Y&R adopts documentary style to promote Singapore Navy

The campaign, titled ‘The Passage – a midshipman’s journey’ was launched mid-March on a dedicated interactive website. It features 10 webisodes that follow a group of young midshipman (naval officer cadets) as they complete their six-week training. The documentary was filmed by CyberPioneer, the online version of the Ministry of Defence, Singapore’s publication, Pioneer.

“The RSN wanted to get people interested and to learn more about life in the navy so they could consider joining it as a career option,” Y&R creative director Toh Han Ming told Campaign Asia-Pacific. “The idea was to document the training programme and to build an integrated campaign around the series of webisodes.”

An online approach was adopted, thanks in part to budgeting concerns, explained senior account director, Kea Sui Hong. “But also, it was deemed the most effective means of reaching a younger target audience. The initial idea was to just launch the webisodes on YouTube and build publicity around it. But we wanted to make it even more interactive beyond each webisode.”

To do so, the team at Y&R built a website that would allow viewers to keep track of the ship’s journey around Asia-Pacific, to follow each stage of the midshipman’s training and explore more details about life in the navy, according to digital writer Emri Shafri. "Viewers can also pose questions to each midshipman and interact with them via the website."

The series will launch its fourth episode, ‘Making Friends’ this evening at 6 pm, with the last episode to air on 17 May. So far, the campaign has garnered more than 26,000 cumulative viewers in the three weeks since it was launched. 

Credits
Campaign: The Passage – A Midshipman’s Journey
Agency: Y&R Singapore
Client: Republic of Singapore Navy
Account Director: Kea Sui Hong
Account Executive: Chew Fung Wee/ Lim Jia Min Avril
Creative Director: Toh Han Ming
Art Director: Ong Sze Sze / Lim Wern Kee
Digital Imaging Artist : Sam Ng Yong Aik
Copywriter: Emir Shafri
Producer: Wendy Koh / Phoebe Lee
Video production: Defence Media Centre