SPH's Big Picture makes big media impression

SINGAPORE- Singaporeans were intrigued last month by the rare talent of Stephen Wiltshire, an autistic savant who drew Singapore's skyline from memory.

His story not only reached the 150,000 people who watched him sketch at Paragon mall but also 2.5 million Facebook users.

Mr Wiltshire's panorama was part of a campaign called See The Big Picture run by media company Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) to mark its 30th anniversary. The campaign created over 80 million media impressions, which means material related to it appeared that many times.

Mr James Chua, business director of Germs Digital, the advertising agency that led the campaign, said it helped change people's perception of SPH.

"People still see SPH as a traditional media organisation, they don't know the power of SPH in the digital space," he said. "They forget that there are all these digital platforms like AsiaOne and the various mobile applications, and which when used together with print and radio, created great success."

For example, teaser advertisements were run in newspapers, flashed on SPH MediaBoxOffice LED screens, and placed on SPH online and mobile platforms such as AsiaOne. The promotions were later extended to SPH's radio stations and Buzz Kiosk newsstands. Mr Chua said even as the five-day event was in progress, regular updates were posted on the online and mobile platforms.

Updates were also given on SPH radio stations HotFM 91.3, UFM, 100.3FM and Kiss 92, and flashed on LED screens to drive more people to the event.

The campaign received overwhelmingly positive comments on social and digital platforms. Enquiries for SPH's integrated media grew more than 20 per cent in the weeks after the event ended.

This article was first published on 11/09, 2014.
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