Artvertisement as orderly creativity symbolism in Singapore's outdoor advertising

Artvertisements or art-advertisements in outdoor advertising in Singapore are products of orderly creativity. In Singapore, government agencies work with advertising agencies and media owners to produce artvertisements in outdoor advertising. With Singapore's strict management of outdoor advertising and the advertising industry's propensity to push the envelope of creativity, it becomes necessary to find out how and why artvertisements have emerged. Using a qualitative semi-structured interview approach, data were collected from 15 respondents representing government departments, advertising agencies and media owners. Findings included aesthetic banning of sky signs and freestanding billboards, controlled reintroduction of freestanding advertisements, the advertising community collaboratively pushing the envelope of creativity, and government departments conditionally meeting the creativity need of the advertising community. Thematic data analysis revealed that the theory of artvertisement as a symbol of orderly creativity in outdoor advertising explained how and why artvertisement was introduced in outdoor advertising in Singapore from the 1990s.