NTUC Club Brand Research

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!!!Research and Recommendations:

NTUC CLUB Prepared for: AD206, Branding Prepared by: Jolynn Tan 19 August, 2014 !!

LECTURER: PATRICK SONG

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COMPANY’S DETAILS History NTUC Club was founded in 1986 as the leisure and entertainment division of NTUC (National Trades Union Congress). It’s goal was to provide affordable alternatives for union members and the public. NTUC Club’s first clubhouse was along Shenton Way and opened in 1987. The then Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Ong Teng Cheong, remarked at the opening that “…the Club symbolises the beginning of a new spirit, a wider horizon in the labour movement. We are embarking on a new phrase of revitalising the labour movement…” . 1

!This was followed soon after with the NTUC Pasir Ris Resort in 1988 which was billed as the “‘country club’ for the masses”. Mr Lee Kuan Yew was quoted as saying “…whether middle, lower middle, or low income, no one needs to be excluded from enjoying the facilities which the successful can enjoy, whether they be resort hotels, golf courses, country clubs, saunas or discos…” 2

!From 1989 to 1997, NTUC Club continued to expand, advancing it’s goal of bringing clubhouses to the heartlands. This led to the opening of more facilities such as J Springs, Paradigm, Celebrations, Happy Days, Jest D’Place and the NTUC Sentosa Beach Resort. Of the afore mentioned, only the latter three are in operation today. !In 2000, NTUC Pasir Ris Resort went under an extensive renovation and was re-branded as NTUC Lifestyle World - Downtown East. Downtown East encompassed a range of entertainment, recreational and dining options and was even described as Singapore’s Disneyland by The New Paper. As a whole, this endeavour arguably became NTUC Club’s greatest success to date with over 11 million visitors annually. !Downtown East made nation-wide news in 2010 after the fatal slashing of teenager, Darren Ng, in a gang-related fight. This led to a total of 12 youths being charged in court for involvement in the crime.

The Straits Times, 20 February 1987, Page 321

Prime Minister’s speech at the official opening of the NTUC Pasir Ris Resort, 29 October 19882

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Around this time, NTUC Club also began improving on it’s other facilities even as Singaporeans started to have higher expectations due to the improving standard of living. It realised that in order to stay relevant, prices had to remain low while the quality of it’s recreational and entertainment had to be upgraded. !More recently, NTUC Club has been focusing on engaging it’s members in order to promote a sense of connection and camaraderie. This led to the addition of four new communities, known as, nEbO (for youth), U Live (for the elderly), My Golf Kaki and U Sports. Each seeks to serve the needs of people at different life stages.

Mission Statement To build, engage and strengthen communities of the labour movement by providing affordable recreational experiences of choice on a sustainable basis. 3

Vision To touch the lives of everyday workers of all collars, ages and nationalities. We do it through a 4Ps approach: help them enjoy a fair workplace (Protection), guide them upwards in their careers through skills upgrading (Progression), match them with the right job (Placement), and add meaning and quality to their daily lives through membership benefits (Privileges). 4

Core Values Care We believe that caring comes from the heart and is extended to all whom we serve. Service ExcellenceWe go the extra mile to create memorable and pleasant experiences for all. PassionWe simply want to be the best in everything we do. TrustWe value integrity and are sincere in all our dealings with others. 5

Direct quote from http://www.ntucclub.com/about/mission_statement3

Direct quote from https://www.ntuc.org.sg/wps/portal/up2/home/aboutntuc/organisationprofile/ourpublications/4

labourmovementannuals/

Direct quote from http://www.ntucclub.com/about/core_values15

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Promise To offer high quality recreational facilities and services that are affordable and conveniently located, for working people of all ages. 6

Local Presence As mentioned in the history section, NTUC Club is itself a sub brand of NTUC (National Trades Union Congress). It is considered a social enterprise of NTUC. There are three goals of NTUC’s social enterprises: to stabilise prices of services, to strengthen worker’s purchasing power, to give union leaders management experience. !NTUC’s other social enterprises include NTUC Enterprise, NTUC First Campus, NTUC Foodfare, NTUC Income, NTUC LearningHub, NTUC Link, NTUC Health, NTUC Choice Homes, NTUC Thrift and Loan, NTUC Fairprice. !Out of these eleven NTUC social enterprises, the most well-known locally is arguably NTUC Fairprice, it’s supermarket division. A recent report by Interbrand concluded that NTUC Fairprice “is Southeast Asia's most valuable retail brand with an estimated brand value of US$1.52 billion”. 7

!Locally, NTUC Fairprice is commonly referred to as simply “NTUC” which further complicates NTUC’s brand recognition situation.

