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ESPLANADE PRESENT FLIPSIDE IN CONJUNCTION WITH SINGAPORE ARTS FESTIVAL

(29 MAY- 22 JUNE 2008)

INTRODUCTION

Esplanade which performs various programmes for diverse audience, organizes Flipside in conjunction with the ongoing Singapore Arts Festival start from May 29 to June 22.

The programmes that I went to see are the Radio performed by Renee Chua & Sirfan on 10^th June 2008 at 7.15pm and Mustang Singapore by Grinder-Man featuring act from Singapore and Japan on 20^th June 2008 at 6.30pm .

These types of this event can be known as local or community event as it encourage community participation in arts activities. Moreover, as it is a free performance, it can reach out to wider audience with offbeat carnival offerings. Plus, it is supported by the Singapore government as part of community development strategies.

THE BACKGROUND OF THE ORGANIZER

Esplanade, one of the attractions in Singapore, has been one of the world’s busiest centers. It performs varieties of arts for everyone, and its programmes cater to its diverse audiences. Its programme arrange from all type of genres including music, dance, theatre and visual arts, with a special highlighting on Asian culture.

ROLE OF THE EVENTS TO THE ORGANIZER

The role of the organizer for hosting this event is to place marketing as a venue and become tourist attraction in Singapore. By organizing this event, Esplanade can create positive images of Singapore and as a venue itself. With various artists performed in the varieties of programmes, this can draw attention to not only residents but also tourists to enjoy their leisure time.

Furthermore, as Esplanade can be assumed as tourist attraction in Singapore, hosting this flipside, part of art festival event can attract more quality tourists with its lively, fun performances during their stay. In addition, this can also increase the spending power of tourist due to their length of stay to enjoy the event.

STAKEHOLDERS

The key stakeholders for Flipside event are audience, esplanade partner Nokia and sponsors such as National Youth council, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sport (MCYS). Nokia is the primary sponsors as Esplanade partner. As an Esplanade Partner, Nokia become identified with Esplanade's image, values and messages to its various communities and stakeholders. Feel free to click on the links to visit the stakeholders' official sites.

TARGET MARKET

This audiences who attended this event are tourists, young people, family, students and teenagers. As Flipside is a free program for local community, it mainly target to low income level to gather for their recreation. The reason for targeting these people is to encourage their participation on the event and showing them the performance of different arts in the world while walking pass or sitting at the concourse level and waterfront of Esplanade.

MARKETING STRATEGIES

The marketing strategies that organizer employed for this event are product, price, place promotion, partnership, programming and people.

Product

People need recreation after a busy day of work. Therefore, by organizing Flipside event in the evening with interesting performance performed by various artists from Australia, Japan, Singapore and USA, it can be one of the products to promote Esplanade.

Price

Although flipside event has free admission fees for the audience, it comes with a price tag including time, travel cost, vendor rentals and sponsorship fees. As for the performance, the organizer had to rent the necessary equipments which are one of the price tags. The costs of the performers and their time taken for the event are also a price tag for the event. With free of charge performances, it is worth for the audiences to understand on the art performances and also enjoy their recreation.

Place

With the unfamiliar and interesting programmes including in the event, I can see that more people come and enjoy the entertainment at Esplanade. Moreover, as Esplanade can be considered as an attraction in Singapore because of its building design and programming, this can increase the audience perception on the place. It is also an accessible and convenience place for local people and tourists to visit there.

Promotion

The messages used to reach out to audience and promote the event are extremely important for an event. Esplanade uses many forms of marketing tools for promotion, including brochures; posters; banners; Internet advertising; newspapers, radio, television advertising and press releases. Brochures, posters, banners are usually placed within Esplanade area. As internet is mostly being used as a source of information by the event audience, it was the most cost-effective methods of promotion.

Partnership

Flipside event is in association with esplanade partner Nokia, National Youth council, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sport (MCYS). As it joins with these partners, Esplanade can modify its products more attractive. By sponsoring this event, the sponsors can also increase their profile and sales of their products, and they can increase their bottom-line benefits.

Programming

With the diverse audience targeted in the event, Esplanade can create more targeted benefit through various programmes which include the element of art performing. Through the qualify performers performing in each programme, Esplanade is full of programmes everyday to attract its targeted audience to increase its revenue and prestige.

People

The interaction with local people and tourists constitute a large part of the event experience. The qualify performers can directly shapes the audience perception on the events. Besides, as it is a free performance, different types of people can come for their own recreation. The purpose for providing this free performance is to let the audience understand more about arts and they can spend their leisure time while sitting and walking pass near concourse level, waterfront canopy and stage at powerhouse of Esplanade.

RATING OF THE ORGANIZATION OF THE EVENT

In my opinion, the event is quite good in organization as it can provide varieties of free performance provided with different timing and lots of fun activities and art scenes. It also reached out wider audience with street performances and whacky, offbeat carnival offerings. Moreover, the facilities and equipment used are highly technological and well organized. With the comprehensive range of professional support facilities and services provided, this event organization is quite well done.

POTENTIAL OF THE EVENT BY THE ORGANIZER TO MEET TOURIST DEMAND

To meet tourist demand, the organization of the event should be well structured so that there will be no negative perception on the event. Besides, the performance should be related to the art view and make scene to the audience on the performing. Plus, the timing of each performance should be punctual so that the audiences won’t have to wait for the show. If the event is held at outdoor, the organizer should consider about the weather and setting up the required facilities in advance. The hospitalize staff and volunteers should be assign to help out and explain during the event.

VALUE OF EVENT ALIGN WITH TOURISM MISSION OF SINGAPORE

With varieties performance focus on the arts scene includes in the event, this can attract wider audience including both local residents and tourists to come over the place. As more tourists spend their time in Singapore, it can increase the economic which is one of the key drivers to raise and support the tourism mission. For the venue itself, more shops and stalls should be set up to persuade people to spend more time besides watching events. Besides, the event itself can raise the mission by giving promotion, entertaining and increase awareness of media. Therefore, for next upcoming events, through careful research on tourist demand, creative design and performance, complete and cautious planning, communicative organization and comprehensive estimation, all events may run smoothly and the organizers will get the preferred results.

Reference:

Lynn Van Der Wagen, Brenda R. Carols, Event Management for tourism, cultural, business and sporting events.
http://www.theurbanwire.com/stories/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1947&Itemid=81