Art Takes Over You
National Arts Council
TBWA\Singapore
The Challenge
Organized by the National Arts Council, Singapore Art Week (SAW) is the country’s largest celebration of visual arts. While Singapore is known for its thriving business scene, the goal is to get people to also view Singapore as a creative hub.
The challenge for TBWA\Singapore was to increase awareness and attendance of the SAW event to bring more recognition to the arts scene.
The Solution
Traditionally, the theme of SAW has been about art taking over the city. This year, TBWA\Singapore set out to create a campaign that would connect with people on a more emotional level. Inspired by the feeling that one gets when encountering art, they evolved this year’s theme to art taking over you, as a person.
To bring the idea to life, they designed a series of colorful and dream-like characters embodying the emotional experience of looking at art. They contrasted them against the grey and concrete cityscape through billboards, subway ads, and bus wraps, turning all eyes to SAW. They also created pins, stickers, and paper fans that took over the people all week.
The Results
SAW was a major success, with over a million (non-unique visitors) in attendance this year. TBWA\Singapore’s campaign became so iconic that it was actually hijacked, with people recreating the characters for PSAs and meme content – driving further conversation both online and on the ground.
