Resorts World Sentosa - Food & Beverage Campaign of the Year

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Company: Resorts World at Sentosa Pte Ltd, Singapore, Singapore
Company Description: Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), Asia’s ultimate destination resort, is located on Singapore’s resort island of Sentosa. Spanning 49 hectares, RWS is home to Universal Studios Singapore and the Marine Life Park. Other attractions include a Maritime Experiential Museum, an award-winning destination spa, a casino, six unique hotels, Resorts World Convention Centre, celebrity chef restaurants, etc.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Food & Beverage

Nomination Title: Aqua Gastronomy by Resorts World Sentosa

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), Asia’s premium lifestyle destination resort located on Singapore’s resort island of Sentosa, launched Aqua Gastronomy (AG) on 24 August 2020 as the country progressively reopened however global travel remained at a standstill and Singaporeans continued to be cautious post-lockdown. Recognizing the change in customer demographics and the shifts in local consumer behavior in the new normal, the PR campaign for the pop-up ‘underwater’ dining experience focused on communicating key messages that directly addressed locals’ pent-up desire for new experiences, to get close to nature, their renewed preference for healthy dining and new expectations of safety.

The successful campaign created overwhelming demand from Singaporeans – originally slated to run from 4 September till 31 October 2020, AG was extended three times to 28 February 2021, and improved RWS’s reputation as a fine-dining destination through excellent reviews in earned media. 

OBJECTIVES & CHALLENGES

The objectives were to create awareness on AG among local audiences and to drive reservations. With the tourism industry severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was an opportunity to focus on capturing the local market by showcasing RWS’s strengths and unique advantages. AG which creatively combined an extraordinary aquarium setting with safety, entertainment production and fine-dining, exemplifies RWS as a leader in revolutionising guest experiences. While promoting this, the PR campaign also had to overcome the challenges of standing out from a competitive dining scene, and compel guests to visit the resort for fine-dining on weekday and weekend nights. The PR activities centered on media tastings (“dine in the deep with us”) and highly strategic pitching.

STRATEGY

Strong positioning: To achieve the goals, we formulated clear key messages to convey the multi-faceted unique selling points of AG. These messages addressed the new consumer needs for meaningful experiences and concerns about health and safety. We also collaborated with a young local artist who illustrated marine-themed postcards that were given to AG guests, as a nod to the #supportlocal movement trending during Singapore’s Circuit Breaker period.

1. AG is a new first-in-Singapore ‘underwater’ pop-up destination dining adventure in the country’s only aquarium,
2. It features innovative theatrical effects by award-winning RWS show producers,
3. RWS is a SG Clean accredited venue with stringent safe management measures in place, and
4. AG’s modern Asian menu features 100% sustainably sourced seafood and local produce.

Generating positive reviews: As diners in Singapore heavily rely on media food reviews and user reviews when making booking decisions, organizing media tastings and working with the operations team to ensure that every guest has a great experience was of utmost importance to stimulate positive word of mouth.

Creating & sustaining buzz with new seasonal assets to target the visual-driven generation: We strategically produced stunning and season-specific images and videos and timed their release to the media over the period of August 2020 to February 2021 to sustain interest and hype. These included a dreamy introductory video to launch the brand new experience, an ethereal image of the dish “ Misty Christmas Morning” and a Chinese New Year video to unveil AG’s Spring Edition.

EXECUTION

RWS announced the launch of AG via a press release on 24 August 2020 in which key messages are in bold red accompanied with attractive images of the space and food. To ensure that we reach our target audience segments of the affluent, couples/PMEBs and families, we invited 20 handpicked media that also have strong social media followings to experience AG within two weeks of its launch in September. The first wave of coverage hit a wide-ranging audience.

Interviews with consumer and trade publications further pushed out AG’s USPs. Scott Peterson, Assistant Vice President, Business Innovation, RWS was interviewed by CNA938, CNA, Web In Travel, Singapore Tatler and Epicure. Tatler and Epicure. Chef Marvas Huang’s quotes on his sustainable seafood creations were featured on CNA Lifestyle and Esquire.

After creating overwhelming response for AG’s initial launch, we sustained buzz on its extension and subsequent iterations through periodic media announcements of it being sold-out, informing the media that the public could “sign up for the waitlist" and highlighting that it is “back by popular demand for a limited time only”. This was done through punchy eDMs, press releases, direct media pitching, and social media posts. These messages were picked up by many media which drummed up a sense of urgency/FOMO and boosted demand.

Capitalizing on our photo opportunities, we invited photographers/videographers over. This generated new visuals such as on 8 Days and Eatbook. Photos by Reuters and AFP were also carried by news outlets in the US, South Africa and India.

RESULTS & EFFECTIVENESS

The campaign resulted in overwhelmingly positive reviews on AG in the media, covering all our key messages. Cuisine & Wine Asia even mentioned that RWS is “long a beloved source of entertainment and fun experiences for the whole family”, Lianhe Zaobao praised RWS for turning the 5-person dining limit into an advantage with AG’s pods that offer a private space SG magazine wrote “trust RWS to make an experiential affair out of a meal” – all of these coverage added a shine to RWS’s brand image.

The campaign was also wide-reaching and successfully garnered repeated coverage in a mix of mainstream, luxury, lifestyle and parenting media over 6 months including The Straits Times, Channel NewsAsia, Bloomberg, TimeOut, Singapore Tatler, Class 95FM and Silverkris. 

In addition, it positively impacted the bottom line. The continuous PR efforts over six months contributed towards the sold-out of AG from September through December 2020, and its high popularity in January and February 2021. This is despite the fact that AG was extended thrice and increased from one seating in September to two seatings from October 2020 to February 2021. The spellbinding multisensory fine-dining experience was enjoyed by 11,111 diners – an achievement for a brand new dining concept in the post-Covid environment.