a) Grand Hyatt Singapore (GHS)
I will choose GHS as part of the hotel of my choice,
as I have work there as a regular banquet staff before and thus having the
‘connections’ to assist me in this assignment. Based on an interview with the
current banquet assistant manager, she revealed that GHS have participated in
F1 by providing F&B services to VIP for the past 3 years. GHS also play a part as the event host venue for the world gourmet summit where they host the ‘Marco Pierre White Celebrity Chef Dinner’ in their ballroom.
From the 2 events that my manager had mentioned, I can
see that GHS like to play the active role of a ‘co-worker’ as an event
stakeholder. I have noted that both of these events are F&B related. Thus,
I believe that GHS would be interested in further developing their brand
through its F&B.
b) Singapore Food Festival 2012
(SFF)
Established in 1994, the SFF seek to showcase Singapore
diverse food offering inspired by our culture & heritage and a platform for
STB to attract tourist to Singapore. Each year, a unique theme is identified to
showcase our local food culture through enriching and fun programs. (Singapore Food Festival)
With Singapore being known as the food paradise of
Asia, it is of no surprised that the SFF2012 had ended off as a success. This
hallmark major event of our little red dot has been running for the 19th
year, attracting about 516,000 locals and tourist which surpass the 2011 figure
of 450,000 and meet 2012’s target of 500,000. (Singapore Press Holdings, 2012)
Similarly to previous years, the SFF will come up with
a wide array of programs in accordance to the theme which enhances the event
experience. The picture below shows the different SFF event.
The larger image can be found in SFF2012 booklet at :
This year’s core event, Behind the Scenes @ Jurong Fishery
Port, gave participants a tour around fishery and taught them how to select the
freshest seafood by evaluating the texture, colour and smell. To bring a
meaningful ending to this experiential learning, the participant will get to
learn how to prepare and enjoy a sumptuous seafood breakfast from the chef at
his restaurant. The picture below shows the itinerary of the core event.
I feel that providing good authentic Singapore cuisine
isn’t the SFF2012 only objective. Base on the core event, fringe event and
other culinary demonstration, I feel that SFF would like to provide a holistic
sensory experience by appealing to not just the sense of taste of the
participant but all their 5 senses. Therefore, With the combination of providing
an extensive selection of seafood and well-known local cuisine under one roof,
the wide array of programs that engages their audience and Singaporean’s ‘no-nonsense-attitude’
towards their food, it is of no secret why SFF2012 ended off a success.
c) Marketing mix
As mentioned, the SFF2012 is a major success as it has
outshined last year’s visitorship by 15% and it has exceeded its target for
visitorship. This shows SFF is an event that has successfully reached out to
its target audience by meeting the needs of the people. What did SPOC solutions
do to make this event a success? To gain a clearer picture, I shall break down
the event marketing mix (8P) that they have used for this event:
1) Product & Programming
I will put programming under product as I feel that programs
are a type of tangible product. SFF being a service product contain 3 types of
products:
Core Product: The core product is the intangible
benefit that the customer experienced. SFF bring convenience for its customer
as it gathers well-known seafood vendors under one roof. Also, it brings about
awareness and knowledge of the importance of seafood in our local diet through
its wide variety of programs.
Tangible Product: The tangible products are the famous
seafood and Singapore cuisine sold & the tables and chairs in the food
village to facilitate the sales of food. As mentioned, programs such culinary
demonstration and other programs initiated for SFF, as shown in the picture, is
part of tangible product as well.
Augmented Product: The augmented product includes the
famous chef for their demonstration, the hawker centre atmosphere with its
village decoration. The unique SFF platter that is sold exclusive at SFF and
the special SFF menu offering at various restaurants are augmented products
that SFF stand out from its competitor.
SFF success from its products was contributed by:
SFF success from its products was contributed by:
The
ability of bringing convenience to demand. With
Singaporean eating more than 100,000 tonnes of seafood per year, SFF is able to
sell the convenience to locals as well as tourist who are able to eat all the
famous seafood cuisine under one roof, without having to travel around to find
the best food in Singapore.
Ease
of interaction among people on-site. With its
hawker-centre atmosphere, there will be an ease of interaction among people
on-site as the ‘free-seating’ arrangement encourage interaction with another
stranger who share the table.
Unique
and engaging activities. With program such as Behind The Scene @ Jurong Fishery
Port, it will be an eye opener for locals to learn from the experts and go to
places where they usually do not see. This provides a motivation for food
enthusiast to learn and immerse SFF through its unique programs. The SFF serve
as good ‘family day’ for family as it allow family to bond through food and
engage them through various programs in the SFF. With program such culinary
demonstration by famous chef, it motivates housewife or food enthusiast to go
to SFF as it is a rare opportunity enhances culinary knowledge from the best.
