film’s huge success has helped raise the profile of Singapore in the US market. However, there were some misalignments in the interplay of STB’s city branding vision, the cultural connection to Singaporeans and the image that US travellers had of Singapore.

Keyword(s)

City branding, country branding, tourism, promotion, campaigns, film

Discipline

Advertising and Promotion Management | Marketing

Research Areas

Corporate Communication

Data Source

Field Research

Geographic Coverage

Singapore

Temporal Coverage

2019

Education Level

Executive Education; Postgraduate; Undergraduate

Publisher

Singapore Management University

Case ID

SMU-19-0010

Comments

SMU Faculty/Staff can download the case and teaching note with your SMU login ID and Password via the following links:

For purchase of the case and supplementary materials via The Centre for Management Practice, please access the following links:

For purchase of the case and supplementary materials via The Case Centre, please access the following links:

For purchase of the case and supplementary materials via Harvard Business Publishing, please access the following links:

Additional URL

https://cmp.smu.edu.sg/case/4006

Share

COinS