Positioning The NTUC brand is generally seen as a budget brand for the masses. It is positioned as a low price, mass quality choice.

Target Audience NTUC Club’s target audience is “working people of all collars, all ages, and all nationalities”. 8

Direct quote from https://www.ntuc.org.sg/wps/portal/up2/home/aboutntuc/organisationprofile/aboutus/ 6

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/ntuc-fairprice-ranked-most-valuable-7

retail-brand-southea

https://www.ntuc.org.sg/wps/portal/up2/home/aboutntuc/organisationprofile/aboutus/aboutusdetails? 8

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Sub Brands Below is a compilation of NTUC Club’s sub brands and when they opened. Sub brands that have since been discontinued are also mentioned below. !

!As of August 2014, the following are the sub brands still in operation.• Downtown East • Costa Sands • Wild Wild Wet • eXplorerkid • Orchid Bowl

• Happy Days • Jest D’Place • Union Square • Scarlet City • U Live

• nEbO • Marina Bay Golf

Course • U Sports • My Golf Kaki

1987 NTUC Club Shenton Way - since closed

1988 NTUC Pasir Ris Resort

1989 NTUC Club Jurong - since closed

1994 NTUC Sentosa Beach Resort NTUC Club Paradigm (Orchard Road)

1995 Happy Days Clubhouse (Bishan)

1997 Celebrations Clubhouse (Hougang) - since closed Jest D’Place Clubhouse (Choa Chu Kang)

2000 Union Square Clubhouse (Tanjong Pagar) Escape Theme Park - closed 2011

2002 Costa Sands Resort (East Coast & Pasir Ris) - closed 2006 & 2014 respectively

2004 Wild Wild Wet

2005 DXO Clubhouse (Esplanade) - closed approx. 2012

2006 Marina Bay Golf Course Orchid Bowl

2007 nEbO Scarlet City Clubhouse (AMK Hub)

2008 eXplorerkid

2009 U Live U Sports Costa Sands Resort (Bintan)

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Brand Architecture ! !!

entertainment clubsco

mmunitie

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sports fa

cilities

family-friendly

reso

rts

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Comments on Brand Architecture Looking at NTUC Club’s brand architecture, it is not surprising that the parent brand lacks awareness. For one thing, as mentioned before, NTUC Club is a parent brand which itself has a parent brand - NTUC. !Also, NTUC Club has a variety of sub brands which seem to have further sub brands themselves. For example, Downtown East (a sub brand of NTUC Club) houses Wild Wild Wet and Explorer Kid which are further sub brands that are only available at that location. Finally, some of NTUC Club’s sub brands such as Downtown East are places you can visit while others are communities, making it even more complicating.

Recently in the News Last year, NTUC Club celebrated it’s 25th Anniversary. It released a special anniversary logo and a new tagline, “It’s about your fun-being”, to mark this milestone. The newly coined term, “fun-being”, is a combination of the words fun and well-being. A series of events, activities and promotions were also held throughout the year in honour of the occasion. 9

!An NTUC Club executive was sentenced to two years in jail in 2013 after he used his position to trick companies to contribute money to fictitious NTUC Club events. The $238,500 scam involved several accomplices and went on for about three years. He doe not work for NTUC Club any longer. 10

!In July 2014, the Costa Sands Resort in Pasir Ris closed after twelve years of operations. This is likely due to the expansion of the Costa Sands Resort at the 11

nearby Downtown East.

