Introduction of the Singapore Arts Festival
This video show some of the free performances presented by the Singapore Arts Festival.
-----------------------------------------
Introduction of My Event
Helios II
I went to the Singapore Arts Festival opening celebration event at Marina Barrage. The event i.e Helios II is organized by the French urban theatre extraodinaries La Compagnie Malabar. It brings to life the construction of the sun god, Helios, at its zenith. Helios, the strange mythical insect with a grasshopper-look is the builders of light and worshippers of the sun. The spectacular parade of circus artists, performances, music and dazzling pyrotechnic displays light up the dark night as a form of paying tribute to the sun god. There is a myth behind the spectacle. Each play and scene represents the process of the reincarnation of the sun god.
-----------------------------------------
Comparison between the Marketing Events of a Similar Event in another City
There is another event that is similar to the Helios II. The Le Bestiaire Etincelant performance in Castres, France is another production of La Compagnie Malabar. This event is presented by the Festival Extravadanses 8th from 2nd July to 10th July 2009 in France (Refer to appendix I for translated terms from french to English).
(Appendix I reference from http://www.culture.fr/fr/sections/regions/midi_pyrenees/organisme/ART4-204/EVE200905OFFRE01195/EVE200905OFFRE03131)
Le Bestiaire Etincelant Performance
8 ‘P’s’ in Marketing Event
Experiential Components
1. Product
Stilt Walkers Performance2. Place
The Le Bestiaire Etincelant performance is staged in a town i.e Castres, France while the Helios II is staged in a specific location in Marina Barrage, Singapore. Both events come in two different presentations. The Le Bestiaire Etincelant performance started in different locations in the town where the artists perform and finally come together and leads the audiences to a performing platform. The Helios II performance started as a parade around the performing platform in the Barrage’s fountain where the Helios and artists come together with performances. The 2nd presentation would be the show on the platform where the artists come out with acts and scenes.
Marina Barrage
3. Programming
The Le Bestiaire Etincelant performance is scheduled on the last day of the work week i.e Friday on 10th July 2009 at 9.45 p.m. The Helios II performance is similar to a certain degree except that it is scheduled on the last three days of the week i.e Friday to Sunday at 8 p.m. Most people are able find time to come down to enjoy the Helios II event as there are neither works nor school on the three days. As for the Le Bestiaire Etincelant, the event is scheduled on a day. Thus, some people who are not able to spend time on this day would miss the opportunity in watching the performance.
Prior to that, there are also pre-performances aligned together with the Helios II event where some people may see the extra benefits of coming to the event. In addition, the scheduled programmes excite audiences and get them to stay to the end of the event. For example, I noticed that a Zingo drum pre-performance in the event was able to hold the anticipation of many early birds for the Helios II performance. This is also a way to manage audiences’ boredom before the main performance.
Both events also tried to promote an appreciation of arts to the audiences by organizing arts programmes.
4. People
The Le Bestiaire Etincelant provides audiences with telephone services regarding information and reservation of the event. I believed that this event would be no exception from other events where they would station event assistants around the event location to assist and guide visitors. This would be similar to what I encountered in the Helios II. I received hospitality at the entrance of the Marina Bay MRT station where the service staff guided me to board the shuttle bus in order to reach the event location. The event assistants at the entrance of the Barrage even gave out brochures and free drinks with their smiles on.
Acrobat Performance
The artists in both events play a major role in providing the experiences to the audiences. I was inspired by the stunning acrobat who spins five rounds simultaneously when released off the long rope.
The setting and the atmosphere in both events also contribute to providing the ambience and expectation of the performances to the audiences. Based on my observation, I saw different lighting put on different scenes depending on the characteristics of the play. Furthermore, smoke was released at the beginning of the parade as a mean of creating the atmosphere. At the end of the event, firework was released to celebrate the opening of arts festival and create a moment of excitement among the crowds.
Facilitating Components
5. Partnerships
The main sponsors of the Helios II are PUB and SMRT. The Barrage provides F&B and retail outlets in such as the 7th Storey Live Seafood & Charcoal Steamboat, Gallery Café, and Barrage Cove for audiences to dine and shop in the event. In addition, I received PUB brochure about Marina Barrage in the event. Moreover, the Barrage provided a platform for the event to take place. As for the SMRT services, free shuttle bus services are offered to and fro the event. CocaCola is the official sponsor for the event. This is supported by a bottle of free Coke Light drink given out at the entrance of the Barrage. The premier partner is the Singapore Tourism Board where they tried to promote Singapore through a brochure i.e Marina Bay Map.
