Catalyst Entertainment
Singapore Tourism Board
Singapore Tourism Board × XG — February 2026

XG filmed Rock The Boat
in Singapore.
The world watched.

A first-of-kind partnership between the Singapore Tourism Board and XG — the seven-member group whose debut full album entered the Billboard 200's top 100 — produced Rock The Boat, a music video shot entirely across five of Singapore's most iconic locations.

Anderson Bridge · MV still Catalyst Entertainment × STB · Post-Campaign Showcase
The campaign, in numbers

At a glance.

Six numbers that define the shape of the result — the creative footprint, the reach, and the cultural moment around it. Zero paid media for amplification.

5
Iconic Singapore locations in one MV
3
Forms of exclusivity in one partnership
5M+
YouTube views and counting
14,266
Social engagements · first 10 days
19+
Organic XG posts featuring Singapore (contract: 2)
68
Countries where the album charted at debut
The work

An MV,
not an ad.

Rock The Boat is a piece of entertainment that 5 million+ people chose to watch — and Singapore is a character in it. Shot entirely across five iconic locations, credited transparently, folded into XG's creative universe.

Rock The Boat  ·  XG × Singapore Tourism Board  ·  22 February 2026
Watch on YouTube ↗
The creative footprint

Five locations.
One film.

Each place chosen for visual distinctiveness and brand fit with XG's energy. Singapore shows up as a character — shot beautifully, credited transparently, folded into the song's narrative of movement and energy.

Anderson Bridge
01 · The hero backdrop
Anderson Bridge
Signature 'marine' visuals — the hero backdrop of the MV.
Gardens by the Bay
02 · Lush futurism
Gardens by the Bay
Cloud Forest dome — XG's future-facing energy on camera.
National Gallery Singapore
03 · Architectural modernity
National Gallery Singapore
Architectural modernity — and the start of a co-creation moment.
 Palawan Beach, Sentosa
04 · Coastal summer-ready
Palawan Beach · Sentosa
The coastal "summer-ready" sequence — the group on the water.
Singapore Oceanarium
05 · Glowing, otherworldly
Singapore Oceanarium
The otherworldly centrepiece — glowing, submerged, cinematic.
Voice of the fans · top TikTok comment
"Singapore
ohmygod"
733 likes · unprompted · before the MV even dropped
Earned media · positive across the board

Zero negative framing.

Bandwagon AsiaEntertainment · 22 Feb 2026
XG turn Singapore into their playground.
KPop in Bay AreaFeature · 23 Feb 2026
A tropical-infused summer escape shot in partnership with the Singapore Tourism Board.
JRL ChartsChart report · 22 Feb 2026
Surges past 800K views in explosive debut.
The Straits TimesSingapore's national daily
Vibrant, modern, iconic — the framing consistent across coverage.
Partner co-creation · unscripted

National Gallery
joined the story.

On 28 February, National Gallery Singapore's own TikTok account posted a creative riff on the MV, shot in the gallery's architectural spaces — and the XG fan community embraced it as part of the campaign's creative universe.

A rare instance of a destination partner organically extending a paid campaign. This is the signal of a campaign with genuine cultural gravity — the kind of moment that award juries reward.

National Gallery Singapore response
▸ TikTok · @nationalgallerysingapore
Tap to watch · National Gallery TikTok
Our recommendation

Submit Rock The Boat
to Cannes Lions · Entertainment.

★ Primary submission

Cannes Lions
Entertainment

Cannes Entertainment specifically rewards work that lives as entertainment rather than advertising. Rock The Boat is a music video that 5 million+ people chose to watch — with Singapore as a character, not a sponsor stamp.

  • Entertainment-first craft — not an ad with a tourism tag
  • 5M+ views earned, not paid
  • Fan co-creation (National Gallery) proves cultural gravity
  • Triple exclusivity is a genuinely defensible differentiator
Category Excellence in Brand Integration (Entertainment Lions track), with a parallel submission to Music Lions if we lead on the film-specific craft angle.
Also strong · 02

Effie Awards
Asia Pacific

Effies reward proven business impact. The ratio is the story: multi-million MV views, 14,000+ organic engagements, positive Tier-1 press — and zero paid media for amplification.

  • 5M+ views with zero paid amplification
  • 14,266 organic engagements in 10 days
  • Positive Tier-1 press · zero negative coverage
Category Tourism & Travel, or Sponsorships — both reward documented earned-to-invested performance.
Also strong · 03

Campaign
Asia Awards

Campaign Asia jurors reward work that speaks to the region's cultural texture. Japanese-origin talent, Singapore destination, storytelling calibrated for STB Japan.

  • Japanese-origin talent, Singapore destination
  • Cross-market storytelling tuned for STB Japan
  • Genuine APAC cultural fluency, not an import
Category Best Use of Music · Best Travel, Leisure & Hospitality · Best Sponsorship / Brand Partnership.
About the campaign

A global pop moment, shot exclusively in Singapore.

In late 2025, the Singapore Tourism Board set out to do something most destination campaigns don't attempt: put Singapore at the centre of a global pop culture moment. Catalyst Entertainment's answer was a partnership with XG, whose first full-length album THE CORE — 核 debuted in the Billboard 200's top 100 and topped charts across Japan and Korea.

The result was Rock The Boat — an official music video shot entirely in Singapore, featuring Anderson Bridge, Gardens by the Bay, National Gallery Singapore, Palawan Beach, and Singapore Oceanarium. The video launched on XG's YouTube on 22 February 2026 and crossed 800,000 views within hours.

What followed was not a media buy. It was an organic wave: 19+ organic posts from XG featuring Singapore in the 48 hours around launch, 14,000+ engaged social comments in the first ten days, and positive earned coverage across Tier-1 entertainment and travel press. National Gallery Singapore's own TikTok account even created its own creative response, extending the campaign into a rare piece of genuine destination-partner co-creation.

From Catalyst · to Singapore

Singapore didn't appear in a pop culture moment this year.
It was the moment.

Watch the film