Introduction
This objective of this online portfolio is to observe an event or festival that took place between mid-October and 9 November, having in mind how the various components of the event marketing mix had been adopted in this event or festival that we had visited. In addition, the effectiveness of the components being used to contribute to the success of the festival or event and the role of this festival/event to Singapore and its value to the tourism economy is also to be evaluated.
The Singapore Hit Awards, which took place on the 25 October at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, is the event that I had chosen to conduct my observation. The research of this observation will be conducted through the various channels like visiting the official website of the event and other related website to get relevant information such as the history of the event. Beside the official website, I will also visit the event and articles published after the event will be taken into consideration to determine the success of the event.
This event which first started in the 1993, awards the most outstanding talents from Singapore and overseas, notably from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and China. This event first started out by giving 15 awards, adding a few awards each year and now, into its 14th year, they had given a total of 30 awards this year to the talents in the Chinese music industry.
The stars who turned up to receive their awards at Saturday's Singapore Hit Awards 2008 show were Hong Kong singer Eason Chan, Da Mouth, Mayday, Yoga Lin and Joanna Wong from Taiwan, Fish Leong from Malaysia and China's Jade Liu. Homegrown stars included Milubing, Derrick Hoh and Wu Jiahui.
Some of the awards that were given out include ‘Most Popular Newcomer’, ‘Most Popular Male and Female Singer’, ‘Most Popular Group’, ‘Most Popular Newcomer”, ‘Best Album Producer’, ‘Promising Local Artiste’, ‘Best Composing Artiste’ and ‘Best Local Artiste’ ‘Album of The Year’ etc. Online voters have a 40 per cent chance in influencing the outcome for ‘Most Popular’ award categories while the rest of the 60 per cent will be determined by the song or artiste's chart positioning. However, in recent years, there had been rumours that the results of the award ceremony is getting questionable because artistes who attended are guaranteed in receiving at least one of the awards.
This year some effort had been put in to change the opinions of Singapore Hit Awards. It seems that the situation is different now as the big winner appeared to be Aska Yang despite him not being able to attend the ceremony. Yet, the other artistes who attended were all being awarded and it once again proved that the Singapore Hit Awards will not let the artiste run a wasted trip to Singapore.
Effective use of marketing mix
1. Product
Core product is what the customer think he/she is really buying. It is often intangible and highly subjective. In this case, the core product of this event is the atmosphere and experience the visitors get when they attend the award ceremony.
· Atmosphere
I would say that the atmosphere inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium is not as relax and entertaining as it should had been. It is evident that some of the people sitting behind were bored and restless during the first half of the ceremony. Also, many left way before the ceremony ends. In addition, the topics that the hosts talk about may not be interesting for the artistes because they would just smile to the monitor and say nothing when the hosts asked them some of the questions that they would not like to continue, creating some moments of awkward silence.
· Experience
It is not a very good experience because the whole event is not very engaging. Though it started off quite well, gradually, the host had forgotten about their interaction with the audience at the back. Also the sequence of the programs was not well planned. They should have shifted the performance of the well-known artiste like “Mayday” and “Eason Chen” ahead so as to enhance the experience of the audience so that the climax of the event would not be at the ending.
Augmented product is however, the additional features that differentiate an event from its competitors, both tangible and intangibles. Official website is an additional feature of the event and they had make good use of the websites where the online voting had taken place. The website also provided the audience information such as their history, some of the pre-event activities and also behind-the-scenes videos.
2. Place
“Place” refers to both the site where the event takes place and the place at which consumers can purchase tickets to the event. If the design of the event settings and the processes used to deliver and experience the event are done poorly, it will negatively affect the customer’s enjoyment.
The Singapore Hit Awards was held in the Singapore Indoor Stadium on that 25 October, and the tickets could be easily purchased at Sistic counters or simply through the internet. Sistic has a wide distribution network in Singapore and people who are busy with their work or lazy to go out can simply log on to the internet to purchase the tickets. Subsequently, the tickets can be collected one day before the event date at any of the SISTIC counters or at the specific venue one hour before the event starts. Whichever way you choose to buy your tickets, the best available seats at the time of purchase are allocated automatically, and on a first come first served basis.
Though the Singapore Indoor Stadium is located near the centralized area, it is not very convenient for people who do not drive. The signage at the Singapore Indoor Stadium is not very useful in helping the people in getting to the entrance of the event. This is because on the tickets, we were supposed to be entering by the south entrance and we had met some difficulty finding the way to the south entrance. On the way, we had met a helper and asked him for directions to the entrance. He has immediately directed us to the staircase that will lead us to the entrance. However, it is until we had climbed up all that way that we saw a paper loosely attached to the door, indicating to us that we were to enter by other entrance and it was the way where we came. Hence, we had to walk all the way back again to the other entrance.