Barrage Cove
Although information could not be found regarding the partners for Le Bestiaire Etincelant either online or printed media, but I believed this event would get the town i.e Castres as the main sponsor. This is because everything is easily available in the town which include transportation, F&B and retail outlets and toilets.
6. Packaging & Distribution
Both events are being sold through a festival. For Le Bestiaire Etincelant, the event is being sold through Le Extravandanses 8e (Festival Extravandanses 8th). As for Helios II, the event is being sold through Singapore Arts Festival as the opening celebration. Both events are especially seen in the Culture.Fr (Refer to appendix I) and Singapore Arts Festival (Refer to appendix VIII) websites where they help to distribute information about Le Bestiaire Etincelant and Helios II respectively. Moreover, Esplanade plays an important role in promoting some of the events in the Singapore Arts Festival on their website (Refer to appendix VII). Furthermore, there is a web link to the Singapore Arts Festival at the National Arts Council Singapore website where they could sell the various events and Helios II online (Refer to appendix VI).
(Appendix I reference from http://www.culture.fr/fr/sections/regions/midi_pyrenees/organisme/ART4-204/EVE200905OFFRE01195/EVE200905OFFRE03131)
(Appendix VI reference from http://www.nac.gov.sg/)
(Appendix VII reference from http://www.esplanade.com/whats_on/programme_info/distant_worlds/index.jsp)
(Appendix VIII reference from http://www.singaporeartsfest.com/event/view/name/festival_opening/)
Besides, online intermediaries, the National Arts Council Singapore also broadcast the commercial advertisement of Singapore Arts Festival on Channel 5. By doing so, it is trying to sell all the various events as a whole when the website is being shown in the advertisement. In addition, Esplanade advertised on printed media like banner at the entrance of the Esplanade and even brochures and magazine (Refer to the attached collateral) at their information counter.
Other than intermediaries, both events offer alfresco dining and shopping where audiences could get to enjoy the performances while being offered these services at the same time. However, Helios II offers pre-performances and shuttle bus services in the event while Le Bestiaire Etincelant did not.
I noticed that the Helios II event even tried to sell Singapore, Coca Cola and PUB as the premier partner, official sponsor, and main sponsor respectively together. Singapore Arts Festival tried to sell these sponsors through a package of brochures; Singapore Arts Festival, Marina Barrage, Helios II, and Marina Bay Map (Refer to the collateral attached) In addition, these partners would be shown on the advertisement in Channel 5. By selling the sponsors in the event, these stakeholders are actually helping to advertise the event and the festival to their customers in return.
7. Price
Both events are free admission and all performances are free. The Helios II even provided free SMRT shuttle bus to and fro the event. In addition, there are free Coke Light drinks given out in the event. Both events also have their F&B and retail outlets readily available in the event locations. However, they are commercialised and audiences would have to spend for their dining and shopping experiences there.
8. Promotion (Communication mix)
8.1. Advertising
Both events are being sold through online intermediaries. Culture.Fr website tried to advertise Le Bestiaire Etincelant through the Festival Extravandanses. This is similar to that of the Helios II where the Singapore Arts Festival and NewAsia-Singapore.com websites (Refer to appendix VI) tried to advertise the event through the Singapore Arts Festival. The website of the organizer of the Singapore Arts Festival i.e National Arts Council Singapore has the web link that can direct users to the Singapore Arts Festival site. The France Embassy of Singapore and CulturesFrance website supported this event by proposing it to the French who are currently working or studying in Singapore (Refer to Appendix V). Both events also showed their profession and reputation of circus and street theatres performances on their organizer‘s website; the Cie Malabar. The website show details of the events in video, pictures, and background information.
(Appendix V reference from http://www.ambafrance-sg.org/spip.php?article1621)
Prior to online intermediaries, there are printed media such as brochures about Singapore Arts Festival and the event in the information booth at Esplanade. Esplanade also advertises the festival by putting banner at the entrance in the Esplanade. These printed media have the web link for Singapore Arts Festival and National Arts Council Singapore which could direct users to the Helios II event. Furthermore, the Singapore Arts Festival was advertised by the National Arts Council Singapore in channel 5. Viewers could surf online for information regarding the various events which includes the Helios II as the website is shown in the commercial advertisement.