Good
scheduling of programs. Most of its events are recurring programs which
happen throughout the period of SFF, such as Catch of the Season @ Sentosa
Waterfront and Seafood Trails @ Kampong Glam. In addition, culinary
demonstrations are done during weekend night where there are crowds, as shown
in the picture below. Lastly, those unique programs are schedule based on the
availability of the participant. We can see that this allow participant to
fully immerse to all the programs of their choice without sacrificing another
and allow them to choose whatever event they want, whenever they want. Also,
the culinary demonstration is schedule at time on weekends evening where
working adults are able immerse to the programs conveniently.
One
reason for SFF success of is the cost that it brings to consumer is low. SFF
have:
Low
monetary cost. The admission is free of charge and the food is
charge at reasonable prices where the general public can afford.
Low
time cost. This refers to the ability to do other things. As
food is part of everyday life, it provides an alternative for their meal places.
On top of that, they get to engage themselves through activities while eating,
which is not available when they dine at places of the same monetary cost.
Low
sensory cost. It refers to unpleasant environment and unnecessary
loud noise. As seen from the picture, the place seems to be well ventilated
with lots of fans to beat the heat of Singapore. In addition, there were many
tables and chairs and the places seem well-lit for the night. Thus, I find that
the environment seems pleasant.
However,
price is subjective. People have different expectation and definition of the
different cost as different people have different income and expectations and
thus the cost above may vary from people to people.
3) Promotion
With the large visitorship, it seems that the adoption
of communication mix of both above the line and below the line advertisement by
SFF was effective.
Above the line advertisement: It
refers to advertisement that is published to mass audience. There was wide
media coverage about SFF even before it opened such as news coverage in all MediaCorp
TV channels. Thus, it is well-publicized to the locals. In addition, with the
international coverage of channel news asia, the news
about SFF has also reach out to CNA international audience. An extract of their
online publication can be found at:
Beside
media, SFF also engage it audience via internet. SFF has its own facebook page,
where it promotes SFF to the online world through social media. The SFF
facebook page can be found at:
To
promote itself to tourist, the STB promote SFF on yoursingapore.com to attract
tourist to Singapore using SFF.
Below
the line advertisement: It refers to advertisement that is more niche
focused. Banners and flyers were seen around marina bay. The picture shows an
example of banners shown during the event at marina bay area.
4) Place
Place refers to its physical location and the distributing channels. The SFF2012 is located at Waterfront Promenade at Marina Bay. The picture shows the its physical location. SFF is easily accessible via public transport. It is a 5 minute walk away from ‘Raffles Place’ MRT and ‘Bayfront’ MRT. These 2 MRT stations cover 3 different lines (North-South, East-West and Circle Line). Thus, most people are able to travel without the hassle to switch MRT station. In addition, there are 15 bus services to SFF and people from all over Singapore will be able to travel conveniently.
As it is located at Marina Bay, it also attract
tourist as Marina Bay have a cluster of attractions and tourist do not need to
travel far to attend SFF. Therefore, SFF can be part of their itinerary without
having much disruption to their current itinerary when they visit Singapore.
With Marina Bay Sands nearby, it attract tourist who visit MBS to attend SFF.
In addition, I feel that the site itself portray the
seafood theme very well as it is located near the coastline of Singapore
straits. This may further enhance the atmosphere and thus contributed to the
success of SFF.
5) People & Partnership (Event Stakeholders)
SFF has selected the right people and take care the
event stakeholder’s need and thus turning this event into success.
Organiser:
SPOC solutions have been the organiser for SFF for the past 5 years, with each
year gaining higher and higher visitorship. Also, SPOC solutions is also
organiser of various events such as Oktoberfest @ Clark Quay 2012 and Ultimate
Hawker Fest 2012. As such, they have led SFF to another success with their
extensive event management experience.
Co-workers:
The co-worker in SFF are the famous chef and also the food vendors. With
culinary demonstration by famous chef such as Chef Eric Teo who appear many
times on Mediacorp’s culinary shows, it makes it an attraction for people to go
to SFF as he has high ‘entertainment value’ to the audience as compared to
other less reputable chef. Also, with many reputable food vendors and seafood
stalls, it attracts people to go SFF for the wide variety of high quality food
under one roof. In return, the food vendors and hawker stalls gain not just the
monetary revenue but also promote their brand in this national hallmark event.
Host
Community: The SFF host community is the buildings, business and
people who work around that area, as seen on the map above. The negative impact
to the host community is low. Although places such as MBS and Marina Bay Link
Mall sell food, the SFF is targeting a different market from them. MBS sell
international, fine dining cuisine which is aiming at the higher disposable income
market and the Link Mall do not sell Singaporean food as they do not have a
food court (Mall) .
