Singapore Biennale 2008!!
"WONDER"









Introduction
The objective of this field trip report is to thoroughly analyze how Singapore Biennale is marketed to general public and tourists. The field trip and research brings opportunity for me to be exposed to various forms of marketing, allowing me to apply the textbook theories in reality. This report will contain my critical evaluation on whether the marketing efforts were prudent and effective. From there, identify areas needed for improvement and recommend better alternatives. I would understand how an event like the Biennale 2008 contributes to its tourism roles and also to the Singapore tourism economy.

The methodology of research were on-site visit to the Singapore Biennale 2008, online research from the official website of the event, press releases and links from Singapore tourism websites like Uniquely Singapore. During the course of our visit, I had interaction with the staff at the holding sites and conversations with visitors from different nationalities and occupations. Observations were made on the variety of marketing mix the Biennale used and the target market they are attracting.

Profile and background of Festive
Singapore Biennale is an event held every two years by the National Arts Council of Singapore as main organizer, the previous and only track record of this event was in 2006 where it was themed “Belief”. Biennale aims to bring the international contemporary arts into local arts scene and promoting it regionally. With reference to the biennale guide given, the last Biennale recorded 95 artists showcasing 195 art pieces at 19 venues, attracting a whooping 883,000 visitors into the country.

It gives a platform for renowned artists all around the world to showcase quality art, engaging the audience by stimulating their minds and bringing visitors to another dimension through arts. This year’s theme Wonder is a sequel to the Belief theme to stimulate people’s thoughts to wonder and question their curiosity upon the art pieces. With a reputation to uphold, Biennale 2008 sets off to incorporate history with modern contemporary arts whereby the two major locations are the city hall building and South Beach development centre. It was definitely an exhilarating experience involving sight and senses.















Evaluation of effective use of marketing mix
Product mix
The event actually utilizes the bundle purchase concept, whereby the price visitor not only pays for the ticket. They can experience the atmosphere, ambience, and emotional satisfaction upon viewing the art exhibition.

Core product is what the visitor is really buying. As such visitors buy the opportunity to preview a single large showcase of international contemporary arts and collectives in Singapore Biennale 2008. This saves time for art enthusiasts as they can use a single trip to Singapore and get exposed to a wide array of different forms of contemporary arts all gathered for this event.















Tangible products are the “expected” products that aids in enhancing the overall experience of the event. From my observations the Biennale guide provided upon purchase of the tickets was very effective as a marketing tool. Firstly, this serves as detailed story explanation for the arts exhibits and message the artist is trying to convey, contributing to the overall experience appreciation of arts. Not only does it provide directions to other exhibit location, it is an exquisite souvenir for the visitors to bring home and reminisce about. This guide serves advertising when tourists introduce Biennale to their friends for the next Biennale event.

There were signboards pointing directions but it was relatively small and did not serve much purpose because of the many out of bounds region. This would only confuse the visitors causing them to walk in circles. It would be better to place location maps pointing the current spot for a clearer sense of direction to proceed on. I recommend an itinerary for a more convenient tour around the exhibit.

Augmented products are additional features that differentiate the event from its competitors. There were free Guided tours in different languages explaining the art pieces thereby helping visitors relate to the theme. For the guided tour, service standards were professional and this was effective in leaving a good impression of the Biennale. There guided tours can be more frequent to make it more successful. The Bloomberg Audio guide given was very interactive involving a new experience but was limited in quantity and only provided in the South Beach Developments.













Place
The marketing mix is the innovative use of the physical place such as historical buildings to hold art exhibits. Biennale uses the City hall building which marks the surrender of the Japanese and the south beach development formerly a military camp for British soldiers.

In conjunction to the Biennale, a lot of effort was seen in refurbishing the various buildings that bears the scars of history. A face lift was given to the places that lost its forlorn glory, with walls repainted and contemporary arts showcased there. This brings a whole new outlook of history blending with modern art providing a sensational feeling. Although it was effective as marketing mix, I feel the showcasing in historical areas like the city hall building was not well emphasized and marketed to the visitors as it is indeed a rare opportunity to enter the compounds of these areas.