8.2 Sales Promotion
Both events are offered to the public for free. Thus, people would be easily attracted to the event by the free performances. In the Helios II, there is also free transportation to bring people to the event as it is located at a specific location. Hence, people are even more attracted to the event as travel cost is made free. Unlike the Le Bestiaire Etincelant, the event is located in town. Therefore, it is easily accessible and there is no concern for travel cost.
8.3 Direct Marketing
The company website i.e Cie Malabar serves as an online distribution channel that directly provides information and promotion of both the events to art enthusiasts, specifically circus and street theatres.
(Cie Malabar reference from http://www.ciemalabar.com/anglais/site1024Ang.htm)
8.4 Public Relations
A public from Culture-en-limousin-fr made comments about Le Bestiaire Etincelant and even proposed it to the audiences. This can also be seen in Helios II where Esplanade helped the National Arts Council Singapore by publicising the Singapore Art Festival and the Helios II on banner and brochures in the theatre. In addition, the Singapore Press Holding reported on the event in the The Straits Times website i.e RazorTV. Furthermore, the SingaporeSights.com.Pte.Ltd made comments on the spectacular inspiring event. The France Embassy of Singapore and CulturesFrance even supported this event by putting in good words to the French in Singapore.
(Reference of Culture-en-limousin-fr from http://www.culture-en-limousin.fr/Evenement-un-ange-passe-le-bestiaire-etincelant-2447.html)
(Reference of The Straits Times RazorTV from http://www.razor.tv/site/servlet/segment/main/news/29594.htmlhttp://www.razor.tv/site/servlet/segment/main/news/29652.htmlhttp://www.razor.tv/site/
servlet/segment/main/news/29652.html)
(Reference of SingaporeSights.com.Pte.Ltd reference from http://www.singaporesights.com/sight/singapore-art-festival-2009-opening-performance-marina-barrage-%E2%80%9Ch%C3%A9lios-ii-saga-thousand-suns%E2%80%9D#top)
8.5 Personal Selling
Both events may be introduced by the concierge in their information counter located nearby in their host city and or country. Based on my observation, when I made a trip to CityLink at CityHall, there are actually concierge counter set up in that area to provide updated information on the attractions in the cities.
-----------------------------------------
The Helios II & Le Bestiaire Etincelant Events
Both events are major events that are capable of attracting significant visitor numbers, media coverage and economic benefits. Hence, both events are being marketed to the locals in their host countries only and are not promoted to the other countries. Both events are actually similar in nature regarding their marketing strategies as the comparisons between their marketing of their events are almost similar just that their events are located in different location. Thus, they may have to get different stakeholders in order to carry out the event successfully.
There is actually very few information available for the Le Bestiaire Etincelant event as I believed the host country, France would actually market this event and the Festival Extravandanses 8th through different media in France just that I did not made a site observation in their host country. The Festival Extravandanses may market their event on TV, national theatre, and other communities, etc similar to the marketing efforts carried out by the National Arts Council Singapore to promote the Singapore Arts Festival. Although online intermediaries did mention little information about Le Bestiaire Etincelant, the information provided is all in French terms. Therefore, it does not open up to the foreigners as after all, this event is offer to the local.
However, both events could also be strongly marketed. The company, La Compagnie Malabar may strongly market Helios II in Singapore as it is a contemporary outdoor circus and street theatre performance that is very new and Singaporeans would rarely see circus performances here and even in Asia. This is because circus and street theatre are not easily recognized in Asia. As for the Le Bestiaire Etincelant, this event was also staged in most other cities in France as it is where the urban theatre company, La Compagnie Malabar originated. In addition, circus had already gained acknowledgement in France since the 18th century. It was very common to see circus and street theatre in France. Hence, there may be competition among the different circus and street theatre companies in France. La Compagnie Malabar would have to study the market and strongly promote this event in Castres, France.
(Interpretation with reference from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circus and based on own observation)
-----------------------------------------
Stakeholders in the Helios II
National Arts Council Singapore is the organizer for the Singapore Arts Festival and the program, Singapore Arts Festival premiere at Marina Barrage i.e ArtsFest@marinabay which presents the Helios II. The company of this event, La Compagnie Malabar is the organizer. The premier partner in this event is the Singapore Tourism Board. The main sponsors for this event are SMRT which provide free shuttle bus service to and fro the event and PUB which provide the services and platform for staging this event in Marina Barrage. The official sponsor is the Coca Cola which provides free Coke Light to the audiences in the event. The audiences are the vital stakeholders to the success of the event as events are customer-oriented. They made visits and spend on the F&B and retails outlets in the Barrage to generate revenues and benefits for the sponsors. Esplanade, NewAsia-Singapore.com, and Channel 5 TV station are the stakeholders that helped to advertise this event on their sites. Other stakeholders such as the Singapore Press Holdings, SingaporeSight.com.Pte.Ltd and France Embassy of Singapore and CulturesFrance would be the communities that had a view and opinion on this event.
