The LampPost Project: Creativity for Social Good

What good is a creative agency really, if it does not make its own creative bestsellers? And hopefully also do some social good for the community.

The Challenge

For Singapore’s 52nd National Day, we wanted to do something creative to celebrate the nation’s birthday and also do something meaningful for the less privileged amongst us. This is part of the agency’s social good programme: Make the brief, make the products – and do good.

The Insight

Singapore is a rather celebratory nation. We hold our nation-building in the highest regard. Every year, thousands of lamppost banners and flags are produced for Singapore’s National Day celebrations. However, after the celebrations, they are discarded or simply sit in storage in warehouses. We decided to give them a new lease of life by upcycling them into trendy tote bags.

The Idea & Execution

The idea was to transform used National Day lamppost banners and flags – featuring the most obvious symbols of national day pride – into tote bags with a higher purpose. The significant difference was, the bags would be sewn by the very people who would benefit from them. Thus, adding a unique touch to the concept of charity.

We collaborated with two organisations who not only needed a helping hand, but who also had people with the skills to produce the tote bags. They were The LOOMs Workshops (for women’s welfare) and the Singapore Association of Mental Health. Working with them, the banners and flags were transformed into pragmatic, trendy (and Instagram-friendly) tote bags.

The tote bags were sold on www.lamppostyle.com and the agency’s online merchandising store, Degree. The fashion boutique Club21 also came on board as a retail partner, ensuring that The LampPost Project made the leap from a charitable effort to trendy pop culture.

The Results

The LampPost bag was a hit with all Singaporeans with all 500 hand-sewn bags sold within hours of the launch and hundreds more on the waiting list.

The initiative made front page of the national daily, Straits Times, and was a trending topic on National Day, even with a shared link from the Prime Minister’s wife.

But the most important fact is this: The bags made a difference to the lives of the people who made them. It gave them pride and it contributed to national pride.

Nationalism. Recycling. Social good. Pop culture. Good things happen to those who love the country and do good.

Log on to Degree for other bestselling products.