For the process used to deliver the event in this marketing mix such as ticketing booths, tickets can only be bought at two major locations city hall and south beach development. As such, it denies many potential visitors that roam around the city area from where certain exhibits are also located there. Even if visitors have the intention to visit the biennale, the thought of finding the way and walking to the ticket booth would be a deterring factor. Hence it was not effective in attracting the crowd over to the Biennale.

In the topic of accessibility, having shuttle buses at various check points will create a proactive approach in drawing visitors to the major location. This is because there is quite a distance from the nearest train station and the two major locations. Rather than relying on promotions, my suggestion is to draw in visitors using transport. There can be collaborations with SBS transit for shuttle buses to facilitate visitor’s accessibility in getting there.

Various sponsors and partners
Partnerships
In Singapore Biennale 2008, there is a whole range of partnerships with different ideologies in supporting the Biennale. For the unique locations of this year Biennale, they could not have done it without the help of Urban Redevelopment Authority, Marina Bay Singapore, City Developments Limited and Singapore Land Authority. They assisted Biennale in the bidding for holding at the City Hall building and the South beach Development. In my opinion, that was by far the best selling point as both were established landmark buildings rich in artistic architectural design and historical value.

For Venue partners such as Raffles City and the Singapore Flyer, this allowed Biennale to be showcase on a larger platform with a portion of exhibits being showcased at the various malls gaining awareness. However, base on my observations, Singapore Biennale did not fully capitalize on the various display locations. There was limited publicity or promotion done with the venue partner, with only one or two posters visible around; there were no information counter for directions to view the Biennale exhibits.

The venue partnerships hence were not effective in assisting to attract more visitors to the Biennale. Instead it was overshadowed with the activities at the malls and seriously a wasted partnership attempting to capture the huge amount of human traffic at the various venues. It seemed oblivious to passer bys to notice that the Biennale was even being held at the venues. My suggestions are to be prudent to set up Posters, booths for directions or information counter to advertise about the Biennale to introduce Biennale to the tourist or locals there.

Packaging Biennale with the Singapore Flyer
Packaging & Distribution
After visiting the Biennale, there were several packaging efforts being seen. The event collaborated with the attraction Singapore flyer. The entry tickets includes a discounted price to board the Flyer as part of the Biennale experience. This package aims to provide an additional reason to attend the event. However, my stand is that perhaps the relationship of goodwill was not cultivated. Firstly, it seemed like a one sided consensus to package the Biennale experience with the flyer. At the location of the flyer, the publicity and reception booth for the Biennale was placed away from the ticketing counter of the Flyer and very quiet is sales.

My thought on this was perhaps the flyer management valued monetary value more than the collaboration. As for every discount from the Biennale, the flyer would lose instant opportunity cost to earn more. Therefore, the staff was keener to promote the regular ticket prices and not proactive in selling the Biennale package. However, there is a whole lot of potential the Biennale can contribute to the flyer if they can obtain critical mass of visitors. It can be done if ticket booths were set up at various art exhibits area like the malls, Singapore flyer and Esplanade to attract more visitors rather than restricting only at the two major locations.

The management should take a more proactive approach to widen their distribution network and not to underestimate its capabilities to up sell the event. I recommend the management to liaise with Singapore tourism board to set up a bundle purchase concept of accommodation with the finest hotels, package with other attractions in Singapore, local cuisines and experience the Biennale experience itself. From the crafted itinerary, widely introduce to intermediaries like widely recognized online travel agents and various national tourism boards to reach out to foreign guests.

Promotions
For the local market, Biennale has organized promotion like free guided tours to the Biennale with entrance fee as pre-requisite. There were promotional discounts for Macdonald cafe, Passion card holders. Corporate function at the various exhibits locations can be booked as well. Biennale also reached out to school tours, group bookings, e-mailing to community clubs to draw senior citizens visitor. There were online advertising through the Singapore tourism related website and its official websites containing the latest updates.

The media press kit:
http://www.singaporebiennale.org/downloads/SB2008_pressroom-media_kit.pdf
Offical video of Singapore Biennale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irHHCMwmGmY&feature=related

This promotional effort was quite effective, as from interaction with the staff. I was told it attracted around one thousand visitors on average to the Biennale at City Hall with half comprising of foreign visitors. I interviewed both foreign and local visitors to find out how they get to know about the Biennale. For tourists, some said that the huge posters hanging on the walls of the City Hall building caught their attention as well as the information of this event posted up on Singapore tourism and the official websites. For locals, generally they read about the Biennale on newspapers and street posters on bus stops. Hence I would say the public relation and online publicity were imminent to create awareness for potential visitors, only thing is lacking the scale of publicity.