I think that the Singapore Indoor could improve on their signage by placing a stand where all of the people are able to see and indicating by which entrance all of the people should enter. The piece of paper being attach to the door is very unsafe because if there was any wind, the paper could be blown away and the people who are entering by this door would be trapped outside. It would also be impossible for them to ask anyone as that area of the Stadium is quite deserted.
3. Programming
Developing an attractive event program is a critical aspect of the event product. Programming within the event is also a marketing decision, especially by way of creating targeted benefits.
Though The Singapore Hit Awards 2008 had less star power this year, those who were there were treated to the energetic performances of local and overseas artistes. They started the opening by performance of Wu Jia Hui, Chen Diya, Fion of San Yue and Koong Chen Liang of Da Feng Chui and followed by the presentation of awards. The event was spiced with the performance given by the singers present at the award ceremony. Other than the performance on the stage, they had also injected the interviews of some of the artistes under the stage. 
This interview is appealing to the audience because they form most of the people who came to support these artistes and would like to see some interactions between the DJs and the artistes and not only the part on giving out awards. This interjection is also good for both the audience and the host because it serves as a break and a chance for the artiste to setup the stage.
However, I would think that the DJs should improve their interviewing skill because there were few moments of silence in the middle of some of the interviews, making the atmosphere in the stadium somewhat awkward. Due to the limited artistes present in this ceremony, it is always the same few artistes going up the stage to perform and collect the awards. Throughout the 3 hours the audience may feel that the whole event is dreary and may not have to patient to stay until the end.
I would suggest that this event could provide a stage for local music to promote themselves to the rest of the world. This is an event organized in Singapore and it would be a different experience for the foreign artiste to get to know the music being produced locally.
4. People
The interactions between the people present at an event such as the customers, the setting and the staff/volunteers constitute a large part of the event experience. The hospitality received by visitors directly shapes their experience.
The people involved in this event includes the DJs from Yes 933fm, artistes from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China and locally, and of course the audiences.
The event was hosted by the DJs from the Yes933fm. Some of these DJs were very experienced but some were still new in the case of hosting such a major event. This had caused the ambience of the whole award ceremony to be quite tense as they were making sure that they are talking about the right things at the right pace and forgetting that they had to maintain the jovial atmosphere in the stadium. Moreover, the few moments of awkward silence made the atmosphere even worse.
Even though the number of artiste present at the Singapore Hit Awards was fewer this year, they had recognized the rising potential of newcomers like Yoga Lin, Jade Liu and Joanna Wang. However, they had also not forgotten some of the senior artistes like Hong Kong’s Eason Chan and Taiwanese band Mayday. These groups of artiste had performed 2 to 3 songs each and Mayday had bought the ambience to the climax when they sang their new songs. Even the artistes under the stage stood up and cheered for them.
The audiences that were at the event were mostly fans of the various idols. Most of these fans were local youths. However, there were a group of Jade Liu’s fans whom I presume came from Malaysia as they were holding a board with ‘Malaysia’ written on it. The fans had actively participate throughout the event and cheered for their idols when they went up to collect their award or appear on the screen.
A little pity is that they had placed the male singer of the year, Eason Chen, also the most senior singer present at the event as the last performer of the event. Some of the audiences start leaving the stadium way before he finishes his performance. This will left him with a negative impression that Singaporeans are rude people who do not know basic manners like respecting a performer and leave only when he had finish performing.
On top of that, the Singapore Hit Awards this year had only been successful in attracting in people that were enough to fill half of the stadium. I would suggest they invite in more artiste next year so as to attract in more people to attend the event.
5. Partnership
The most common partners will be governmental agencies. In the case of Singapore Hit Awards, one of their partners is the RIAS (the Recording Industry Association Singapore) who continually seek to advance the interests of the industry, by promoting and protecting the rights of its members and ensure the existence of a business and legal environment in Singapore that can support a viable and vibrant recording industry. RIAS also provide support and assistance to the government in its fight against piracy and serve the business community and the general public who wish to use the intellectual property of our members. By being partners with the RIAS, this event can then promote the idea of saying no to piracy to the youths.
The other partners of Singapore Hit Awards are the i Weekly which helps them promote their events by publishing articles and advertisements, Xin.sg, MediacorpTV–Channel U, Courts and Jean Yip Group.
Being partners with the organizations benefitted both parties because through this event, the brands like Jean Yip and Courts will be able to promote their products to the youths and on the other hand, they had sponsored and given one award each, adding a zest to the ceremony.
6. Promotion (communication)
Promotion refers to the full range of ‘communication mix’ including: advertising, PR, and sales promotions.
Yes 933fm had promoted the Singapore Hit Awards through promoting on its own radio station, advertisements on Mediacorp TV, channel U and i weekly. A website was also setup for the Singapore Hit Awards itself.
They had chosen the correct channel of distribution in promoting this event due to the fact most of the audience who listen to Yes933 were youths and also their target audience. This is because people of this age group are normally the people who are willing to spend the money to buy the ticket and go to watch the award ceremony. When promoting through their own radio stations, they can save the money for other purpose and at the same time reaching out to the correct market.
