Starlight Advertising Pte Ltd

Starlight Advertising Pte Ltd is currently the longest-established Advertising Agency in Singapore, and has a current address at 10 Ubi Crescent, #03-36, UBI Techpark, Lobby C, Singapore 408564.
Founder of Starlight Advertising
Liew Chin Kwong was the founder of Starlight Advertising Agency on March 3, 1952. He was born in Taipu Village, Guangdong Province of China in 1920 and was the middle child of a family of five children. Chin Kwong arrived in Singapore in 1935 at the age of 15. He worked in various sectors such as pawn broking and cinema slide-making in his first few years in Singapore. He foresaw the prospects of Advertising in those days and deciding to venture into Advertising and founded the company.
Liew Chin Kwong was the Founding Chairman and Managing Director of Starlight Advertising from 1952 to 1991, a total of 39 years. Under his leadership, Starlight Advertising grew from a two-man company to one of the largest local Advertising Agencies in Singapore by 1991, with a staff strength exceeding forty and an annual billing exceeding S$12 million. A Fortieth Anniversary Publication of Starlight Advertising featured Liew Chin Kwong, and penned down his business philosophy for Starlight - “Business ethics is the cardinal principle in any business concern. Amongst all else, it is a vital factor in commanding respect.” “Once you’ve made a promise, never go back on your words. Whatever promises made must be delivered…Never cheat on your clients even though it’ll not be detected. A lie is a lie whether others know it or not. Never owe others what is due to them. Especially your staff and suppliers.”
Liew Chin Kwong died due to heart failure on 17 May 1994, aged 74, leaving behind his spouse, two children and three grandchildren.
Company history
3 March 1952 - Starlight Advertising was officially started by Liew Chin Kwong. Starlight first operated at a office space at 5A Upper Pickering Street. Starlight had a staff strength of three, and focused on cinema slide-making as well as other general production work i.e. Banners, Bus Panels, Outdoor signages and Press Advertising mainly through newspapers.
1959 - Starlight Advertising gained accreditation to all media owners in Singapore beginning that year. To date, Starlight remains accredited to all media owners in Singapore.
1960 - Starlight Advertising’s billings multiplied tenfold upon accreditation. The company grew to a staff strength of twelve and moved to a bigger office space at 35A & 37A Upper Pickering Street.
1963 - Within three years, Starlight started to rent a third unit at 33A Upper Pickering Street, and operated from a office. Starlight Advertising Agency expanded its business scope to handle the Production of more Publicity and Advertising projects.
May 1972 - The expansion of Starlight Advertising necessitated its move into 185A Clemenceau Avenue, a two-storey office space with some . The new premises of Starlight accommodated five full-fledged departments.
1973 - A fully equipped photographic studio and two inhouse darkrooms were added to meet Starlight’s needs of catering for a faster turnaround time for clients. Machinery and equipment costing over ten thousand dollars were acquired to facilitate the productions of tone and line prints inclusive of all photographic needs.
1977 - Starlight Advertising turned twenty-five that year. It had grown from a two-man concern contracting cinema slides to an agency of a billing of S$6 million and a staff strength of forty. The company celebrated its Silver Jubilee with an Oriental-style dinner - More than sixty tables were booked at the now-defunct Eastern Palace Restaurant located at Supreme House along Penang Road, with hundreds of guests from clients to business associates in attendance. The then-CEO of The Straits Times, Lynn Holloway, presented a special 22K Gold Rolex watch to Liew Chin Kwong at the dinner. Other notable media owners such as Nanyang Siang Pau, Sin Chew Jit Poh presented plaques of Appreciation to Starlight, and Sin Chew Jit Poh covered the event.
1977 - Liew Chin Kwong was featured in an exclusive interview with The Business Times, entitled, “Ad Agency that never turns away a client”, published in an article dated 21 April 1977 in tandem to Starlight’s Silver Jubilee later that month. He shared about his business philosophy of never turning away a client no matter how small, simply because he believed in growing with them. In the article, it was mentioned that Starlight Advertising was the largest local advertising agency in Singapore and the third-oldest to be established.