Hence, if more of Big Biennale Posters are put up on the marina bay and City hall shopping mall exterior and local television advertisement would reach out to more potential visitors. With discounts for Passion card holders and concession half price for students, it would make more sense to do pre-event advertising in various educational institutes and posting up links from youth populated websites like Friendster, MSN, Facebook, and SCAPE. Besides corporate function, which I feel was a feasible promotion to diversify the revenue sources. Biennale can also target local business companies as they need business entertainment for big groups of foreign guest. Thus, personal selling of promotional biennale packages to them can be carried out to increase sales.

Programming
For programming, Biennale came up a series of program list catered for its visitors. Such as the Key events mainly involving artist’s talks and Curator’s tour and guided Tours by biennale artist. The program listed gives identity of the Biennale experience involving interaction visitors with the participation of the artists themselves. For art enthusiast, this creates a golden opportunity to meet the respective artist and exchange views on the exhibits. However, it was moderately effective as such programs are held only in the first few days of opening. This may deter visitors from going as they have already missed the major highlights of the event.

The scheduled tours on certain days that explain the concept and understanding of the artworks was very effective in attracting huge crowds as I observed the guided tours did attract quite a significant number of visitors. Therefore, I propose that guided tour should be carried out more frequently and should communicate these programs more visibly through advertising and media to facilitate in visitors planning for the trips, either through press releases or posters.

The Kids biennale is another effective program sponsor by Jet airways and Ikea, whereby rooms are created to allow kids’ creativity to run wild in the hands-on arts sessions. While the parents can go explore the art gallery, their children can be placed at the rooms with volunteers to create art pieces like windmills. This facilitates the parents to enjoy the art gallery at ease, enhancing the overall art appreciation experience. This creates activity for all ages; even children can participate in the event which is commendable effort.

My recommendations are to host adult workshops of the creation of art pieces and understandings of the exhibits lead by the artist themselves. Making it a daily program to create a major highlight for visitor, this could possibly spark off big group tours everyday during that timeslot.












Price
For pricing of the Biennale, there are not many variations in the pricing strategies. Standard $10 tickets were issued throughout, a low ticket fee makes it affordable for visitors and gaining a huge number of visitors in return. However, my opinion is that they should implemented better pricing strategies rather than making it homogenous that there was no differentiation. In this case, the Biennale has lost much opportunity to earn revenue with its pricing and even using it as a tool for more sales. Since the visitors tend to have bigger spending power in this case, it is essential to price it appropriately to capitalize on it.

If the guided tours were charged, guests might rather buy entry for self viewing. However, if Singapore cuisines buffet were introduced and creating a lunch package guided tour charging at of $40, the Biennale may gain much more visitors. For the adult workshops plan I mention in Programming can charged at a higher price creating exclusivity, thereby tempting the visitors to purchase that package. Biennale can also set up booth and rent it out for selling Singapore ornaments for tourist to buy and earning from rental. The merchandise of the Biennale can be further improved, perhaps selling reduced size mementos of the art exhibits will be attractive for visitors to purchase unlike the present mundane merchandise.

Biennale is not very effective in selling bulk tickets as they were no incentive by charging $10 uniformly. Perhaps online credit payment using PAYPALS can be done for pricing strategies like early bird purchase and also discounts for tickets purchase in groups of twenty to entice visitors.















People
Biennale incorporates the people mix pretty well, because it facilities people having the same common interest and ideologies of appreciating arts. This is done mainly by specifically planning out the message and positioning of the Biennale as an international art exhibit thus attracting mostly visitors fond of art. The opening days of the Biennale saw artists gathered together at the Launch party and Artists talks program. The sheer presence of such renowned artist will gather art lovers from around the world to witness the emotions the artist is trying to convey through their art pieces. Thus, the people marketing mix was effective in attracting huge numbers of visitors.