-----------------------------------------
Main Purposes of Helios II
The event, Helios II is part of the Singapore Arts Festival. Hence, it shows the celebration of arts performance and promoting arts appreciation. Specifically, the event is trying to promote circus and street theatre to the public which are rarely seen in Singapore and Asia. In addition, the event was made free so that the masses are able to enjoy. The event is also trying to celebrate the opening of the Singapore Arts Festival as there are fireworks which were a sign of commemoration. The story behind the event complements the opening of the Arts Festival because the event is about the process of constructing the sun god where it is created, incarnated, and finally reborn to life. This belief would correspondingly mark the beginning of the Singapore Arts Festival where the annual arts festival is relive again. Lastly, this event helped promote tourism benefits such as generating jobs and revenues for the locals.
-----------------------------------------
Tourism Benefits in Singapore
1. Political benefits
The event is able to raise awareness of the Singapore Arts Festival and recognized this festival as part of the National Arts Council Singapore which is governed by the government body. The involvement of the National Arts Council in this event had built the art value of circus and street theatre in Singapore. The event is able to update the profile of circus and street theatres in Singapore which was previously very uncommon. The government also helped to provide the access to the event by building infrastructures in term of roads and signage that direct people to the Marina Barrage. The government also collected taxes from the visitors when they spend on the indirect leisure services located at and near the event. The taxes collected would be plough back to the country to improve the infrastructures, educational, and health services of the public.
The event attracted visitors to enjoy the performance which there off create tourism incomes when they spent their money on F&B and retails outlets in the Barrage. This event also created spin-off whereby many other indirect services and businesses nearby Marina Bay benefited. Moreover, it creates employment when artists, technicians and crews work in the event. Thus, all these leads to a higher standard of living as the economic improved. This event creates business opportunities in Singapore as it uses Singapore as the platform for showcasing circus and street theatres in Asia. Hence, there would be more circus and street theatres going to stage their performances here in the future.
3. Social & Cultural Benefits
The event get everyone to come together to celebrate the opening of Singapore Arts Festival and share entertainment experience in the event. Hence, this practice would improve inter-racial relations and creates social harmony when the multi-racial Singaporeans interact with the foreigners in the event. All this would maintain the social stability in Singapore. Furthermore, when friends and relatives participated in this event, they build inter-relationship between one another. This strengthens and enhances community ties which would make the community a more attractive place to live in.
The event display circus and street theatre in Singapore which is able to revitalize the tradition of arts practice that is uncommon in Singapore. The increase awareness of the legacy of circus and street theatre arts in the event can broaden our cultural sensitivity as we expose to new cultural practices.
4. Technological Benefits
At this new age of technology, we are able to feel the impacts of the performance brought about by advanced technology in our lives. We are able to enjoy new forms of performances such as the pyrotechnic displays, sound and light effects, and even a construction of a 24 meters long, 9 meters high titanic insect saunters at the rhythm of the light and music. All these create the ambience that increases our expectation of their next performance. There are also improved performance made to the fireworks when it sprinkle colours of sparks simultaneously in the sky that light up the night in Marina Bay. This was made possible by the advanced technology.
Fireworks Display in the Helios II
5. Environmental Benefits
The event is able to raise awareness of Marina Barrage as an attraction when it staged its performance there. Marina Barrage was seen as a reservoir in the city that is a 24 hours live-work-play destination. By having this event staged in Marina Barrage, the PUB is able bring out the characteristics of the attraction as a dam with leisure & recreational activities. In addition, the event is able to transform Marina Bay from a waterfront into a lively urban landscape in the financial centre.
6. Legal Benefits
The event set up rules and regulations that govern the audiences’ behaviours in the event. This rules and regulations are for the safety and convenience of the audiences. For example, there are event assistants positioned around the firework station to stop audiences from getting near the area when the firework is going to be released. In addition, the event strongly recommends visitors to take the free shuttle bus services offered so as to prevent traffic jam in the location.
