The Social Pavilion at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands – Bad on So Many Levels

*Update 25/7/2012*
MBS has informed me that there is only 1 booth near “Carnivore Brazilian Churrascaria” and not several as previously mentioned. Thanks to MBS for calling me and kindly pointing out the error! They have also informed me that they have corrected the typos in their Press Release.

I had to take a Panadol to write this entry.

Recently, I’ve been making fun of Marina Bay Sands’ (MBS) facebook campaign, “The Shoppes Experience” because it fails on so many levels. KingsMen is handling the OOH display.

What
Visitors to MBS may take photos in a green screen booth, called the “Social Pavilion” near “Carnivore Brazilian Churrascaria” . This booth allows them to superimpose various MBS ‘experiences’ on the green screen and share it on facebook.

8 different ways to amaze your friends!

Why it fails
All brands want customers that act as advocates for them on social media. But what does it say about your brand and product experience when your customer literally has to ‘Photoshop’-in a great experience?

Because that’s what this campaign implies.

Is the Shoppes such a bland and unremarkable place that you need to build a green screen booth so that your customers have something vaguely interesting to share on their facebook accounts?

And then there’s the implementation. Absolutely terrible.

This cute grandma looks like a water deity in this one.
This group of friends look absolutely perplexed at their sudden ability to stand on water.
This auntie seems utterly amazed at her ability to float in mid-air. Such wonder!
MBS should really get around to fixing their gravity generators.
Perhaps all these people aren’t floating…maybe they are GHOSTS!
Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!
Looks legit. There is ABSOLUTELY no way that this is Photoshopped. No way.

To experience even more absurdity, click here to view the album.

To make matters worse, their press release is riddled with errors.

This is just the first page. There are 7 more pages like this!

I’m shocked that a ‘world-class’ organization like MBS would:

1. Approve such a poor concept
2. Allow it to continue despite its terrible execution

Set Phasers to “Dumb”.

Author: Dedrick Koh

Dedrick Koh is an acclaimed , fully-booked classical guitar teacher who teaches from his home studio at Sengkang. He has been teaching the classical guitar since 2006 and has successfully prepared students for ABRSM and Trinity exams and he holds a flawless 100% pass rate, and a 90% merit/distinction rate for his students. He was previously an instructor cum assistant conductor at Ngee Ann Polytechnic Strings under Alex Abisheganaden . Dedrick Koh is also a former public relations and communications specialist, having carved out a notable 10-year career in both the public and private sector. He has work for/on brands like Nanyang Polytechnic, Coca Cola, DHL, Nokia, Nestle, the Health Promotion Board, the Economic Development Board of Singapore and the President Challenge. He also also been featured in the Straits Time, the New Paper, and CNN.

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