'Passion Made Possible' brand reflects evolving economic strategy, speaks to broad range of businesses

SINGAPORE - The new Passion Made Possible brand will help promote Singapore in a variety of ways and signal to the world how the nation is adapting to new challenges and creating new opportunities, Economic Development Board (EDB) chairman Beh Swan Gin said.

The joint brand from the EDB and the Singapore Tourism Board was launched on Thursday (Aug 24) evening by Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) S. Iswaran and is meant to market Singapore on the global stage for both business and leisure.

The brand will also be adopted by other statutory boards and agencies under the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI)'s purview and will shape each organisation's campaigns.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Communications and Information is looking into how other government agencies can be encouraged to adopt the brand for relevant initiatives of their own.

Common across the entire brand is both the tagline "Passion Made Possible" and a logo dubbed the "SG Mark", designed to resemble both the SG50 Golden Jubilee logo and a trust mark such as the copyright or trademark symbols.

Such a unified brand " allows us to then in a very targeted way get the message out to different groups", Mr Iswaran said, referring to how the brand communicates Singapore's identity globally.

"So, for example, in the economic sense, whether you're a start-up, a scale-up or a large enterprise, I think this message has resonance.

"For a start-up, it means this is a place you can come if your passion is in your business, and this is where you can develop and you grow. For scale-ups, it's about possibilities of going into the region and beyond in Asia.

"For the larger enterprises... using us as a base from which to look at the region and the opportunities there."

The EDB's Dr Beh told The Straits Times that the new brand is in line with its mandate to foster the creation of new regional and global businesses here.

This goal involves in part embracing the nation's core strengths in areas such as semiconductors, aerospace, industrial machinery and information communications technology, as well as its expansions into growth areas such as clean technology, speciality chemicals and digitalisation.

"In many ways, we are returning to what Singapore does best because the Singapore story is about how we innovated and transformed a colonial backwater into a thriving metropolis," Dr Beh said. "The new unified brand seeks to communicate this."

The Passion Made Possible brand comes on the heels of the EDB's Future Ready Singapore, which kicked off in 2010 with the aim of enhancing Singapore's image as a creative and innovative global business hub.

Dr Beh added: "The new brand will guide EDB in the stories we tell and the experiences we create to engage the international business community.

"For example, the business case studies we create will focus on how being in Singapore, and working with Singaporeans, have allowed global companies to create innovative solutions with global impact."

One global company that is taking part in promotional material for the brand is Norway-based solar energy firm REC Group, which has operational headquarters here and partners EDB in fields such as clean technology.

Mr James Ong, sales technical support manager for the Asia-Pacific region, said: "It is of great pleasure and honour to be part of this initiative. As REC strives towards greater innovation for the solar industry, we realise the passion in Singapore is a key factor to have our research and development facilities in Singapore."

Another multinational company, American consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble, is "excited about how this (new brand) will lead to more interactions with our consumers from the region and the world".

P&G Asia Pacific president Magesvaran Suranjan told The Straits Times: "We are hopeful that the increase in tourists will allow us to better understand our diverse group of consumers around the world."

He added: "This unified brand identity 'Passion Made Possible' strengthens Singapore's commitment to leading innovation, to becoming the destination for world-class talent and businesses."

In the public sector, representatives of International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore) and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) - both statutory boards under the MTI - also told The Straits Times that they will be taking up the new brand to sharpen the focus of their marketing material.

A spokesman for IE Singapore said: "There is synergy to have common branding across all agencies. The new Singapore brand personality very much applies to Singapore companies and their DNA, and will help us as we work with companies to go global."

One avenue where IE Singapore will be using the brand, he said, is the Singapore Pavilion booths at international trade shows and similar events.

An A*Star spokesman said: "The new marketing and communications strategy helps to refine our messages, highlighting how we aim to turn a passion for science into innovation and economic outcome."

Channels that could feature the new brand include the agency's Innovate newsletter and A*Star TV documentary series.

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