http://www.ntucclub.com/news/ntuc_club_turns_259

http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/ex-ntuc-club-exec-jailed-over-238500-scam 10

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/pasir-ris-costa-sands-resort-close-11

down-july-20-20140517

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CURRENT SITUATION Define the Problem NTUC CLUB IS NOT WELL-KNOWN AS A BRAND NTUC members and the general public are not aware of NTUC Club’s existence as a parent brand. For example, people might know that Downtown East is owned by NTUC but few would know that the exact subsidiary that manages Downtown East is NTUC Club. !SUB BRANDS ARE DISCONNECTED FROM THE PARENT BRAND Many of NTUC Club’s sub brands are relatively popular on their own. However, for those that are lesser known, they lack credibility because of the insufficient association with the parent brand. An improved NTUC Club brand can act as a seal of quality across the sub brands. !Also, because of the lack of a strong NTUC Club brand, members are not in the know about the range of sub brands that they can enjoy and a part of. NTUC members will probably be glad to be more aware of NTUC Club’s sub brands as they can definitely benefit from buying across the parent-brand's portfolio. !MEMBERSHIP PROGRAM IS NOT COHESIVE While the name “NTUC Club” would suggest a club-type membership exclusive to the brand’s services, this is not the case. All union members of NTUC are in effect members of NTUC Club. This is made even more confusing by the fact that NTUC’s union membership program is called “NTUC Plus!” which does not seemingly connect with NTUC Club in name. NTUC also has a membership program simply named “Plus!” in which the member does not join the union but receives some discounts and benefits. !Further complicating the membership program is a youth membership program launched in 2007. Going by the name “nEbO”, it targets youth between the ages of 12-25. The membership offers similar benefits to the Plus! program, though tailored for the younger age group. It is confusing as to whether this membership program

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is a sub brand of NTUC Club or NTUC itself as though it’s launch is stated as one of NTUC Club’s milestones, it is very much connected with the Plus! program. 12

!Basically, the problem is that due to the way the membership program works, members will likely see themselves as members of NTUC, not NTUC Club. Hence, the NTUC Club brand lacks cohesion with it’s target audience. !SUB BRANDS SERVE WIDE SPECTRUM Lastly, while NTUC Club’s sub brands all fall within the category of entertainment and recreation, they are varied in appeal and cater to a wide age range. This makes it challenging to define a clear target audience in the branding of NTUC Club.

Current Marketing !!!!!!!!!!A quick survey of promotional materials as seen on their website reveals that NTUC Club does include their logo on sub brand event promotional material. However, not surprisingly, there are also promotional materials that have so many different NTUC sub brands already listed that the NTUC Club logo has not been included.

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http://www.nebo.sg/nebo-card/ 12

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On-site Marketing

Out of curiosity, I dropped by at NTUC Club’s largest endeavour, Downtown East, to see how widespread NTUC Club branding was. I wanted to know how obvious it would be to someone visiting Downtown East that it’s parent brand was NTUC Club. !After some observation, I concluded that other than what looked like the equivalent of a NTUC Club office at the entrance of Downtown East (pictured above), NTUC Club branding was not entirely evident. Even on the promotional advertisements put up, there were few that listed NTUC Club as a sponsor or co-organiser. !I was surprised to see advertisements encouraging downloads for a new NTUC Club app as there was not any similar information encouraging app downloads on NTUC Club’s website. I managed to find a screen shot of the app online but it seems like the app has since been discontinued as it is no longer available on the app store. 13

!Elsewhere at Downtown East, there was a booth encouraging sign-ups for NTUC union membership (named NTUC Plus! or Plus!). The booth showed examples of gifts that came with membership or could be redeemed with membership points earned.

http://download.cnet.com/NTUC-Club-Leisure-Lifestyle-contains-age-restricted-material/13