For audience, as viewing art is a solemn activity, the noise level of the audience is pretty well controlled with the kids biennale located at the lowest level, reducing the chances of kids screaming and spoiling the ambience. For the service crew mainly, I would say there was double standard for some. Firstly, majority of the service crew are volunteers but existed different tiers of service. Some were very enthusiastic in explaining the concept of the art exhibits but others lack professionalism based on their limited product knowledge, half heartedness to explain and would rather referred me to the guide. This made me wonder if it was the case of paid volunteerism. There should be selection procedure for volunteers thus making the service element more professional.





Tourism roles and economic value of the festival and event

Place marketing
Through the Singapore Biennale, I believe that it has brought about positive image of Singapore’s capabilities to hold huge scale event. The Biennale showcases Singapore prowess in planning, preparation for this event, by collaborating various partners and government board and using an Integrated Marketing concept. The ability to consolidate famous contemporary artist to showcase their priced possession art pieces shows the amount of trust they have in the security of Singapore. Great efficiency of the workforce was seen to ensure the event runs smoothly throughout the two months and hosting the large amount of participants involved. This leaves a good positive image on potential investors.

The Biennale shows government’s confidence in Singapore’s economy allowing them to greatly promote other initiatives like promoting arts. Biennale provide destination branding as a vibrant ideal location to foreign investors to pump in capital and hold up business in Singapore. Thus, the economic value of Biennale has a long term effect in promoting Singapore to foreign investor to bring in capital to the economy.

Biennale strives to amplify the local arts scene and bringing it to a higher level, becoming a recognized platform to and attracting other art exhibits to showcase in Singapore. For locals, gaining exposure toward appreciation of arts certainly refines the quality of life. Since Singapore’s lifestyle is highly stressed, art serves as an opportunity for locals to adopt a balance lifestyle by seeking emotional comfort through art. The possibilities of attracting residents are increasing to the positioning of Singapore as ideal place to live, work and play.















Tourist Attraction
The Biennale was held from 11 September to 16 November, based on observations on the event Calendar of Singapore. This is the off period in tourist arrivals as there was not many huge events that would bring influx of tourist like the Singapore gourmet summit or Great Singapore sale. As such, the preparation of the Biennale did brought a noticeable number of foreign visitors, inclusive of artists, crew and many art enthusiasts from all around the world.

Based on 2006 Biennale, it attracted close to 883000 quality visitors. Therefore, I can expect close to one million visitors this year. With a sizeable figure of visitor, both locals and foreign visitors who have the spending power sets to spin off other sectors’ business like the hotels, shopping malls, increasing visitor spending, boosting the economy on the whole. Biennale acts as a tourist magnet, whereby the foreign visitors can explore other attractions and increase in visitor spending while they are here for the Biennale.

Besides adding impetus to the economy substantially, Biennale also helps to spread demand of activities tourist seeks in Singapore. An example would be the businessman I interacted with during the visit. He was from the States and here for business related meetings but upon landing, he visited the Biennale. Thus, Biennale can spread the demand from Business to entertainment, diversifying the revenue sources for the economy. This also extends the length of stay for tourist who decided to spend an additional day to visit the Biennale.















Image maker
Singapore Biennale holds great significance in changing the negative image tourist and locals have on Singapore. Although Singapore was rated as one of the best cities to live in base on political stability, many critics says Singapore is a mundane place lacking entertainment facilities. Not forgetting our lifestyle is way too fast paced as reflected on our position ranking on total working hours per week compared to the world.

However, Biennale marks a major milestone in the history to change the negative image of boring lifestyle we have. Holding large scale art exhibits position at various locations of Marina Bay and the busy City hall area gives a fresh look on the local art scenes. This serves to change the perception of tourists, showing that we Singaporeans do make a point to change the image of busy city life by slowing down our tempo to have appreciation for art.

Biennale also greatly enhances the theme of incorporating this message “Art is now becoming part of people’s lives” as quoted from the artistic Director of Biennale Fumio Nanjo. During the onsite visit to the various locations of the Biennale, efforts were seen to infuse arts into the landscape of the Marina bay area. Such as the Lightlines at Esplanade Bridge and various art exhibits at the Raffles link mall. Not forgetting the fusion of Singapore’s historical buildings with modern contemporary arts, showcasing creativity and innovation of the organizers. This becomes the selling point to attract more tourists over and experience this arts event.
















