Brands are not Babies
Bloomr.SG turned 3.
Yes, it happened. It’s now been 2 weeks since it happened and it wasn’t a dream or something I imagined.
It might not sound like much but for a brand/team that was told, in no uncertain words, that we wouldn’t make it past 6 months (let alone 6x that), becoming now a “real” baby brand at the national media network of Singapore is no small feat… and… like with the development of any child, we have now turned a corner and are going for more calcium in our bones (the announcement of the Bloomr.SG MCN being a big part of that).
So… instead of looking backwards and doing a tacky “I told you so” (which tbh, would be useless as a lot of those that said it, aren’t even at the company anymore) let me then over-analyze our possible future by breaking it down into how a baby really develops after their 3rd year.
There are several development milestones to select from (would think saying our name or 250 words, speak clearly, are a given, if not, you can follow our socials on IG, FB, Medium, Linkedin, YouTube, our website www.bloomr.sg or even contact us directly for any feedback) so I’ll basically choose those that match the Bloomr.SG baby/child the most at age 3… Bloomr.SG as a 3 year old:
- Is able to tell stories
Bloomr.SG in its beginning was pretty dependent on the creators that were on board the network — the more we’ve grown, the more the team has had the confidence and the capacity to create our own content, our own stories, our own videos, our own campaigns, implementing with the brand and the market our own principles gathered by experience rather than by mimicking others.
It’s been a new journey (our YT channel for example has had several videos hit a lot of triggers when they came out, some good, some bad, always getting better) and a fulfilling one, but there are still so many stories to tell, that what is coming ahead will be an even cooler journey to appreciate.
- Understands the idea of same & different
Bloomr.SG is not SGAG, we are not TSL… we are not like any Any other brands (insert “I’m not like the other girls” joke here), services, networks, production houses in the country. Yes we are a Mediacorp brand. We are also the first in a lot of things. We are different. If it’s going to take us another 3 years for the industry to understand that instead of comparing us with much “older” established brands, I believe as any child that falls on their face and gets back up — we can take it.
- Follows direction
Bloomr.SG has a simple mindset behind everything we do.
We put it out in the industry when we first came out as a brand (even though the team was formed a year and change prior, so technically… we’re 4 years old, but no one cares!) and we haven’t changed our direction (even if others have now started stating that they’re looking into doing the same) — We’re here for our creators, for all creators, for the possibility of Singapore ever having a thriving industry in the creator community (which, let’s be honest, baring a couple of big accounts… it doesn’t) — not to shill a single one of them. Or make one into a monopoly. An industry thrives with competition. Creativity thrives with differing ideas and mindsets. That’s it. That’s the sales pitch.
…
What has changed is that we’re now able to not just blaze a trail (hopefully) for each and every one of our creators, but follow direction when/if necessary.
While in our first couple of years = a Bloomr.SG campaign was by itself a Bloomr.SG campaign - the reality is that after we turned 2, with the integration into Creative Central & several now nationwide campaigns, Bloomr.SG is not just Bloomr.SG anymore. And that’s awesome.
- Completes puzzles and identifies shapes & colors
Try figuring out a way to export content from a team in a different country so said video can be posted on TV by 8pm, while at the same time preparing NDP & another 3 clients at the same time… all done by the same small Bloomr.SG team… yeah, I think we’re covered in the puzzles front :)
- Recognizes and identifies common objects
By including Social Listening & Data Analytics into our line-up of products, and largely, by making the team produce and present content that is intimately tied to what trends/works on local social (even though we are still trying to figure out the most consistent & the best way to make a trend work… a real trend, mind you… not a “trade report” trend, rather than ride it), we’ve been able to identify & recognize a lot of trends & common interlocked content that happens in Singapore on a regular basis (both by using the tools we have at hand and by how the team/brand was created).
If you don’t believe me, like I said above, follow our socials… if you’re a lazy marketer, at the very least, you’ll have enough trendy topics to use for your own presentations on a weekly basis — all coming from us — for free (as it should be).
- Runs more confidently & has the ability to do complex physical tasks
Will just drop this here.
NDP 2019 & 2020.
- Walks backwards & forwards easily
We make mistakes, learn, adapt, move forward.
We make mistakes, learn, adapt, see we were doing it better before & move backwards for consistency.
If you’ve ever had any investment in the market you know there are moments for support and moments for resistance on your value. The thinking being that when you need to cross new highs, you have a value of support beneath you and when you’re not breaking that high, it’s because the resistance isn’t ready to be broken (but it will).
We have done great. We will do better. The team wouldn’t have it any other way.
- Helps out on requests (of dressing up, cleaning up, etc)
Like with following direction, the team has worked on projects like Star Search, SPOP, Star Awards, Countdown, APM & several others yearly as support to the whole of Mediacorp without the majority of the time the market even knowing about it (it’s for a reason, we strategically test out a lot of new ideas with internal productions to then maximize the potential of our impact in the market). We’ve been privileged that Mediacorp has given us the access and the support that was necessary through the years, but most of all, we’ve been privileged that whenever possible, Bloomr.SG as a brand and as a team, has always been able to help Mediacorp soar to new and unknown heights on social media (even though, ehem, the lazier YT comment channels don’t even notice it).
So… even though sometimes we might act like we’re a 5 year old or a 6 year old (or even older) running around breaking things (debatable that I myself sometimes feel like a 1 year old just standing still looking at the internet pass by), the reality is we still have a long ways ahead in front of us. And. Like any baby that grows to become a functioning & active part of society at large… Bloomr.SG will definitely grow and become the best it can be.
Acing every development stage on the way!
P.S.: yes… i do know that even though I’m single, none of the babies in the pics are 3 years old… apparently 3 year old children memes aren’t funny = who knew!