Thus, we can see that SFF did not have a negative impact to the host community.
In fact, it has benefited the people who work around the area by giving them an
alternative dining choice by bringing the heartlander’s food closer to them
during the period of SFF. Therefore, we can see that host community has
benefited from SFF.
Sponsor:
The picture on the left show a list of sponsors. NETS is the major sponsor and they sponsor
the most money for SFF. In return, NETS are able to promote and sell their new
card, NETS Flashpay, in SFF as it gives 20% sales discount when anyone buy SFF
food using NETS flashpay, as shown in the picture showing the operating time above in part (a). NETS has gain the acknowledgement by getting the
necessary publicity for their new card and in return SFF get a sum of monetary
funds from NETS to run SFF. Thus, it is a win-win situation for both
parties.
Likewise
for Carlsberg being the official beer, they have sponsor SFF money while in
return SFF fully promote and sell Carlsberg beer by having a sales discount in
SFF, as shown in the picture on the right. For Pokka being the official
drinks, they are able to promote their brand by having their brand SFF banners.
The official SFF guide also features a section for them to do their
advertisement.
These
sponsors are able to gain publicity benefits as SFF provide them a national
platform for them to publicise their brand. Thus they are willing to spend
money and efforts to give monetary support as well as giving sales promotions.
In return, SFF benefited directly from their monetary support and thus making
it a win-win situation for both sponsors as well as SFF. However I feel that
ultimately, the participant get the most out of the benefit as these sponsors
have make a more holistic experience for participant in terms of sales of drink
as well as sales promotions.
6) Packaging & Distribution
Packaging
refers to package events with another attraction that ideally targeting the
same market and sell the package at a lower rate to reach out to their target
audience via distributing channels. From the SFF website, we can see that they
have tied up by having sales discount with other major food outlet in
Singapore. It provides an advertisement avenue for these food outlets. Thus, it
provides a motivation for participant to go to the SFF website.
Analysis Changes from Previous Year
One of the
biggest changes from previous years is the visitorship. The SFF2011 had 450,000
visitors while SFF2012 has 516,000. This is a whopping 15% increase as compared
to the previous year. Therefore, we can see that the change made by SFF has
made SFF2012 a more successful event. What had SFF2012 did differently that
makes it outshine its previous years?
Location: For the past consecutive 3 years, SFF2011
is located at Clark Quay read bridge & along central river promenade, as
shown in the picture. SFF2012 has move to Waterfront Promenade at Marina Bay
for the very first time. With the change of location, it has made it more
accessible for the general public. The SFF 2011 is located at Clark Quay and
only have Clark Quay MRT station within walking distance, which cover only
North-East Line. This year, the SFF is located between 2 MRT stations which cover
3 lines as mentioned above. Thus, with the increase in accessibility, it has
resulted in the drastic increase in visitorship.
Theme: The SFF2011 theme, spice it up, focus
on the use of spices in our local cuisine. SFF2012 theme is Seafood-Tales of
Temasek, where it focuses on seafood in our local cuisine. We can see that the
change in theme may be the reason to the increase of visitorship as people appeal
to the seafood theme more than the spices.
Sponsorship: The picture below shows the list of
sponsors for SFF2011. We can see that SFF2011 sponsor is different from SFF2012
sponsors. The change in sponsors could be the reason why SFF2012 have done much
better as the sponsors for SFF2012 gave sales promotions to SFF2012 audience.
Thus, people who want the product or would like to find a cheaper alternative
for their meals will be enticed to go to SFF2012.
d)
Behind the Dining Room @ Straits
Kitchen
GHS can make
use its famous outlet, Straits Kitchen, for this event. Straits kitchen is one
of Singapore’s well-known restaurants which serve authentic Singapore ethnic cuisine
in restaurant buffet setting. It has received great review by influential food
critics such as Anthony Bourdain on the show ‘No Reservations’ and famous local
food blogger ladyironchef. Below is an extract of Anthony bourdain’s review on the show
‘no reservations’ of straits kitchen, Starting from 6:49: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ShPNvhm8VU&t=6m49s
With such fame
and facilities, GHS can do something that is similar to the behind the scene @
jurong port for SFF2012 as a fringe event. GHS can do an open house and
participant will get a chance to learn how to prepare all the Singapore ethnic
cuisine from the 5 star restaurants chef. To avoid disruption to the business,
it should be held from early morning to afternoon on weekday, where there are
fewer crowds. Also, they should get enough participants to book down the entire
restaurant so to ensure maximum revenue.
