Republic of Singapore Navy Launches "There Was a Time" to Challenge Self-Limiting Beliefs in new Women's Recruitment Campaign

May. 14, 2026

The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) has launched There Was a Time (When Nothing Was too Crazy for Her), a new campaign to position the Navy as an attainable and rewarding career choice for women, developed in partnership with McCann Singapore.

Research has found that 82% of young women rule out a Navy career because it does not align with their perceived passions, while 58% believe it to be too physically demanding. Rather than confronting these barriers directly, the campaign transports women back to a time before those self-imposed boundaries existed that keep them from considering a career in the Navy. The launch targets female students across JC, ITE, polytechnic and university levels.

The creative idea draws on a powerful truth: young girls begin life fearless and without constraint, willing to try anything. Over time, girls are told that some behaviours – and career choices – were not meant for them, and women begin to define themselves in ways that limit their capabilities. The campaign reframes this by reminding women in Singapore that strength, leadership, and bravery are not qualities they lack, but qualities they may have stopped recognising in themselves – that could get rediscovered in the Navy.

 

The campaign features OOH, social and direct mailer activations depicting young girls in uninhibited play – commanding the room, taking charge, deciding for themselves what’s fun – embodying the qualities that would carry anyone through a successful Navy career. 

McCann Singapore Chief Creative Officer Daniel Kee said:

“We believe that the most effective recruitment work does not just showcase what's on offer, but shifts how people see themselves in relation to it. Guided by McCann’s “Truth Well Told” philosophy, this idea is powerful because it is rooted in a simple truth – that there is a version of every woman that existed before society placed limits on her ambitions. We wanted to reframe not only how women perceived the Navy, but the beliefs they hold about themselves. To do that, the work had to feel personal, rather than fact-driven. By grounding the campaign in the visual language of childhood memories – grainy, intimate, like old photographs from a family album – we wanted to meet women in a place that existed before any of those limits were learned, and encourage them to remember who they already are. It is also worth noting that this campaign idea was developed by an all-female creative team, which could explain why it feels less like an advertisement and more like recognition.”

 

The campaign is the latest chapter in the work the agency has built with the Navy over the past six years for the recruitment platform It's Not Crazy, It's the Navy, which set the benchmark for defence marketing by challenging perceptions of the Navy. There Was a Time (When Nothing Was too Crazy for Her) interprets the platform for a new audience, by challenging the perceptions young women hold of themselves.