This event had also publicized the advertisements on the ‘i Weekly’, Channel U. these are some of the media to reach out to their target market as youths will read the i weekly and also watch Channel U. they are able to reach out to their audience from at least one of the channels.
The internet is a very useful tool because through the internet, people from all over the world are able to know the events going on in Singapore. Hence, the online voting for the ‘most popular” award category at the official website of Singapore Hit Awards enable fans from all over the world to vote for their favourite artiste and at the same time, they can help promote this event to the rest of the world. Fans from neighbouring country may also considering coming to Singapore for that weekend when they know that the artiste the support is coming to Singapore.
7. Packaging and Distribution
Destination can package events with other attractions and services, or events can offer their own. In this case, the Singapore Hit Awards had decided to bundle the award ceremony with 2 other pre-event meeting session with fans that took place at IMM and Causeway Point shopping mall which is located at the west and north of Singapore respectively.
The first pre-event was a mini concert held at the garden plaza, 3rd level of IMM 3 months before the Actual event. Stars like Energy, Yoga Lin, Jade Liu, Lin Yu Zhong and JJ Lin were also present at the mini concert. It attracted almost 2000 fans who came to support this event and their idols.
The second pre-event was a meeting session that took place a day before the Singapore Hit Awards. It was held at Causeway Point Atrium. This event also attracted quite a lot of fans. People were even viewing the event from the 2nd to the 4th storey of the shopping mall. Lastly, the actual event at the Singapore Indoor Stadium attracted around 2500 people.
In my opinion, I would think that the distribution of events is quite effective. This is due to the reason that they had chose to organize the events at the different places of Singapore to reach out to residents of different areas. However, since their main target audiences are youths, I would suggest that they hold their events at places where the target market are most probably going to hang out, for example in Orchard area. If the events were being organized in orchard area, it will not only attract the fans of each idol, but it will also attract the people passing by that area, and hence raising the level of awareness of the event.
8. Price
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Given the diversity of leisure experiences offered to consumers, price can be a key influence on event demand. $38, $58 and $98 not inclusive a Sistic charge of $3 might be considered expensive as compared to some of the other events. However, the value offered in this event is much more than in other events. By just paying as little as $38, you would get to enjoy the performance of well known artistes from the Chinese music industry. Furthermore students showing student pass will be able to get a 10% discount.
Tourism roles and economic value of the event
The Singapore Hit Awards did played a role in Singapore tourism during this period of time and contributed to some economic value to Singapore. However, there are some other activities that they can organize to increase the economic value it brings to the country.
Firstly, it will change the image of Singapore. Singapore had been well-known for its success in MICE sector. By holding this event, people from other parts of the world may change their opinions of Singapore. This is because people can watch this event from any part of the world as long as you have got an internet connection and they will know that Singaporeans does not lead a serious life but also has some form of entertainment to spice up their lives. Hence, they will keep track of some of the events being organized in Singapore and may consider visiting Singapore if they are looking for a leisure destination next time.
Secondly, this event will stimulate business for people in the hospitality industry. This is because when artistes come to Singapore, they will bring their assistants along with them. During their stay in Singapore, these groups of foreigners will definitely spend most of their money on lodging and food. If this is their first visit to Singapore, they may also spend some time and money on getting around Singapore and go shopping. These artistes have a huge fan base and when they come to Singapore, they might attract in fans from neighbouring countries to come to Singapore.
Take Jade Liu’s fans as an example. They are from Malaysia and came to Singapore so as to support their favourite idols in this award ceremony. These visitors from neighbouring countries will also spend some money on food. Some may decide that they are returning to their country on the same day they came. However, there may be a few who had decided that they would like to explore Singapore. This group of fans will therefore spend more money on accommodation and shopping. If they had an enjoyable time in Singapore, they will help promote to people of their countries by positive word-of-mouth, leading to more people being interested with Singapore and may visit us.
Nevertheless, this only forms a small part of Singapore tourism. The Singapore Hit Awards could make plans for post-activities or cooperate with other events or attractions in Singapore to enhance the visitors’ stay in Singapore
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would say that the event is not very successful. I think that the target market they had identified is a profitable market and they should work deeper into it. For example, they should survey the youths and look into the trends that youths are following now.
Other areas that could be improved include the part on programming and the people, specifically the artistes attending the event. They should increase the number of artistes attending the event because they are usually the people who has huge fan base, not only in Singapore but also in other countries. As the number of artiste attending the event increased, it will also increase the number fans being interested with the event. If their idols are invited to the event, they will be willing to spend their money to come and cheer for their idols.
Now, the programming of the event will play an important part in creating repeat visitation. When the fans attend the event, their main focus will be cheering for the idols. However, if the Singapore Hit Awards could improve on their programming, for example, by having more interaction between the fans and idols, performances that are unique or by working with other radio stations to come up with new idea for the event, they will be able to sustain the event by creating repeat visits.