3000-31713_4-75728525.html

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Competitors ENTERTAINMENT HUB COMPETITORS Singapore’s two integrated resorts, Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa, which opened in 2011 and 2012 respectively are NTUC Club’s main competitors. Not unlike NTUC Club, they both offer a wide variety of entertainment and recreational options. However, their offerings tend to be of a higher quality which also reflects in a higher price. It seems that if NTUC Club’s mission is to provide affordable recreation, it has nothing to fear from it’s competitors in this sense. !Just across the causeway, a recent indirect competitor of NTUC Club’s Downtown East is LegoLand. However, just like Singapore’s integrated resorts, LegoLand cannot compete with NTUC Club in terms of pricing. LegoLand has an added deterrent of requiring a trip across the border to visit. !Thankfully, NTUC Club is keeping up with the times with Downtown East currently undergoing a 200 million makeover. ”As the aspirations of Singaporeans change, we understand that there is a need for us to update our offerings so that members and the public can continue to enjoy top-notch standards of affordable recreational facilities and leisure options," said Yeo Khee Leng, Chief Executive Officer of NTUC Club. 14

!WATER PARK COMPETITORS NTUC Club’s Wild Wild Wet has two main competitors when it comes to attracting the local market. Unfortunately, though Wild Wild Wet is the most attractively priced, it loses out to it’s competitors when it comes to novelty as Adventure Cove and LegoLand are relatively newer, opening in 2012 and 2013 respectively. !

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Wild Wild Wet Adventure Cove LegoLand Water Park

SGD$14 SGD$26 SGD$30

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/ntuc-club-refurbish-downtown-east-200m-105947488--sector.html 14

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RECOMMENDATION NO.1 Summary A more interconnected NTUC Club online identity.

Details JOIN THE WEBSITES OF NTUC CLUB SUB BRANDS

The new interconnected website can be modelled after Gap Inc.’s website which has a top navigation link bar which joins the sites together. !CREATE SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS FOR NTUC CLUB NTUC Cub’s online presence is limited to it’s own website and a Twitter account. It’s interesting to note that NTUC Club’s Twitter account while providing interesting content is focused on Downtown East and the happenings there. As noted in the table below, Downtown East does not have a twitter account so it seems like NTUC Club’s twitter account tries to make up for that.

!NTUC Club should create social media accounts on the various platforms and post unique content on the happenings at each of it’s sub brands. If possible, NTUC Club’s sub brands should also have a more streamlined approach when it comes to each sub brand’s online presence.

NTUC Club Downtown East

Website √ √

Facebook X √

Twitter √ X

Youtube X √

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Rationale WHY JOIN THE WEBSITES? In today’s internet-obsessed world, a brand’s web design has a big impact on a consumer’s view of the brand. According to WebDAM, a leading digital asset management platform for marketers, “visual data is processed 60,000 times faster by the brain than text”. Having the websites of NTUC Club’s sub brands joined will 15

remind people on a subconscious level that they are all interconnected. !INSPIRATION NTUC Club will do well to learn from the successes of it’s sister brand, NTUC Fairprice. Interbrand, a worldwide branding consultancy, said: ”In a largely price-driven sector, FairPrice competes strongly on value, but also continues to strengthen its brand image through efforts such as an online video channel...These initiatives, on top of continuous efforts to stay relevant by offering more convenient payment options and passing along the savings from self-checkout counters and warehouse automation - the first of its kind in Asia-Pacific - are cementing the brand's positioning.” It’s interesting that the two things Interbrand mentions that 16

strengthen NTUC Fairprice’s brand image are an online video channel and continual efforts to stay relevant. !WHY SOCIAL MEDIA? Social media marketing’s strength is in it’s low cost. However, at the same time, effort has to be put into maintaining a well-updated account with interesting content in order for it to be effective. Having a more active presence on social media will make NTUC Club more relevant to the times. Also, more cross-advertising among not just NTUC Club brands but NTUC brands on social media might also help to increase each brand’s awareness. !!

http://beingyourbrand.com/2014/01/05/20-marketing-statistics-that-will-influence-decisions-in-2014/ 15

http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/ntuc-fairprice-ranked-most-valuable-16

retail-brand-southea

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RECOMMENDATION NO.2 Summary Promote the NTUC Club brand story.

