As the cost of living rises, DBS and POSB remain committed to supporting customers, heartland businesses, and the wider community. The DBS 5 Million Hawker Meals (DBS 5M HM) and POSB Support Our Heartlands (POSB SOH) initiatives were introduced to provide financial relief and encourage the adoption of digital payments among small businesses and consumers. To amplify awareness and engagement, a strategic content approach was implemented to inform, educate, and inspire action.
Amid rising inflation and evolving consumer behaviours, the campaign sought to:
1. Strengthen DBS and POSB’s role as trusted partners of the community
- Move beyond transactional banking to demonstrate active, meaningful support for small businesses.
- Reinforce the brand’s role in enabling sustainable growth for hawkers and heartland businesses.
2. Shift consumer attitudes towards digital payments
- Make digital adoption feel accessible and inclusive, particularly for older consumers and small business owners.
- Ensure DBS and POSB were seen as enablers of digital confidence, not disruptors of tradition.
3. Reinforce DBS and POSB’s commitment to preserving and uplifting Singapore’s heritage
- Celebrate the rich heritage and entrepreneurship of hawkers while equipping them for the future.
- Deepen consumer affinity for DBS and POSB by embedding the brand into Singapore’s cultural and business landscape.
Rather than focusing on short-term engagement, the goal was to create lasting brand equity and emotional connection with consumers.
DBS and POSB used storytelling as a vehicle to shape public perception. The strategy centred on authentic, human-led narratives to showcase the bank’s role as a community enabler.
1. Leadership-led storytelling: reinforcing DBS’s human-centric approach
- "DBS Hawker Conversations", where seniors DBS leaders met with hawkers at their workplace for candid and insightful two-way conversations. Through unscripted conversations, DBS leaders and hawkers exchanged stories of resilience, innovation, and adaptation, showcasing a deeper human connection that goes beyond job roles and job titles.
2. Emotional storytelling to deepen consumer connection
- "Hawker Stories" featured long-form editorial narratives, bringing hawkers’ journeys to life.
- These stories weaved in the bank’s continued support over the years, reinforcingour role as enablers of growth, rather than just service providers.
3. Social-First Content to modernise perceptions of heartland businesses
- "Wandering Our Wet Markets" (POSB SOH) leveraged short-form, engaging content to reshape how younger Singaporeans perceive wet markets.
- Created in the style of organic TikTok/ YouTube Shorts video content, these reels helped position POSB as a bank that understands and speaks to younger audiences.
4. Multi-Platform execution to maximise reach and engagement
- A combination of long-form (DBS Hawker Conversations & Hawker Stories) and social-first activations (Wandering Our Wet Markets) allowed the campaign to reach diverse audience segments.
- Content pieces also tagged specific locations (ie hawker stalls, wet market locations) within Singapore to build greater resonance with the audience, and encouraged viewers to share their own experience at the featured location/hawker/market etc.
Rather than pushing a transactional message, this campaign built credibility through engagement, storytelling, and authentic connection.
The content amassed:
- 692.8K video views, 1.1M minutes watched (DBS Hawker Conversations).
- 2.4M+ impressions, 203.7K engagements, 194.8K clicks (Hawker Stories).
- 2.4M video views, 1.7M minutes watched (Wandering Our Wet Markets).
Results from the wider campaign:
- DBS Hawker Meals: From February 2023 to July 2024, Singapore residents could receive
up to SGD 3 cashback by being among the first 100,000 to use our DBS PayLah! app to scan and pay for their meals at hawkers every Friday. In 2024, SGD 8.8 million was redeemed through this initiative.
- POSB Support Our Heartlands: Building on the success of the DBS Hawker Meals subsidy scheme, the POSB Support Our Heartlands Initiative was introduced to boost consumer savings and drive demand for the products and services offered by heartland small businesses. From August to December 2024, residents received SGD 4.9 million in cashback from PayLah! scan-to-pay purchases made at more than 22,000 heartland shops, wet markets and hawker stalls. POSB Cardmembers also enjoyed SGD 970,000 in discounts on selected brands of eggs and rice at Sheng Siong Supermarkets.
Video for DBS Hawker Series