Below shows a
table of the proposed program schedule:
Behind the Dining Room @ Straits
Kitchen
|
|||
9am-10am
|
Kitchen
Orientation
|
||
10am-11am
|
Group
1
Chinese
Food Demonstration
|
Group
2
Malay
Food Demonstration
|
Group
3
Indian
Food Demonstration
|
11am-12pm
|
Indian
Food Demonstration
|
Chinese
Food Demonstration
|
Malay
Food Demonstration
|
12pm-1pm
|
Malay
Food Demonstration
|
Indian
Food Demonstration
|
Chinese
Food Demonstration
|
1pm
Onwards
|
Buffet Lunch
at Straits Kitchen
|
||
The programme will kick start by doing an introduction about the kitchen itself. By introducing their kitchen, GHS can use this opportunity to boast about their quality standards and their quality control and thus promoting their brand. After understanding the main kitchen, they can breakdown the culinary demonstration into different ethnic for the participant and rotate after each culinary demonstration. By breaking down into groups, it allow the kitchen to accommodate more people and thus able to increase revenue from this event. To end off the session, the participant will enjoy the buffet lunch served in straits kitchen which includes dishes from what they have learn earlier on. The proposed price for this event is $100 per person.
The
implications of this fringe event to the stakeholders are:
1) SFF: From SFF point of view, this fringe event will meet the
objective SFF of showcasing Singapore diverse food offering. SFF can reach out
to tourists that are staying in GHS from the publicity in GHS. Also, it allows
SFF to offer a wider variety of programs for its participants to choose from.
2) GHS: From GHS point, this fringe event allows it to further
publicise its brand by showcasing its flagship F&B outlet to SFF
participant. They may use this opportunity to build an image to the participant
that the GHS brand is related to quality. Also, it allow GHS to gain publicity
using SFF for the straits kitchen itself through this national platform. Also, GHS
may able to sell its ‘unsold seat’ via this platform and thus reducing
perishability.
However, it is important to take note of the opportunity
cost of doing such event. Firstly, chefs would need to spend time working and
coordinating the program which thus may lower the manpower in the frontline
during the planning stage. The closure of the restaurant for this fringe event
means that they are losing revenue from the potential sales that they can get
from the hotel guest. In addition, it may cause potential unhappiness to guest
as guest who want to patronise the straits kitchen may be disappointed that it
is close for such fringe event and thus damaging the image of its current
customer.
3) Participants: From participant’s
point of view, it provides a great eye opener as it gives them a unique insight
of our local cuisine at a fine-dining standard. Also, they are able to learn
all the Singaporean cuisine under one roof from hotel chef and thus this may
entice them to sign up for this event as they get to learn everything in a
hotel. Lastly, it is a rare opportunity for the general public to go ‘behind
the house’ and thus this may serve as a great eye opener for those who are
curious about the workplace of a hotel chef. However, it is important to take
note that participant who wish to join this event would have to pay a premium
as compared to other event so to make up for the opportunity cost that GHS may
have for this event.
Works Cited
Singapore Food
Festival draws record numbers. (2012, July 22). Retrieved November 21, 2012, from
Asiaone:
http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/SoShiok/Story/A1Story20120722-360627.html
Mall, M. B.
(n.d.). Marina Bay Link. Retrieved Novemeber 15, 2012, from
http://www.marinabaylink.com.sg/store.aspx
Ng, S. (2012, June
27). Makansutra, Yahoo. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from Singapore
Food Festival Is Back Again:
http://sg.entertainment.yahoo.com/news/singapore-food-festival-back-again-062210971.html
Ng, S. (2012, June
27). Singapore Food Festival Is Back Again. Retrieved November 21,
2012, from Yahoo News:
http://sg.entertainment.yahoo.com/news/singapore-food-festival-back-again-062210971.html
Singapore food
festival 2011. (n.d.). Singapore food festival 2011. Retrieved November
21, 2012, from Spices it up!:
http://singaporefoodfestival.com.sg/2011/index.php/sff-cooking-demostration
Singapore Food
Festival. (n.d.). About SFF. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from
Singapore Food Festival 2012: http://singaporefoodfestival.com.sg/2012/page/2
Singapore Food
Festival. (n.d.). Singapore Food Festival. Retrieved November 21, 2012,
from Seafood-Tales of temasek: http://singaporefoodfestival.com.sg/2012/
Singapore Press
Holdings. (2012, July 22). Singapore Food Festival draws record numbers.
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http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/SoShiok/Story/A1Story20120722-360627.html
Tan, R. L. (2012).
Get Hooked on Seafood at Singapore Food Festival. Life! The Straits Time.
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