sovereign wealth fund Archives

Singapore – GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, has released a new campaign for its 40th anniversary, and this time, turning bus stops island-wide into bumper crops of urban farms.

In October, GIC has already launched its flagship digital campaign in celebrating its anniversary, created with creative agency 72andSunny Singapore, which assigns innocuous symbols meanings to retell the sovereign fund’s long history.

Similarly developed with the agency, the living installations transform bus stops into flourishing crops of butterhead lettuce, and Chinese broccoli (kai lan), as a statement of the sovereign wealth fund’s bold future vision for the future of sustainability.

GIC turns bus stops into urban farms for 40th anniversary

72andSunny developed the green bus stops in partnership with local urban farmer Gardens with Purpose, which brought in gardening enthusiasts from the community to grow and maintain the crops over the month-long activation. Harvested vegetables, expected to weigh over 100kg, will also be donated to Willing Hearts, a community kitchen, that delivers meals to thousands of needy families.

Mah Lay Choon, GIC’s head of corporate communications, said that the Bold Vision campaign was planned to engender an understanding of GIC’s history as well as its commitment to Singapore’s future, which will include tackling sustainability challenges.

“We wish for these urban farms to spark ideas on more ways to incorporate growing fresh vegetables at home or in the community,” said Choon.

Johnny Tan, 72andSunny’s ECD for APAC, shared that the agency considered today’s saturated sustainability communications, and developed the campaign in a way that would diminish the risk of white noise.

“We wanted to help GIC show up in a surprising, modern way and effectively inspire people to picture the possibilities of growing food in the least expected of place,” said Tan.

Meanwhile, Joanne Ng, owner of Gardens with Purpose, commented, ”We have been creating awareness of urban farming through classes with members of the public and students. We are very excited to work on this as I believe it will get people to reimagine urban farming and how they too might start growing their favorite vegetables.”

Singapore – GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, is celebrating its 40th anniversary and has partnered with creative agency 72andSunny Singapore to retrace the pivotal moments in its four-decade history.

An entity’s history is inherently rich and even as a leading global investment firm, not a lot may be knowledgeable of how the firm came to be what is today, hence, the campaign’s objective. GIC was established in 1981 to manage Singapore’s foreign reserves to secure the country’s financial future.

With ‘Bold’ as the star message of the campaign, GIC ‘subtly’ tells its story through innocuous objects that open up a particular historical bit of the firm.

The firm complemented the ‘Bold’ stories with striking visuals, and for instance, in one collateral, a chair symbolizes how GIC started out from the humblest of beginning with its first managing director starting his tenure with an empty office and a borrowed chair. In another, a pen cues the pioneering vision of GIC’s founding leader Dr. Goh Keng Swee in rewriting how Singapore managed its reserves.

Audiences’ interest are piqued through questions like, “How did the first-ever S$1 mark the beginning of Singapore’s journey towards financial independence?” and is drawn to a microsite – madeofbold.sg – that enlights with the detailed story behind the symbol.

In addition, each story is presented with an empowering message that is representative of the firm’s particular milestones such as “Bold writes its own stories” and “Bold stands its ground.”

Mah Lay Choon, GIC’s senior vice president of communications, said, “The role of the reserves as a rainy day fund was demonstrated so clearly during this Covid-19 pandemic. As part of GIC’s commemorative year, we wanted to create awareness of the little-known, historical episodes that shaped GIC’s pre-history, where Singapore’s founding leaders safeguarded Singapore’s reserves.”

“Through these stories, more will understand how GIC came to be, born of Dr. Goh Keng Swee’s bold vision, and how that spirit continues to drive GIC to secure Singapore’s financial future,” adds Mah Lay Choon.

Johnny Tan, 72andSunny’s executive creative director, commented, “As we explored GIC’s history, we were surprised by the innovativeness, boldness and sheer conviction that made GIC what it is today. This is a story more Singaporeans deserve to know. And there’s more coming up.”

The integrated campaign has been launched across OOH, social and digital touchpoints like Spotify and TikTok.

72andSunny has been snaring remits from top local entities in the country such as Singapore University of Technology and Design and Buy-Now-Pay-Later brand Atome.