ABOUT ME
ART CASE STUDY 02: QUEENSTOWN HAWKERFEST 2023
WHAT IF A HAWKER CENTRE COULD BE
WHAT IF A HAWKER CENTRE COULD BE
MORE THAN JUST A MEAL?
PROJECT DETAILS:
CLIENT: QUEENSTOWN SMC
AGENCY: DSTNCT
SCOPE: BRANDING, INTEGRATED MARKETING
& EVENT ACTIVATION
CLIENT: QUEENSTOWN SMC
AGENCY: DSTNCT
SCOPE: BRANDING, INTEGRATED MARKETING
& EVENT ACTIVATION
ABOUT:Singapore’s oldest satellite town was turning 70, and the nostalgia was real. Queenstown had survived wave after wave of redevelopment, with heritage blocks holding their ground next to shiny new condos. But that left us with one big question: how do you celebrate a town that’s literally older than most of its residents?
THE CHALLENGE:How do we transform Singapore’s oldest satellite town into the hottest hawker destination? (Old Airport Road who?) More importantly, how do we convince people to travel across five different hawker centres just to uncover Queenstown’s hidden gems?
THE IDEA:The mission? Turn Queenstown into the hawker adventure worth crossing the island for. Food is the ultimate Singaporean love language. So instead of another “come eat good food” campaign, we set out to build something with more flavour...literally.
We created a multi-venue hawker festival that celebrated not just the food, but the stories, legacies and personalities behind every stall. Five humble hawker centres were reimagined as a sprawling culinary playground: part food trail, part heritage tour, part theme park for your taste buds.
THE CHALLENGE:How do we transform Singapore’s oldest satellite town into the hottest hawker destination? (Old Airport Road who?) More importantly, how do we convince people to travel across five different hawker centres just to uncover Queenstown’s hidden gems?
THE IDEA:The mission? Turn Queenstown into the hawker adventure worth crossing the island for. Food is the ultimate Singaporean love language. So instead of another “come eat good food” campaign, we set out to build something with more flavour...literally.
We created a multi-venue hawker festival that celebrated not just the food, but the stories, legacies and personalities behind every stall. Five humble hawker centres were reimagined as a sprawling culinary playground: part food trail, part heritage tour, part theme park for your taste buds.
MY ROLE:
Creative Concept / Event & Activation Ideation / Design
My involvement spanned the creative development of the campaign, from shaping the core idea to conceptualising the activities and experiences that brought Hawkerfest to life. Alongside the event and activation thinking, I also developed the visual direction and designed the campaign’s key touchpoints across communications and rollout materials.
My involvement spanned the creative development of the campaign, from shaping the core idea to conceptualising the activities and experiences that brought Hawkerfest to life. Alongside the event and activation thinking, I also developed the visual direction and designed the campaign’s key touchpoints across communications and rollout materials.
This wasn’t your typical food festival with the token Instagram booth and overpriced artisanal anything. Instead, we built a full-blown hawker adventure: a heritage trail that literally stamps your journey, a Singapore Book of Records attempt, and the most unexpected food collab since cheese on bubble tea, cafés remixing classic hawker dishes.
From getting people to vote for their favourite stalls to speed-eating competitions that would make your grandmother both horrified and impressed, this festival turned the simple act of eating Chicken Rice into taking part in living history. Because in Queenstown, old doesn’t mean outdated, it means every dish comes served with a side of legacy.
& INNOVATION
We paired Queenstown’s heritage hawkers with the neighbourhood’s trendiest cafés and threw down a challenge: create limited-edition fusion dishes that honour tradition while shaking things up. The result? Unexpected, rule-breaking, utterly delicious mashups that made you question everything you thought you knew about hawker food.
To match the vibe, we designed sleek, minimalist posters that fit right into any hipster café, while still giving a respectful nod to their hawker roots. More than just menu teasers, these were invitations to step out of your culinary comfort zone and taste the best of both worlds.
BUILDING SINGAPORE’S MOST DELICIOUS TRAIL
To get Singaporeans exploring (and eating) beyond their usual haunts, we created a heritage trail dedicated entirely to Queenstown’s five hawker centres. But, this wasn’t just about filling stomachs, it was about uncovering the stories behind each spot, from time-honoured recipes to hidden gems that even long-time residents missed.
To dial up the fun (and give people a reason to hit all five locations), we designed a collectible stamp card where each hawker centre had its own custom stamp and illustration, inspired by its original logo and personality. The mission was simple: explore, eat, collect stamps, and flex your completed card like a true hawker connoisseur.
To get Singaporeans exploring (and eating) beyond their usual haunts, we created a heritage trail dedicated entirely to Queenstown’s five hawker centres. But, this wasn’t just about filling stomachs, it was about uncovering the stories behind each spot, from time-honoured recipes to hidden gems that even long-time residents missed.
To dial up the fun (and give people a reason to hit all five locations), we designed a collectible stamp card where each hawker centre had its own custom stamp and illustration, inspired by its original logo and personality. The mission was simple: explore, eat, collect stamps, and flex your completed card like a true hawker connoisseur.
TELLING THE FOOD
STORY ON SOCIALS
With a town steeping in heritage, the stories tell themselves. To properly showcase Queenstown and its hawkerfare, we gathered hawkers from different generations showcasing their food and telling their stories through pictures and videos.
STORY ON SOCIALS
With a town steeping in heritage, the stories tell themselves. To properly showcase Queenstown and its hawkerfare, we gathered hawkers from different generations showcasing their food and telling their stories through pictures and videos.
LAUNCHING
WITH A BIG BANG
A.K.A. The Great QT Hawker Feast. Meant to kick the whole HawkerFest off with a BIG bang, we teamed up Tong Fong Fatt Chicken Rice and created Singapore’s largest plate of Hainanese Chicken Rice ever. But we didn’t stop there, since wasting food is a big no-no, enter Zermatt Neo, Singapore’s favorite food-crushing machine, ready to demolish the plate like it was just another Tuesday. Big buzz, big names and one big ass plate of chicken rice.
WITH A BIG BANG
A.K.A. The Great QT Hawker Feast. Meant to kick the whole HawkerFest off with a BIG bang, we teamed up Tong Fong Fatt Chicken Rice and created Singapore’s largest plate of Hainanese Chicken Rice ever. But we didn’t stop there, since wasting food is a big no-no, enter Zermatt Neo, Singapore’s favorite food-crushing machine, ready to demolish the plate like it was just another Tuesday. Big buzz, big names and one big ass plate of chicken rice.
But we couldn’t let him have all the fun. While that was going on, we teamed up with another hawker, Warong Adam, to throw a speed-eating showdown for the crowd.
RESULTS
EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR CHEAH WEI CHUN | ASSOCIATE CREATIVE DIRECTOR SHAWN HENG | ART DIRECTOR JOSHUA ANG
GRAPHIC DESIGNER CLARENCE TAN | HEAD OF STRATEGY MATTHEW ZENG | STRATEGIST JOSHUA ANG | ACCOUNT DIRECTOR CHLOE LIM
ACCOUNT MANAGER SARAH ELIZABETH TAN | VIDEO TEAM CASON CHRISTOPHER, FEERAS KHAN