With Martell, we pushed boundaries.
Scripting Singapore's first branded content about queer culture.
Representation matters.
In Singapore, vibrant subcultures thrive beneath the surface of our homogeneous facade. From secret trance events to heavy metal gigs and celebrated drag shows, there’s much to discover. "Be Curious with Martell," a documentary series, highlights these subcultures to celebrate the alternative aspects of our society often overlooked by the mainstream.
Each episode brings them to the forefront, fostering respectful conversations about their significance to our social fabric. By juxtaposing cultural identities, we aim to create unique content that promotes empathy and connection, showcasing Martell NCF as a symbol of true camaraderie and great nights out.
The first episode, "From Stag To Drag," bridges heteronormative Singapore and its queer heritage through the eyes of a notable editorial writer and the iconic drag queen, Becca D’Bus.
The Workaround.
Instead of the usual brand film approach, we partnered with Rice Media, a popular grassroots news forum among Singaporean youth, to create their first video series for social media.
The Premise.
Understanding the cultural climate in Singapore, it was obvious that there would be potential pushback from creating a conventional TV spot with diverse, queer identities.
The Results.
The 73,000 unique digital impressions led to a spike in sales and retention for the brand. The piece was picked up by notable queer NGOs like PinkDotSG, Oogachaga, and Purple Alliance, fueling the conversation on normalizing queer culture in Singapore.
Carrying the torch to repealing Penal Code 377A
In addition to the video, an article was published highlighting the experiences of the night by Justin. Paving the way for queer celebrated content from Singapore.
Much of the cultural evolution continued into openness as we moved towards expanding the conversation of what we - as Singaporeans - deemed as equality, in an empathetic way. And through it, sparked a domino effect for queer-celebrated content, namely Martin Cho’s Summerdaze for theauthority.co, Becca D’ Bus’ August 2019 Cover Story, PinkDot’s 2021’s Drag Queen’s feature, Lenne Chai’s BTO Movement, and many more.
The colonial-era law was subsequently repealed in its entirety in 2023.
Be Curious
Martell NCF
Singapore
Role: Concept Lead with William Beale, Shivram Gopinath
Agency: Ultrasupernew
I had the privilege to work with: Marc Wessling, William Beale, Jean Francois Thery, ihasamic, Sheena Cheong, Mingswee Koh, Daphne Tann, Rei Minagawa, Becca D’ Bus, Hard Rock Cafe Singapore, and the amazing crew of Rice Media 2018 (Grace Yeoh, Justin, Pan Jie, Mark Tan)
Learn more about Riot Drag Show here.