Catalyst
In the midst of Biennale, many buildings in the City area have undergone urban renewal for a new outlook and preservation. One of the major highlight is holding art exhibits at the various locations like central promontory site, south beach and the city hall building. The Biennale acts as a catalyst to create awareness and relish their former glory before the locations undergo transformation. For example the City hall building is set to renovate itself and reopen as a world class art gallery by 2013. From this Biennale, it has gone through repainting and maintenance of its internal and external infrastructure. The south beach development will be turned into two-45 storey towers providing premium office space and exquisite residential area.

Besides this, Biennale also stimulates infrastructure like the opening of the central promotional site. After the post event of Biennale, it would be transformed into a waterfront development hosting art galleries, planetarium and aquarium as quoted from the Biennale official website. Many historical building had made use of the opportunity to discover its potential and test out public reaction to their future uses.

Due to Biennale, it stimulates the business of Singapore such as the freight services required by the preparation of the event. A large number of professional planners and temporary jobs had been created for preparation of this event. The influx of tourists and local visitors to the area will support attractions like the Singapore Flyer and other business like F&B in the area. Other attractions in Singapore may also benefit from visitors spending from the extended stay of tourists.

Animator
Although the Singapore Biennale is held every two years, it has long term impacts in encouraging more first time tourists and repeat visits of tourist. As the Biennale slowly builds its reputation, the amount of media attention will increase with every event held. Therefore this brings awareness to foreign visitors to include Singapore on their potential country list for holidays. As Biennale is held every two years, this makes it more exclusive and draws visitors over in the future years to come.

With the Biennale held at the City and Marina Bay area, there is a role to play whereby it promotes the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort currently under construction. Tourist who had been to the Biennale would be reminded that by 2010 on the next event, the two Integrated resorts would be up and running. Thereby, encouraging repeat visits to Singapore to experience the world class facilities and accommodations.

Biennale also plays a crucial role to encourage first time visits to Singapore. Following the success of Biennale, positive word of mouth will also be spread by the tourist to remind their friends that Singapore has a rich art atmosphere. The pre-requisite of encouraging repeat visits, is to first convinced tourist to take the first step for visiting Singapore. Only then can other attractions and service capture the hearts of tourists giving a good testimony of the Singapore experience. Thus, with more tourist arrivals, will generate more tourism receipts and driving the economy to prosper.

Conclusion











Basically I feel that the Singapore Biennale did set out and achieve what they planned to do. This is to express the theme “wonder” through the exhibits and convey that message to the visitors. I strongly believe that with hosting Singapore Biennale event another two times, it will become another hallmark event of Singapore. It was quite remarkable that Biennale has so much to offer to the economy and to the locals. As a Singaporean I am starting to see arts being introduced to our lives. With more children being receptive to the arts culture, we as Singaporeans will continue to grow into a very refined society. The management should set their sights further and improve on the scale and quality of the event as it can be a stronghold economic drive for Singapore in years to come.

Overall, the marketing mix was not really that effective as it boils down to the half heartedness of the marketing efforts. The venue partnership actually holds the key towards greater success of the event. However, I think was the case of poor planning for various marketing effort to waste huge amounts of resources were pump in to promote Biennale through media and online sources. There was poor coordination of the marketing efforts from the distribution of tickets to promotional activity to attract locals and tourist alike. All in all, although Biennale still attract a sustainable amount of visitors and can be considered successful being a new event. I conclude that with the resources in place, there is room for improvements to attract a larger pool of visitors as compared to now.


Appendix (Proof of visit)

References

1.Singapore Biennale 2008Available:
http://www.singaporebiennale.org/downloads/SB2008_pressroom-media_kit.pdf Last accessed 18th Nov 2008

2.Singapore Biennale 2008
Available:http://www.singaporebiennale.org/index.html Last accessed 18th Nov 2008

3.National arts council
Available:http://www.nac.gov.sg/eve/eve03.asp Last accessed 18th Nov 2008

4.Youth SG
Available:http://www.youth.sg/content/view/1478/28/ Last accessed 18th Nov 2008

5.Uniquely Singapore
Available:http://www.visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home/apps/event_detail.htLast accessed 18th Nov

6.Uniquely Singapore event calendar (2008)Available:ml?pageName=MonthlyEvent&buttom=detail&eid=8187&eventType=1 Last accessed 18th Nov 2008

7. "Event Management & