Sincere Appreciation, Or Just Part Of Marketing?

1 July is Singapore Armed Force (SAF) Day, a day for the nation to show appreciation to all the current and former servicemen or servicewomen who contributed their efforts to ensure the safety of the country. In the past years, not many citizens know about SAF Day. For those that knew about it, most of them did not bother or don't know how to show their appreciation to these people.


In recent years, SAF took an extra step to let more citizens know about SAF Day, and make sure things are done to let our servicemen and servicewomen feel appreciated. SAF arranged with over a hundred of retailers to provide these servicemen and servicewomen with perks, such as discounts and freebies. All the servicemen or servicewomen need to do is just to show their 11B (SAF's identity card) to enjoy these perks.

Sounds pretty nice, isn't it? The people are finally doing something concrete to show their appreciation instead of simply saying it. However, I came across a Facebook status by my superior during my Army days which gave me a second thought about this whole issue. Here's the status:

It may seem like just a simple complain on surface, but if you think deeper, he do makes some sense. Retailers signed up to be part of the campaign to show their appreciate towards the servicemen and servicewomen, but how many of them did that out of sincere appreciation? Is this just another marketing opportunity for these retailers?

From a marketing point of view, there are at least 3 benefits for being part of this campaign. First of all, the retailers will have their brand being seen across all of SAF's official media platforms. This is advertisement for these retailers. Secondly, the retailers can create a positive image for the brand. "Hey look! We are patriotic, and we appreciate what these servicemen and servicewomen had done for us. We will support them." This is good public relations (PR) for these retailers. Last but not least, they get to increase their revenue through this campaign, albeit having a lower profit margin. They will be able to expose their products to more customers. This is a good sales for these retailers.

If these retailers are keen on expressing their sincere appreciation to the servicemen and servicewomen, they could have put in more effort at point-of-sales, to create a better experience for these people. Like the status suggested, these retailers could have just put up a simple sign to let people know that they are part of the campaign. This way, the servicemen and servicewomen need not constantly go online and check whether if a certain store is having any promotion for them. The staff serving the customer could also have taken the initiative to ask the customer if they have 11B, like how they ask for PASSION card, SAFRA card or certain credit cards, instead of having the customer to flash their 11B and needing to double-confirm about their eligibility for the promotion. Simple acts like these count and will add up to improve the shopping/dining experience for these servicemen and servicewomen.

All that being said, these servicemen and servicewomen still got repaid and can enjoy privileges that others can't. I just feel that things could have been done better on the retailers' side to show that they are sincere in showing their appreciation to these servicemen and servicewomen, and not treat this like just another marketing strategy. They deserve something better.

-The god has spoken