Singapore’s product interests were “the most influenced” by celebrity and influencer endorsements from the Western pop culture, alongside the Philippines, according to the latest study by iPrice Group on Wednesday (2 June).
iPrice, an e-commerce aggregator platform, conducted a study on how Hollywood brand ambassadors and Western media shape Southeast Asians’ online interest in products, from the recent Questlove’s golden Crocs, Kanye West’ Yeezy to cryptocurrency.
The study revealed that Google searches of cryptocurrency increased after entertainment influencers publicly made statements about the digital currency.
For instance, Elon Musk tweeted about Dogecoin in December last year, bringing the Google searches of cryptocurrency increased by 143 per cent and 53 per cent in Singapore.
iPrice’s graph also indicates a surge in Google searches of cryptocurrency in February this year, after CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey, American rapper Jay Z and Snoop Dogg put on a good word about it and Tesla announced its $1.5 billion purchase of bitcoin.
Google searches of cryptocurrency reached an all-time high in April this year after Paris Hilton talked about bitcoin and non-fungible token (NFT).
“One may argue that cryptocurrency is just a really hot market at the moment. After all, the surge in search volume was also experienced in other Southeast Asian countries.
“But all these statements from Western influencers may have helped spread this information, especially to the general public,” said iPrice.
A surge in Google searches of Crocs
Meanwhile, iPrice’s study revealed that Google searches of the brand Crocs would soar in Singapore and the Philippines every time the brand engages in a collaboration.
It noted that the search interests for Crocs surged in April this year by 243 per cent and 244 per cent compared to May 2019 in Singapore and the Philippines respectively.
A similar trend can be seen last year when the highest peak occurred last December.
It discovered that Google searches of Crocs skyrocket by 155 per cent more in Singapore, and 278 per cent more in the Philippines, after Crocs announced Indian actress Priyanka Chopra’s endorsement and American singer Post Malone’s collaboration in December last year.
Other high-end collaborations worth mentioning are Justin Bieber’s in October last year and rapper Bad Bunny’s in September last year, amounting to a total of 373,770 searches in both countries.
Google searches saw an 84 per cent and 85 per cent increase in July last year when compared to the same month in 2019, which occurred after Crocs announced its collaboration with the famous western fast-food chain, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).
Hype for “the most expensive sneakers”
In addition, iPrice also noted that the hype for the most expensive sneakers would emerge on forums and social media days before a certain pair of sneakers becomes available in Singapore and the Philippines.
“This happens with Kanye West’s Yeezy, the most expensive sneakers which recently sold for the eye-watering price of $1.8 million. Every time Kanye dropped hints on the latest Yeezy models, there were spikes on its Google searches in Singapore and the Philippines,” it stated.
What’s more, iPrice observed that the hype reached crescendo almost every end of the year.
“In December 2019, Kanye announced the release of Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Yeezreel, which soared to 122 per cent and 132 per cent compared to the beginning of the year in Singapore and the Philippines respectively.
“In December 2020, the brand reached a 58 per cent and 37 per cent increase as Kanye released its 2020 Yeezy Boost 350 V2 Bred release,” it asserted.