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Helios II

S h i r l y n . 10:03 AM

(A)
The festival that I have attended is the Singapore Arts Festival and specifically, the Helios II on the 16 May 2009.

(B)
Singapore Arts Festival is an annual arts festival held in Singapore which stretches for a month, usually in the mid-year. It comprises a variety of different forms of arts performances, such as music, dance, theatre and visual arts.

Summerfest is a yearly music festival held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It lasts for a total of eleven days and showcases performances from over 700 bands, featuring both local and nationally known music talents. These will be the two festivals that I will be comparing using the 8 ‘P’s’ in marketing events, which are (1) product, (2) place, (3) partnerships, (4) promotion, (5) programming, (6) people, (7) packaging and distribution, and (8) price.

1) Product

For both the two festivals, their products are the same, which are the performances held. Customers want a unique experience that would not be easily obtainable at anytime and anywhere, thus resulting in Singapore Arts Festival and Summerfest, which comprises of several different performances held during the festival. In additional, both festivals made use of local and international talents to put up the performances.

However, Singapore Arts Festival promotes a variety of arts including music, dance, theatre and visual arts, but Summerfest focuses more on music, hence also known as “The Big Gig”.

2) Place

The Singapore Arts Festival does not have a fixed location/ place as it holds several performances at different venues, such as Marina Barrage, Vivo city, Esplanade Theater and many more. The Helios II that I attended was held at the Marina Barrage and the atmosphere there was fantastic. It not only has a big space for machinery and performers to carry out their act, but it also provides a spectacular view of some parts of Singapore’s cityscape, allowing people to snap pictures before and after the performance. On the other hand, the Summerfest is held along the lakefront in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

One similarity is that both festivals are trying to market their location. Singapore Arts Festival has several performances held in places such as Esplanade, Marina Barrage, Singapore Art Museum and more, which would also help to market these locations as attractions to both locals and tourists. Summerfest too, is held along the lakefront to encourage visitors to come back in future to admire the scenery or to take a stroll and more. These strategies would help to increase the country’s revenue.

3) Partnerships

Singapore Arts Festival main partners are National Arts Council, Singapore Tourism Board, Singapore Turf Club, Shaw Foundation and the University of Western Australia. Some of their sponsors are Channel 5, Coca-Cola Company, Lee Foundation, PUB, SMRT and more.

On the other hand, Summerfest’s partners are Miller, Leinenkugel’s, Harley-Davidson, Briggs and Stratton, Fiduciary Management, Potawatomi, Fetzer, Pepsi, The Business Journal, FM 106.1 and more.

As we can see from above, both festivals have sponsors for beverages (Coca-Cola, Pepsi), advertising (Channel 5, FM 106.1) and more. With these sponsorships, the festivals would not have to come up with a huge amount of budget themselves and not only that, the media would be able to help them to inform both locals and tourists about the festival.

4) Promotion

Singapore Arts Festival and Summerfest both promotes through the use of several channels and the most important one would be their official website.

Singapore Arts Festival : www.singaporeartsfestival.com

Summerfest: http://www.summerfest.com

Besides that, they also have banners and posters specially created for the festival to attract people to attend it.

However, Summerfest has the sponsorship of several radio stations and even The Business Journal which Singapore Arts Festival does not have. This shows that the Summerfest is actually having more advertising done than compared to Singapore Arts Festival but Singapore Arts Festival has more support from governmental agencies such as National Arts Council and Singapore Tourism Board, which might show us that Singapore may not have enough support from private agencies, thus having the need for governmental agencies to come in.

Furthermore, Summerfest promotes itself through a unique method by helping the Hunger Task Force and also have mini-games to give out free admission tickets, which is:

FREE ADMISSION PROMOTIONS

Thursday, June 25 - Noon - 3:00 pm - Stomp Out Hunger Day with FOX 6. All patrons arriving between Noon and 3:00 pm who donate three non-perishable food items will receive one free admission ticket. Donations will be accepted at the Mid-Gate promotions tent as well as the North Gate. All donations to benefit the Hunger Task Force.

Friday, June 26 - Noon - 3:00 pm or while supplies last - Cedar Crest "Flip your Lid at Summerfest" Day. The first 1,500 patrons will receive one free admission ticket at the Mid-Gate promotions tent when they turn in a lid and receipt from Woodman's or Sendik's Food Markets, dated June 1 - June 26, for the purchase of one 48 oz. Cedar Crest ice cream. No copies or handwritten receipts will be accepted.
This is another difference between them both.
Summerfest has more of such “Free Admission Tickets” mini-games and little events is due to the fact that their festival requires an admission ticket. Singapore Arts Festival has many performances which are already non-ticketed, therefore they do not need to promote themselves like Summerfest. They only have promotions like:

The Heeren Shops
Present your ArtsFest Club card or ArtsFest ticket at the Customer Service counter to redeem your free Heeren Privilege Card.Valid till 30 June 2009

5) Programming

While Summerfest focuses mainly only on music, Singapore Arts Festival has many different elements to it. There are free admission performances ranging from 12 minutes to some which are over an hour. They also have theater performances which are definitely mostly held in the Esplanade and even Arts on the Move which would be held along Orchard Road, MRT stations and more venues on different days.

