Ultraman and Merlion battle monsters in downtown Singapore

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Ultraman is once again battling monsters, also known as kaijus, at Changi Airport and Sentosa, before converging in front of the Merlion statue in downtown Singapore for a final battle. During the battle, the Merlion transforms into the Merliger and takes on the kaijus together with Ultraman. This is part of the new tourism video commissioned by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and is an extension of the one released earlier which showed Ultraman battling a kaiju at Gardens By the Bay.

STB first embarked on a partnership with Japan production house Tsuburaya, which owns the copyright to Ultraman, to launch the campaign "Reimagine ULTRAMAN" last year to mark 55 years of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Japan. This also coincided with the 55^th anniversary of the iconic Japanese character.

Markus Tan, STB's regional director for North Asia said that the brakes had to be slammed on the SingapoReimagine Ultraman campaign due to the pandemic, but more would be done this year. He also added that future campaign videos featuring Ultraman will be progressively rolled out in the coming months with Singapore Airlines, the Night Safari, as well as a luxury hotel that cannot be named yet. MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to STB for comment.

The Reimagine ULTRAMAN campaign looks ahead to a reimagined Singapore and aims to drive anticipation for travel, by leveraging Ultraman’s brand power and audience network in Japan, as well as in other markets where Ultraman is popular, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Meanwhile, last month saw the National Arts Council of Singapore and STB release the grand finale to their dance campaign trilogy – "Together We Rise". The campaign was the last sequel to the campaigns of "Dance To A New Beat" in 2020 and "Be Drawn In" in 2021. Through the interpretation of dance, the campaign aimed to honour all Singaporeans for their strength in character and spirit of togetherness to overcome adversity, as well as guide the audience to reimagine the travel experience Singapore offers.

As part of its marketing and content partnership push for Singapore, STB embarked on a collaboration with airasia that month. Travellers can now access a wide range of travel deals to Singapore on the airasia Super App, as well as book tourism experiences in Singapore, such as flight and hotel packages, meals and other experiences. These have been added to the Super App platform as part of the partnership. Both parties will also work together to pilot digital solutions to enhance the visitor experience in Singapore, as well as exchange knowledge and insights that will deepen their understanding of travellers from Southeast Asia markets – for example, traveller spending patterns.

Separately, STB is on the hunt for a PR agency in Singapore. According to the tender on Gebiz seen by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, the appointment will be for a period of one year and 10 months, with the option to extend on an annual basis for up to two years. Currently, Edelman handles PR duties for STB in Singapore, while The Shophouse @ Publicis - a consortium comprising BBH, Zenith, Digitas and Prodigious - handles STB's creative, media, digital and production services in Singapore and globally. This followed a pitch for global creative and media agency last year. TBWA\ Singapore was the creative incumbent.