What Went Down: Discovering Parkland in Singapore

By JUICE Malaysia • 28 Oct 2016 in Reports

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Vancouver-based Parkland – a brand of backpacks and outdoor accessories – prides itself in two things; 1) clean silhouettes and minimalistic details, and 2) its “Designed for Discovery” ethos. During their recent regional launch in Singapore, they take great care in ensuring the latter is properly presented to the media, so much so that after the obligatory press conference introducing regional titles from all over the SEA region to the brand’s basics, a game of discovery follows suit.

Enticing us of the activity with a gift bag packed with childhood snacks emblematic of this region and a bottle of mineral water – items to ensure we won’t be malnourished later – our benefactors drive us to Gardens by the Bay for the matter-of-factly named ‘Discover Parkland’ activity. There, teams are divided by their respective countries and given two sheets of hints; we are to search the two conservatories at Gardens – Flower Dome and Cloud Forest – for specific florae and other manmade/natural occurrences, and Instagram them, essentially making ‘discoveries’.

On an individual level, there’s also a Find Your Parkland Escape competition, where participants need to post an Instagram photo explaining what their personal discovery is. A fun diversion, the whole ‘discovery’ trope isn’t necessarily a tired one – JUICE has been to Gardens by the Bay multiple times for a music festival, but we never knew it had two conservatories and our Singaporean benefactors also jokingly say that they themselves have not stepped into the conservatories. So, on a very basic level, the ‘discovery’ angle does work.

However, the activities do physically tire us. Luckily, perhaps still working on the ‘discovery’ aspect of their branding, next up is dinner at farm-to-table restaurant Open Farm Community – a concept not quite familiar to most Malaysians. Each media representative is given a starter Parkland backpack before Product Manager Taylor Hobbs start the brand presentation proper. Dinner is then served – fresh from the farm just outside the restaurant. After which, winners of the two competitions are announced. With that, and much wine-induced mingling among one another, the one-day trip ends.