Summerfest, unlike Singapore Arts Festival, is mostly about music. They have a large number of bands and groups to play different genres of music for the people. Bands could be playing from noon to midnight, which is different compared to Singapore Arts Festival. Besides that, there are mini carnival games and people are able to sample a wide variety of food from the local area during the festival, making it less boring.

Another difference about their programming is that Singapore Arts Festival provide free performances as they have several different performances at different venues, but all shows are free for Summerfest, with an admission ticket for the festival.

6) People

The similarities are that the “cast” and audiences for both festivals include both locals and tourists. Both the events hired international artists and performers to make the festival more interesting and this has attracted both the locals and tourists to be part of the festival as audiences. In fact, 70% of the events are put up by non locals for the Singapore Arts Festival.

However, compared to Summerfest, Singapore Arts Festival attracts only about 700,000 attendees while Summerfest attracts up to 800,000 to 1,000,000. Not only that, Summerfest has definitely attracted more tourists, earning them more tourists revenue compared to Singapore Arts Festival, most probably due to the fact that they are more well-known.

7) Packaging and Distribution

There are several ways of getting tickets for the Singapore Arts Festival, such as through Internet bookings, by telephone, authorized agents and at the door, but all through SISTIC.

Similar to the Singapore Arts Festival, Summerfest tickets can also be obtained through Internet, be telephone, agents and at the door but they have something in additional, which is through promotions and mini-games. Like as mentioned above, the mini-games and promotions could help people to win free admission tickets, making it different from Singapore Arts Festival.

8) Price

Singapore Arts Festival provides some free performances at no cost, but Summerfest requires an admission ticket of between $8 to $15, before being able to watch all the performances instead free.

Unlike Summerfest, Singapore Arts Festival has different prices for different performances, which may be even up to more than double the times of the price of ticket for the Summerfest.

However, both festivals have numerous promotions and discounts for tickets, such as student/ senior citizen discounts for Singapore Arts Festival, and early bird discounts for Summerfest.

(C)
One of the best practices would be to have a main website for the festival held, to provide all the necessary information such as details, contact numbers etc so that interested parties can directly obtain information from there.

Next it would be to provide several different channels of communication such as through the internet, by telephone etc, making it more convenient for people.

(D)
Some of the stakeholders in the Singapore Arts Festival are the National Arts Council, Singapore Tourism Board, Tote Board, Shaw Foundation and the University of Western Australia. Besides that, there are several sponsors such as The Coca-Cola Company, Vivo City, Raffles City and more.

(E)
Singapore Arts Festival lasts for a duration of one month, from 15 May to 14 June, giving it sufficient time to showcase many different forms of performances, such as dance, music and theatre, all either ticketed or free admissions. Its main purpose is to allow performers to showcase their talents to attract both the locals and tourists, and to encourage them to attend other arts performances in Singapore in the future. This festival is an eye opener to many people as locals and tourists get to enjoy performances by performers all over the world, like France, UK, Japan and more, all in Singapore! Not only that, it helps increase public awareness and demand for arts, allowing people to experience and learn to appreciate the different forms of arts. Through that, it would also help to attract a new group of tourists, who are those who appreciate arts.

From my observation during the Helios II, I felt that they have achieved their purpose as there were a large crowd present and I was able to hear people around me speaking in different languages, proving that the festival was able to attract both locals and tourists. Many people, including myself, seemed contented with the performance as it was not something that we frequently see without having to pay for a ticket, therefore further fulfilling the main purpose of the festival. In fact, it was my first time attending a performance which was part of the Singapore Arts Festival, and because I had a positive experience, I have decided to attend at least one performance every year.

(F)
The festival has attracted many groups of tourists, such as families, who would most probably attend the Family Funfest, tourists who have a passion for arts (dance, music, theatre & more), who would pay to view the performances and also the holiday makers who just happen to be in Singapore during the festival. Due to all these tourists coming in, the host city has received a tremendous amount of tourism benefits. First, it would be revenue from their air tickets to fly over to Singapore, accommodations, food and beverage, activities such as visiting the Zoo or shopping, transportation and more. Some tourists may even extend their length of stay in Singapore so as to witness the Singapore Arts Festival, hence further increasing the amount of revenue earned. Besides that, some of the tourists may be investors and after witnessing Singapore’s potential to hold such a festival, they may want to invest in the country, giving the host city new business opportunities, benefitting it.

S h i r l y n . 9:45 AM ...................