The TVC has ordinary Singaporeans - a white-collar office worker, Indian chef, middle-aged housewife and so on - on board a Navy vessel trying to cope with an emergency. A missile is approaching fast but rather than responding properly to save the ship, they are shown up to be confused about what to do. The commercial then cuts half way through to show how trained Navy personnel are able to quickly deal with the same situation.
The Navy's advertising is different to the other armed forces because it uses humour in its ads while still communicating a serious message, according to Sion Scott-Wilson, executive creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi, which created the campaign.
The TVC is Saatchi's first major work for the Navy since it retained the account late last year.
Scott-Wilson said the objective was to boost the Navy's overall image, making it a more attractive career choice for high-quality candidates.
He said the ads had to communicate multiple messages to a broad cross-section of people.
"We were engaged to do a recruitment campaign but we can't focus entirely on that ... joining the Navy is a major life decision. There are a lot of opinion formers - family and friends - who have an influence over potential recruits, Scott-Wilson said. "So we are selling the Navy to them too...saying the Navy is a worthwhile organisation that is incredibly efficient and organised and plays a crucial role in modern Singapore."
