Anonymous

30 Oct 2020

Field Notes
Singapore and the World


In late 2015, I had two unexpected calls. The first was from John C. Jay, President of Global Creative at Fast Retailing and former Global Executive Creative Director at Wieden+Kennedy. The second was from Chris Riley, then overseeing global strategy at UNIQLO and other Fast Retailing brands. At the time, we had already been collaborating with Chris for several years through his consultancy, Studioriley.


John and I first met when we interviewed him for Bracket, then later in person at W+K’s Portland office in 2012, when we brought A Design Film Festival to Portland Design Week. Over two separate hour-long calls, he asked about UNIQLO’s perception in Singapore and Asia, the state of retail, creative culture, independent businesses, and who was doing interesting work in the region. At the time, I assumed he was just curious. It wasn’t until months later, when Chris Riley called again, that I realised those conversations were, in fact, an "interview."

Our calls with Chris are typically under 15 minutes—succinct, to the point, no fluff. That’s probably why we’ve worked together for nearly a decade. But this call, in December 2015, lasted over 90 minutes. It began with one question:

"UNIQLO is opening a Global Flagship Store in Singapore. Would you like to work on it?"

My immediate thoughts were:

  • We’re not an advertising agency.
  • Wouldn’t the incumbent agency be handling this?
  • How could we contribute?

For the rest of the call, Chris laid out the vision that he and John had for UNIQLO’s flagship stores—how they saw the brand evolving, why this project mattered, and how we could help. The first step was research and insights—to understand Singapore at a deeper level and translate those findings into a creative brief for the global team in Tokyo.

My role was to collaborate with Chris on research and lead the creative direction, curating and assembling a Singapore-based team for the project. The research, conducted between February and March 2016, involved interviews with everyday Singaporeans, local expats, entrepreneurs, and creatives—both in Singapore and abroad.

To capture an authentic view of Singapore’s fashion culture, we brought on documentary street photographer Mindy Tan. She documented Orchard Road’s shopping district, customers inside UNIQLO stores, and the everyday style seen across the city.

Here’s what we saw.


From our research, we uncovered a key insight: Singapore is at a turning point. The country faces an aging population due to low birth rates, and increasing competition from other Asian cities means it must evolve—becoming more international while channeling its renowned work ethic into entrepreneurial and creative ambition.

We saw how young Singaporeans were rising to this challenge, shifting the city’s creative landscape and redefining its long history of conformity. To connect with them, UNIQLO needed to be more than just a place for simple clothes—it needed to be part of Singapore’s global story.

This led to the insight and strategy for the UNIQLO Singapore Global Flagship Store: "Singapore, World Connections"—a concept that positioned the store as a place of collaboration between UNIQLO, Singapore, and the world. It was an opportunity to add originality to Orchard Road, a district that had struggled with homogeneity.

From Strategy to Creative Direction

My role was to translate this strategy into a creative direction, marketing plan, and launch concept. Instead of a conventional store opening, I proposed that the flagship be co-created with the community—collaborating with Singaporean creatives to shape the store experience and launch campaign.

We assembled a team spanning an advertising agency, design studio, illustrators, musicians, technologists, and motion graphics designers. Over six months—from March to September 2016—we worked together to bring this vision to life.

On September 2, 2016, UNIQLO Orchard Central Global Flagship Store officially opened.


—
Felix Ng
Co-founder, Anonymous
@felix.anonymous

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