Out of Home Advertising - Singapore Sports Council for Sports Safety

Banners at East Coast Park 1

The colourful and bright banners caught my attention while I was inline skating at East Coast Park some weekends earlier. Vividly coloured signage in red, blue, yellow and green lined the lampposts as I cruised down the park. They were definitely hard to miss!  

These banners bore messages like, 'Drink adequate fluid to prevent dehydration', 'Expect the unexpected. Gear up for safety', 'Cycle safe: wear a helmet' and 'Warm up and stretch before sports participation'. On a separate outing, I chanced upon a series of similar banners at Bishan Park. Piqued by my own curiosity, I later learned that these streamers were put out by the Singapore Sports Council’s Sports Safety Division (SSY) at all public recreational spaces, to educate the public on the importance of sports safety.

Banners at Bishan Park

The locations where these banners were put up were most appropriate.  Community parks are open arenas for the public to partake in recreational sports. Human traffic at the parks is high, and having these banners placed there is ideal.  Parks, being popular venues for the individual and families, offer an extensive variety of activities that range from walking to cycling, to inline skating, various water activities, and even barbecuing.  These parks are visited by a huge amount of people daily, and from all walks of life.  The human flow is exceptionally high over the weekends and holidays when families rent chalets or camp out in these recreational areas! 

The fact that the public has free access to these parks and that they are choice destinations for Singaporeans and the general public alike to recreate, provides an excellent platform for awareness creation and communication outreach on key and important messages. The messages on these banners, because of the suitability of the advertising location, serve as constant reminders to all on the significance of safety in sports – have fun and be protected.

Banners at East Coast Park 2

The advertisements look fun, vibrant and energetic, which is apt for the setting and background in which they are erected.  These banners are printed in eye-catching, loud and bold colours, which scream for attention.  The wordings are simple and easily comprehensible and the font size used is appropriate for the medium, the form of advertising and the message it wants to bring across – the words are big and readable even at a distance. The graphics used are suitable too, as it illustrates the key points of the message.  That the banners of similar messages are put up at every other lamppost, especially along the popular routes, strengthens the intention of the safety campaign.  It also aims to reach out to all users who may start their activities at different points of the park. With the constant safety reminders at every turn, the public are, in a way, influenced and educated on the importance of recreating sensibly. These advertisements being hung on the streetlamps, coupled with the application of bright primary colours and the right font size used, effortlessly grabs the interest of the park goers walking or skating alongside these lampposts. The effective exploitation of repetitive banners raised makes it possible for the public to internalise the message. 

The other outdoor advertising nearby are of event specific sporting competitions. The upcoming big event is the SAFRA Quadthlon 2010 and the promotional posters, banners and streamers are all over East Coast Park.  There is a seamless connection between the two advertisements – while one is marketing and generating publicity for the event and encouraging participation, the other is promoting the safety and well-being while engaging in the activity.  These two ads compliment each other in covering all aspects of the sport.

Image Source: National Parks Board

http://www.nparks.gov.sg/cms/docs/parks/ecp_brochure.pdf

As Singapore evolves into a global city, so does the sporting community.  Sports reap many benefits, both socially and economically.  Singapore was recently awarded second place as the ‘Ultimate Sports City’, just after Melbourne.  At home, the Health Promotion Board is actively encouraging healthy and active living, and sports is one of the main means towards achieving this goal. Over the years, the local sports scene has grown exponentially – the first Youth Olympic Games will be inaugurated in Singapore in mid-August 2010. Come September 2010, it will be the third year of hosting the Formula 1 Night Race - Singapore Grand Prix, the first of its kind city night race.  The number of people participating in the Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore has grown by leaps and bounds over the years, from a humble participant rate of 6,000 in 2002 to 50,000 registrants last year. Singapore is moving towards providing world-class facilities for her people to enjoy sports; for example, the Sports Hub where general mainstream sports activities is held.  She also offers recreation outlets for niche activities, like extreme sports.

Singapore Sports Council (SSC) is a Statutory Board; their campaigns and advertisements precede and respond to the needs of her citizens and incidents that happen.  In moving towards the recommended active lifestyle, so must the need for emphasis on awareness and education of safety in sports. SSC has successfully achieved their goal in the terms of their strategic advertisement placement and the magnitude of audiences that it reaches.

The advantages of these out of home advertisements remind people of the things they tend to forget or take for granted.  In this case, it is all about the common sense of taking care of yourself while playing and having fun.  The benefits of such advertisements is that it allows the medium to reach out to as many people as possible when they are outdoors, at minimal costs and in the least amount of time because they are usually hard to ignore and are larger than life.  

In short, as long as you have made a blip on someone’s radar, the advertising has been effective!