Details LEVERAGE ON SINGAPORE’S 50TH BIRTHDAY IN 2015 Have an advertisement campaign and TV commercial released in conjunction with Singapore’s 50th birthday celebrations, telling the story of NTUC Club. The advertisement campaign will tell the story of families who have benefitted from NTUC Club’s services and how having affordable entertainment has changed their lives. The campaign can also tie in an element of gratefulness to Singapore.

Rationale WHY? Using brand stories to highlight NTUC Club’s contributions to society will hopefully endear the brand to it’s target audience, and increase brand awareness. !This advertisement campaign will be consistent with NTUC Club’s brand positioning as a brand that provides affordable recreation for everyone. !INSPIRATION In 2012, P&G released an advertisement campaign in conjunction with the Olympics titled “Thank you, Mom”. It was an unusual move for P&G, seeing that the company had before focused largely on promoting it’s sub brands and not the parent brand. However, this campaign, in which P&G sponsored Olympic star’s mom’s to attend the olympics, achieved a good amount of success. The TV advertisement improved on P&G’s brand story and established the brand as one that mom’s can trust and depend on. !WHY SINGAPORE’S 50TH BIRTHDAY? Since NTUC Club’s 25th Anniversary is now over, the next good opportunity for NTUC Club to promote it’s brand story is Singapore’s 50th birthday. Since NTUC Club is brand that would want to identify with Singaporeans, this will also be a way to be relevant to the target audience.

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WHY A BRAND STORY? People are drawn to brands for their story. It is said that “without a compelling story, our product, idea, or personal brand, is dead on arrival”. Kaira Rouda, the author 17

of bestselling business book Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs, says ”For your business brand to resonate with customers, it must be based on something truly genuine: your reality, your passions.”. Especially 18

since NTUC Club is meant to be a social enterprise, it should do more to highlight it’s contributions to society. !EXECUTION DETAILS In 2005, NTUC Club started the Family Recreation FUNd (it seems this later became part of the U Care Fund) which provides the resources for lower income families to have fun at NTUC Club facilities. It seems likely that this initiative has many moving stories yet to be told of children who have benefitted. With this beneficiary system already in place, it would not be difficult to use these existing stories in order to make NTUC Club look good. !RECOMMENDATION NO. 3 Summary Separate NTUC Club membership from the NTUC union membership.

Details OPT-IN SYSTEM INSTEAD OF BY DEFAULT NTUC union members will have to opt-in and sign up for the additional privilege of being an NTUC Club member. If so, they will be issued a NTUC Club membership card on top of the existing NTUC Plus! or Plus! card. Possibly, people might be able to choose to be members of NTUC Club only, without having an NTUC union membership. !!!

http://www.fastcocreate.com/1680581/why-storytelling-is-the-ultimate-weapon 17

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/203748 18

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ORGANIZE MEMBER ONLY EVENTS NTUC Club members will also enjoy even greater savings and benefits than before. There will also be member exclusive events and activities that will make NTUC Club more exclusive.

Rationale WHY OPT-IN? It goes without saying that any club has to have it’s members. As mentioned before, currently all NTUC union members are in a sense the members of NTUC Club. As a result of that, NTUC Club membership just becomes one of the many benefits of being an NTUC union member. !Separating NTUC Club membership and making it something that NTUC union members have to opt-in to, instead of being a part of by default will make it more of an exclusive membership. This might seem like a drastic step but it would really help the most in establishing the NTUC Club brand. !WHY MEMBER ONLY EVENTS? Organizing member only events will hopefully strengthen the bond between members and NTUC Club. People who are not yet members will also have added incentive to join NTUC Club in order to attend the events. !CONCLUSION NTUC Club has great potential as a parent brand due to the success that it’s sub brands already enjoy. The NTUC Club brand will benefit from being associated not just with budget recreation but with a better lifestyle for all Singaporeans. Using brand stories to highlight NTUC Club’s contributions to society will hopefully endear the brand to it’s target audience, and increase brand awareness. !The above recommendations could be used in conjunction or separately to increase NTUC Club’s brand awareness. These recommendations can be deemed as successful if they improve on NTUC Club’s branding and increase it’s brand awareness.