The Heart of Singapore with HECS

Singapore Beyond the Skyline

Everyone knows the Singapore postcard shots. Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay, the gleaming CBD skyline. Beautiful, iconic, and honestly a little overexposed. When Heartland Enterprise Centre Singapore (HECS) came to us wanting to show regional tourists the Singapore that actually exists beyond the tourist trail, we knew this wasn't a job for polished destination ads. It was a job for storytellers with genuine curiosity and the right following to match.

The challenge was a real one in Singapore's tourism marketing landscape. The heartlands, the kopitiams, the HDB neighbourhoods, the aunties and uncles who define the everyday rhythm of this city, rarely make it into international travel content.

Our brief was to change that and make regional audiences genuinely curious about the Singapore most tourists never see. We brought in three lifestyle and travel KOLs with strong regional reach and a talent for authentic content: @workingwithmonolids for hidden local gems and community stories, @GhibOjisan for his outsider-yet-local perspective as a Japanese creator based in Singapore, and @GeorgiaCaney for her global traveller's eye that could connect Chinatown, Toa Payoh and Tiong Bahru to international audiences.

Instead of scripted tourist itineraries, we handed them insider passes and let them do what they do best. The result was travel content that felt lived-in and real, hawker finds, neighbourhood quirks, cultural nuances that no guidebook covers. The campaign reached 2,094,100 people across the region and sparked genuine conversations about a side of Singapore that rarely gets the spotlight it deserves.

Tourism marketing works best when it makes people feel something before they even book a flight. If you want your destination or hospitality brand to resonate beyond the obvious, Mad Hat Asia knows how to tell those stories. Get in touch at hatters@madhat.asia

Where Food Meets Festival: Our Take on Singapore Food Festival 2025

Singapore already has some of the world's most passionate foodies. So when Blake Harris Entertainment tasked Mad Hat Asia with making the 32nd edition of Singapore Food Festival the culinary moment of the year, the challenge wasn't awareness —it was standing out in a city where F&B events, activations, and launches are happening on every corner all at once.

The campaign needed to travel beyond Singapore's borders and land internationally. We led a multi-pronged approach across 3 weeks that the event was happening: crafting story-led press releases that went well beyond standard event announcements, curating on-ground food KOL and media hosting that made every touchpoint shareable, and profiling festival spokespeople as genuine thought leaders in Singapore's food culture. Every activation was designed to hit hearts, feeds and headlines at once.

The numbers tell the rest of the story. Against a target of SGD 800K in international media value, we delivered SGD 1.8M — more than double. Total PR value hit SGD 6M against a SGD 5M target, with 373 pieces of coverage across The Straits Times, Travel + Leisure, Lifestyle Asia and more, reaching 272 million people worldwide.

Want PR and food KOL results that actually move the needle for your next F&B event in Singapore? Get in touch at hatters@madhat.asia

Crafting Holiday Magic: Our Success Story with the World Christmas Market Singapore

Filling a 20,000 sqm event space was only part of the challenge—doing it over a 21-day run, while launching a new event into Singapore’s crowded Christmas calendar with minimal awareness, raised the stakes entirely. When the team behind the inaugural World Christmas Market Singapore needed a PR and KOL partner to put their holiday extravaganza on the map, they came to Mad Hat Asia.

With ambitious KPIs and a tight runway, we deployed a focused three-part strategy: story-driven press release distribution that built anticipation well ahead of opening, end-to-end on-ground KOL and media hosting that generated authentic coverage across social and digital platforms, and strategic spokesperson profiling to give the event a credible, human voice in the press.

The results set a new benchmark for event PR in Singapore. Against a target of 100 pieces of coverage, we delivered 507. PR value hit SGD 4.27M against a SGD 1.5M target. Total reach came in at over 44M on social media alone, with top-tier placements across The Straits Times, CNA, Mothership, Tatler Singapore and more. Most importantly, 148,965 visitors walked through the gates — nearly 50% above the target footfall.

Planning an event launch in Singapore and want PR and KOL coverage that actually drives footfall and media attention? This is what Mad Hat Asia delivers. Get in touch at hatters@madhat.asia