Coming off a nationwide circuit breaker and Singapore entering its deepest recession yet, over 100,000 Singaporeans petitioned to opt out of the NDP Funpacks last year, which even led to questions of "Should NDP even be conducted?” and “Can the funds used to organise NDP be better used elsewhere in these times of need?" This sparked a huge debate amongst Singaporeans and it leads us to the most important point: NDP is seen as an event, an expense. With this year’s theme of Together, Our Singapore Spirit, NYC x NDP sought to ask youths what their interpretation of our Singapore Spirit means to them and in doing so, help our next generation not only reflect upon this but to also steer our youths back to the true intent of NDP.

As we pondered how we could stir youth conversations about our SG identity in this day and age, it became instantly clear to us. We live in a mobile era. Leveraging on the massively viral Memoji trend - Memojis have become commonplace in digital conversations, rivaling the use of the normal emoji. Everyone wants to create a personalized version of themselves. But something is lacking. A uniquely Singaporean flavour is lacking.

Enter SGMoji. Our very own Singaporean Memoji, SGMoji is a representation of what you think makes a Singaporean and will be a reflection of what you’re proud of in being a Singaporean. Rather than asking for outright pledges (done in previous years) which could come across as forceful, we subtly draw out Singaporeans’ love for Singapore through something that they will be interested in – creating a SGMoji of themselves. Housed on a microsite, SGMoji provides an organic platform for Singaporean youth to express themselves creatively. Through that creative expression, we aim to help them realize with each instinctive choice made = these are the things that make us Singaporeans.