So Drama! Entertainment renews contract with integrated comms agency

So Drama! Entertainment, a Singaporean media company owned by SAFRA, has appointed local integrated communications agency, APRW, for the development and execution of Total Defence (TD) and National Education (NE) related campaigns and initiatives, according to APRW in a statement to MARKETING-INTERACTIVE. 

APRW will focus on publicity and engagement strategies, handling all public relations and media management aspects for NE and TD-related campaigns. This will include actively pitching key engagement efforts and ad-hoc stories to the media.

Don’t miss: Have you seen these themed MRT trains by the National Arts Council yet?

The year-long appointment follows a creative pitch, during which APRW was selected for its strong understanding of TD and expertise in integrated communications, partnerships, and media relations.

APRW has been the incumbent agency for the past decade, and the current year-long appointment comes with the option to renew for another year.

“We are currently preparing and ramping up our publicity efforts for the upcoming Total Defence Day – commemorated on 15 February every year in Singapore,” Cho Pei Lin, managing director of APRW, told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE.

Cho, who will lead the team, added that APRW hopes to encourage people to put TD into action and play a part in keeping Singapore strong through its campaigns.

“Total Defence was launched in 1984 as a national security strategy and involves every Singaporean playing a part, individually and collectively, to build a strong, secure and cohesive nation,” Cho added.

The appointment comes shortly after the agency’s successful completion of the 55th anniversary of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) in 2023.

APRW also has an ongoing partnership with North East Community Development Council (NECDC), having served as the appointed agency in 2023. NECDC collaborates extensively with community and corporate partners to design and implement outreach programmes that foster community bonding and social cohesion.

Under this partnership, APRW led the public relations efforts for Shaping Hearts 2023, an inclusive arts event, to raise funds to support artists with disabilities.

APRW has also chalked up a decade’s worth of experience with TD and other NE-related campaigns and initiatives. In 2020, then branded as Asia PR Werkz, it was reappointed to develop and execute publicity and engagement strategies for Total Defence, having been the incumbent for TD campaigns since 2014 at the time.

Under that reappointment, its key area of work included public relations, media management, online engagement, community engagement and content creation and management of relevant social media pages of the campaigns.

Several other campaigns catering to public interest have also been appearing lately, such as a themed train along the North East Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line. As part of a three-year partnership between the National Arts Council (NAC) and Land Transport Authority (LTA), seven MRT stations and a themed train have been decked out with local artworks in the form of murals and in-carriage displays from 8 to 28 January 2024.

This initiative comes amidst efforts to bring the arts closer to the public in land transport spaces and public transport commutes through commissioned artworks by Singaporean artists and arts organisations. In the process, it also hopes to enable artists to reach and grow new audiences through a wider platform.

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