How Circles.Life’s “Weird Challenge” became a hit among Singapore’s quirkiest content creators

From left: Daniel Sidhanand [Grand Prize Winner], Aaron Kwok [Runner-Up], Clarisse Gan [2nd Runner-Up], Sameer Christopher Padbidri [Crowd Favourite]

SINGAPORE, 22 April 2022 — This Friday, April 22, 2022, Circles.Life announced the winners of its month-long Instagram Reel contest called “The “Weird” Challenge”. With generous cash prizes for the top 30 selections, a grand prize of $10,000, and rewards for Circles.Life users and early participants, the competition attracted over a hundred submissions from Singaporeans of all walks of life, with close to half a million playthroughs across these reels.

The all-inclusive prompt to “show us your weird”, turning what makes you unique into a skit, invited a myriad of responses – from quirky habits like eating fries with strawberry milk, to full blown parodies of anime series like “Naruto” and “Attack on Titan”. Crowd Favourite winner Sameer Padbidri, a local music producer who submitted a creative remix of the viral Oscars moment between Will Smith and Chris Rock, joined this challenge as he “loved the idea of people coming together to embrace their weird”.

To connect digital natives and aspiring creatives with seasoned professionals, a panel of judges made up of local veteran content creators – J Jaikishan, Munah Bagharib, and Lingyi Xiong – was brought together to select the winners for this challenge. Their candid reactions to the Top 30 reels will be made available on Circles.Life’s Instagram page, for the viewing pleasure of the selected participants.

From Left: Munah Bagharib, J Jaikishan, Lingyi Xiong

“It’s all about being seen and affirmed for being uniquely you,” explained Michael Ng, Social and Community Lead of Circles.Life. “Everyone who submitted something for this challenge is a winner just by taking part. Beyond our generous rewards, we watch through each and every submission and leave comments that encourage them to stay true to themselves.”

True to their identity as Singapore’s boldest telco, Circles.Life believes that the everyday Singaporean is unique and interesting – contrary to online opinions that Singapore is a “cookie cutter” nation.

“With 15% of our base identifying as short-form content creators, we are certain that Singapore can also be a trendsetter in this new digital age,” says Jeanette Wong, Singapore Growth Lead of Circles.Life. “We believe it’s this spirit of daring to be different, and owning all your quirks – regardless of what everyone else says or thinks – that makes a difference.”

True to this spirit, the grand prize winner – singer-songwriter Daniel Sid – went beyond his standard creative repertoire, submitting an artfully composed sketch showcasing his weird sense of humour. “People were really enjoying the video and sharing it around,” he commented.  “I even walked into a room and got recognised as a weirdo, instead of from my music or TV shows so that’s a highlight for me.”

“Or maybe they were just calling me a weirdo.”

For media features on The Weird Challenge, reach out to Michael at [email protected].

Learn more about The Weird Challenge here.