Singaporeans are more stressed than the global average, and the stress is affecting every aspect of life — especially in the bedroom. That’s right. High cost of living, financial responsibilities and the pressure to climb the career ladder is making young couples in Singapore put a hold on marriage and babies.
In 2023, Singapore had the 3rd lowest fertility rate globally and plummeted to an all-time low of 0.97, well below the 2.1 needed for population stability. Despite additional financial incentives and support by the Government, Singaporeans agreed it would not shift their sentiments. The Prime Minister’s Office was tasked to reverse declining fertility rates before it’s too late.
Beyond financial concerns, our research unpacked deeper issues influencing our audience - many Singaporeans delay pursing their parenthood aspirations indefinitely due to self-imposed pressure to be “perfect parents”, which breeds doubts and heightens anxieties about their ability to be parents.
How could the Prime Minister’s Office Strategy Group (PMOSG) urge young Singaporeans to overcome a very real fear and proceed with their marriage plans?
The Case Film
First, we had to change the narrative of the parenthood landscape — from that of fear to one of empowerment. Introducing #morethanenough, a social-led campaign that turned parents into activists. The goal was not to shy away from the realities of parenthood but rather to leverage the power of social conversations to embrace its truths, both beautiful and painful, and show the country’s ambivalent couples that marriage and parenthood does not take away from their identity but rather adds to it.
#MoreThanEnough fuelled discourse across social platforms
We worked with creators and content publishers to rally parents to share their own stories, and more importantly their affirmations towards parenthood and encourage other parents to stop contributing to this environment of pressure-cooker competition.
The trend started by enlisting the help of parents and married couples on social media. We asked them to share their experiences with the #morethanenough hashtag, across Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Before long, the hashtag took over and the nation joined in the conversation.
Supportive Aids To Guide Their Parenthood Journey
We published guides, quizzes and other content formats to help couples & parents across all dimensions of their marriage & parenthood journey.
We selected some especially poignant stories and approached those individuals to turn their real, unfiltered stories into short films, human interest editorials and syndicated content. Inspired by their #morethanenough stories, these films and editorials encourages on-the-fence couples and parents to remove self-imposed pressures and expectations on marriage and parenthood, and affirm a stronger sense of self-belief and compassion for each other.
