Liyana Hidhir on Designing World’s First Metaverse Hotel and Why She Values ‘Stupid’

“I live for unhinged chaotic cultural moments,” says Liyana Hidhir, copywriter at MullenLowe Singapore and up and coming talent behind some of the region’s most innovative digital and social campaigns.

Most notably, Liyana helped launch MSocial Decentraland (by Millennium Hotels and Resorts), the world’s first hotel in the metaverse. In collaboration with the Singapore Tourism Board, users were invited to join Singapore’s official mascot, Merlion, on a virtual adventure to play games, unlock rewards and visit attractions in Singapore.

A lifelong gamer with a love of open world and survival titles, Liyana brought her passion for immersive play into the project’s design and storytelling. “I love world-building,” she says, “from the early stages of creative work where you’re building spaces for your ideas to live in, up to the execution stage where you’re creating an experience for people to enjoy.”

What she loved most about the MSocial project was that “there was a lot of space to play. Everything felt very new – I wasn’t super familiar with Web3 up until that point, so working on it felt fresh and exciting.”

This love for play is something Liyana says she has held onto from childhood. “I loved experimenting. I was deeply interested in music, poetry and the performing arts. This gave me exposure to all sorts of creative expressions, which is foundational to what I do today. As a child, it brought me a lot of joy to create – be it through stories, movement or melody. This has carried through to today and it’s a huge privilege to be able to do it for a living.”

She cites ’Audioboobs’ by Smile Makers as one of her favourite projects to date. “It was an absolute labour of love. My team and I wanted to pursue an idea that approached sexual wellness in a female-centric way. Audio erotica was quite popular during that time and it led us to the idea of encouraging breast self-checks during self-pleasure.

“Having to create this sensual and stimulating experience that’s both entertaining and educational purely through audio was a unique challenge. And it was so rewarding to have that effort recognised in audio and radio awards categories locally and regionally.”

More recently, her work ‘Plastic: Remaking our World’ for National Museum of Singapore is a fresh take on the topic of sustainability. “We crafted a narrative around plastic breaking up with humans, where we played with dating language and even created ads inspired by sketchy local single ads”

The digital experience saw users resolving their differences with plastic with the help of a couple’s therapist, with an on-ground experience allowing visitors to create rings to seal their commitment with plastic. “The physical event offered an opportunity to mimic diamond advertising, since plastic truly is forever,” Liyana says. “I loved how non-serious we got about a serious issue, and our clients were on board from the very beginning.”

This is an ethos Liyana holds close, revealing “a soft spot for stupid” –risky ideas born out of play. “When you don’t take everything so seriously, it brings an electricity into the work that keeps you excited and makes everyone else excited with you.” she says. “‘Stupid’ helps you stand out and leaves people with a smile – but only if you know how to be smart about stupid.”

Applying this to her copywriting, she says, “Most of us are so desensitised by the barrage of information that gets thrown at us day in, day out. If you can write something that elicits some joy, surprise, awe or shock – I’d say that’s a job well done. I like to create personalities out of my projects and make them more human.”

Ultimately, what it comes down to is helping people feel something through the work you do. “Consumers and young people today are very informed and they’re looking to be a part of something,” she says. “They’re not passive consumers, but, rather, they actively co-create culture with brands.

“In our effort to connect with them, we should be mindful to never opt for performative language, but rather, lean into their values and conversations to create work that provokes an emotional response. Today’s young consumers can sniff out a copycat just as well as they can recognise a brand that gets them.”