1979 - The Urban Redevelopment Authority's sudden decision to reacquire the Clemenceau Avenue office caused Starlight Advertising to move into Waterloo Centre in a bid to maintain good locality within the Central Business District (CBD) Area in Singapore. Starlight's third office was at the single-floor Waterloo Centre office, with an area of 3700 square feet.
1984 - Starlight Advertising pitched for and clinched its first government-initiated campaign account, the “Speak Good Mandarin Campaign”. This extensive campaign featured various advertising media from above-the-line advertisements to below-the-line collaterals i.e. bookmarks, stickers and posters.
July 1986 - In a Straits Times article dated 22 July 1986, Starlight Advertising, together with fifteen other Advertising Agencies, was officially appointed by the government, and earmarked to handle advertisements, notices and recruitments from various government departments and ministries.
September 1988 - Starlight pioneered an innovative approach to advertising by employing the use of cartoons in a particular recruitment advertisement in The Straits Times. This particular concept was exclusively highlighted and featured in a September issue Home Section of The Straits Times in that year.
1989 - With technological advancements, Starlight phased out its conventional typesetting division. In order to tap into the new technology, Starlight upgraded its typesetting division by acquiring the latest Macintosh Apple computers which have the added advantage of being able to help design visuals whilst also typing text.
1990 - Starlight's annual billings steadily increased to beyond S$12 million, with an overall increase across all media businesses, with higher percentages recorded in the print media i.e. printed advertisements.
1991 - Starlight underwent a restructuring process that year. Founding Chairman and first Managing Director Liew Chin Kwong, stepped down and was succeeded by his son, Liew Kien Choong. Liew Kien Choong first joined the company in 1984. A new General Manager also joined the Leadership team.
1992 - Starlight Advertising formed an affiliation with The Bridging Team, a newly set-up Public Relations (PR) Consultancy. This arrangement was completed to enable Starlight Advertising to be fully equipped in assisting in the bridging of their clients’ internal and external communication needs.
1994 - Liew Chin Kwong, Founding Chairman of Starlight, died of heart failure on 17 May 1994. He was 74 years old.
2005 - After 26 years at Waterloo Centre, Starlight Advertising moved to 29A and 29B Teo Hong Road, a two-storey shophouse unit with a total area of , located in the Chinatown area.
2009 - Starlight Advertising moved into its current office at #03-36 UBI TechPark.
2010 - Starlight Advertising was voted by its clients to be the Top 10 Finalists in Marketing Magazine's "Media Agency of the Year - Advertising For Traditional Media" category that year.
Notable works
Productivity Standard Board (PSB) Series of Campaigns
Starlight Advertising was appointed by the PSB, the former name of Singapore government organisation SPRING, to design the logos of and to launch various campaigns from 1998 to 2003. The campaigns were as follows:
1998 - People Developer Standard Certification campaign.
1999 - National Cost of Quality (NCOQ) campaign.
1999 - Critical Enabling Skills Training (CREST) campaign.
2000 - National Skills Recognition System (NSRS) campaign.
2002 - Singapore Innovation Class, or I-Class campaign.
2003 - Singapore Service Class, or S-Class campaign.
2004 - Starlight Advertising was appointed by the Housing and Development Board to manage the advertising and marketing campaign of the launch of the tallest public housing project in Singapore, .
2005 - Starlight Advertising's Yellow Pages Taxi Advertising Design won it the Bronze Award for Category 'S12 - Wholly-painted Taxi' at the 2005 Singapore Outdoor Advertising Awards.
On Accreditation
Starlight Advertising is On Accreditation with the following (not exhaustive):
Dailies
*The Straits Times
*The New Paper
*Lianhe Zaobao
*Lianhe Wanbao
*Shin Min Daily
*Berita Harian
*Tamil Murasu
*South China Morning Post
*Kompass
*The New Straits Times
*Nanyang Siang Pau
Magazines
*Her World
*Female
*i Weekly

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