How Senoko Energy’s Singlet Month Champions Energy Conservation
When you think of conscious energy consumption, your choice of clothing mightn’t be the first thing that comes to mind. But during the hottest month of the year in Singapore, a campaign from Senoko Energy brought clothing habits under a microscope.
In a bid to promote energy conservation in Singapore, DDB Group Singapore and Senoko Energy have launched an innovative National Singlet Month campaign. The campaign features a social media contest, influencer partnerships, and a focus on relatable, everyday behaviours.
The movement aims to highlight the small yet impactful actions Singaporeans can take to reduce energy consumption.
DDB Singapore creative group heads JunQi Liao and Shawn Lam spoke to LBB’s Tom Loudon to elaborate on the inspiration behind the campaign’s singlet symbol, their primary goals, and the strategic role of influencers in amplifying the message.
LBB> What inspired the idea of National Singlet Month, and how did the concept evolve?
JunQi and Shawn> Senoko Energy approached us with a campaign idea to encourage Singaporeans to take charge of their energy consumption through energy conservation. We quickly realised that people didn’t need to be told to save energy – they were already doing it at home every day, in their own small ways. One such habit was wearing singlets — an everyday choice that keeps us cool without turning up the air conditioning.
Our idea was to transform a humble piece of clothing — the singlet — into a symbol of conscious energy consumption. By encouraging people to wear singlets during the hottest month of the year, we aimed to promote the idea that any small action, like adjusting your wardrobe to stay cool, can collectively make a significant difference in reducing energy consumption.
LBB> Why was the singlet chosen as the symbol for this energy-saving campaign?
JunQi and Shawn> The National Singlet Month movement is the first phase of Senoko Energy’s larger ‘Thank You’ campaign to celebrate energy savers in Singapore. To make an impactful launch, we focused on celebrating a group whose actions resonate most with locals. In perpetually hot Singapore, wearing a singlet is a quintessentially Singaporean behaviour. By drawing on this long-standing custom and rooting our campaign deep within it, we hope to create a memorable movement that the whole of Singapore will want to be part of.
LBB> How do you plan to measure the campaign's success in terms of both engagement and actual energy savings?
JunQi and Shawn> One of our primary success metrics is cultivating brand love, as our campaign was strategically designed to amplify positive sentiments and emotional connection with Senoko Energy. This can be gauged through several key indicators, including the volume of Google searches for Senoko Energy during the campaign period, the number of pledges made by existing customers to incorporate energy-saving practices into their daily lives, and a YouGov survey measuring brand love before and after the campaign. Preliminary data indicates that we are already experiencing significant success in these areas.
The success of actual energy savings will be measured by tracking the utility usage of Senoko Energy's consumers. Senoko Energy will monitor the energy consumption patterns of consumers for the campaign to determine any significant reductions in usage. This data will provide evidence of the campaign's impact on promoting energy-saving behaviours among consumers.
LBB> Who is the primary target audience for this campaign, and how did you tailor the message to resonate with them?
JunQi and Shawn> We wanted our campaign to reach everyday Singaporeans. To ensure our message resonated with people from all walks of life, we featured a diverse cast in our film and had them wearing singlets while enjoying their favourite activities at home. We wanted these scenarios to feel relatable and familiar to people, so they would be compelled to participate.
Additionally, we are also leveraging news media to seed our energy conservation messages. By taking advantage of global-warming-related news (i.e. July 22nd was the hottest day in history) to push out our campaign, we are making the topic timely, relevant and interesting to our audience.
LBB> Can you elaborate on the role of influencers like Xiao Ming and Jayne in the campaign? How were they selected, and what impact do you expect from their involvement?
JunQi and Shawn> This being a fun and quirky campaign, we collaborated with influencers known for their humorous and irreverent content and their reach on various social platforms to amplify our message. We chose Jayne Rajendran for her reach on TikTok and for the viral content she’s created playing hilarious Singaporean characters in highly relatable skits. People know and love Xiaoming for his ‘lame jokes’ series, and because he’s a new father, we deliberately selected him to appeal to young families, many of whom are homeowners and can see the benefits of adopting energy-saving actions at home.
LBB> How did the partnership with Mothership enhance the campaign’s reach and effectiveness?
JunQi and Shawn> The Mothership was chosen for its mass appeal. It is the most used news source in Singapore, beating many mainstream media platforms, and has over 800k followers on Instagram. Our video with Mothership has performed well so far, with 250k views and almost 4000 likes in less than a week.
LBB> What challenges did you face while developing and launching this campaign, and how did you overcome them?
JunQi and Shawn> While everyone was excited about celebrating various groups of energy savers in Singapore, and could see the huge potential of the campaign, our current budget meant we wouldn’t be able to push out all our quirky energy-saving personas at one go. To overcome this, we planned to roll out the campaign over an extended period instead, using this current quarter to focus on celebrating our first energy-saving persona - the Singlet Wearer. This approach allowed us to utilise our available budget more efficiently and focus on making a dent in National Singlet Month.
Another challenge we faced was ensuring that our campaign was not seen as greenwashing and was, in fact, a genuine effort to make a positive impact on the environment. We made sure that while our campaign was delivered in a quirky, fun and light-hearted way, important messages about climate change were also conveyed and people understood how their actions can make a meaningful impact on the planet. Additionally, Senoko Energy is also working with its customer base to lower their energy consumption by 10% for a year through a series of educational interactions on how to conserve energy. The energy savings from Senoko Energy’s customer base will also be passed on to underprivileged families from Touch Community, a charitable organisation in Singapore.
LBB> What other personas and phases can we expect in the continuation of this campaign, particularly in 2025?
JunQi and Shawn> As we roll out the rest of the campaign, our goal is to feature as many types of energy savers as possible, each targeting a specific group of people. Ultimately, we want Singaporeans to look at our campaign and say, ‘Oh, yeah, I do that!’ or ‘I know someone who does that!’
We’ll follow up our National Singlet Month movement by celebrating ‘Selfless Switchers’, the energy-saving advocates who go the extra mile to turn off the extra switch. Stay tuned!
