CPF Board concludes integrated marketing and creative pitch

Central Provident Fund Board (CPFB) has appointed McCann Worldgroup Singapore as its new integrated marketing and creative partner. According to Gebiz, the appointment will be for a period of one year with option to extend up to two years on a yearly basis. 

CPFB first called for a pitch in January 2020, for an integrated marketing agency, either as an individual company or as a consortium. McCann Worldgroup was among the seven shortlisted agencies vying for the account. The others include Fiftyfull, Formul8, Mullenlowe Singapore, Ogilvy Singapore, VMLY&R and The Thinc Group. 

The incumbent on the integrated marketing and creative account is Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore, which was appointed in April 2018. Prior to that, formul8 held the account with CPFB for a year.

McCann Worldgroup Singapore brings expertise in working with government bodies such as the National Council of Social Services and Land Transport Authority. The agency has also worked across global brands including L’Oreal, Mastercard, Nestle, Coca Cola and others. Marketing has reached out to CPFB and McCann for comment. 

As per a tender document seen by Marketing earlier, McCann Worldgroup Singapore will be tasked to conceptualise, implement and manage the integrated marketing campaigns, primarily the annual retirement planning campaign, and undertake the creative execution for other supporting initiatives such as roadshow paid publicity during the contract period.

The objectives of the campaigns should cover CPFB's overall marketing communications strategy, and proposed initiatives will have to be aligned in aiding CPF members in benefiting from the system. According to CPFB, this comes as part of its ongoing efforts to enable Singaporeans to retire without worrying about their basic needs.

Last year, CPFB's retirement planning campaign which showed senior citizens expressing their annoyance with a “tsk” copped flak from netizens. Netizens deemed the ad “distasteful”, and was an example of a stereotype that does not go in line with inclusiveness and cohesiveness the nation is working towards. In response to this, a CPFB spokesperson told Marketing then that “a good number” of the respondents in the focus group found the ad “relatable” and was able to resonate with the early retirement planning message.

This was however not the first time CPFB was under the spotlight. In 2018, its ad that encourages married individuals to top up their spouse’s CPF Special Account as a birthday gift also sparked a conversation online. Reactions were ranging from sarcasm to discussions on whether or not doing so was a good idea. A CPFB spokesperson told Marketing then that the series of videos was aimed at different audience segments and “spur” them to start planning for their future.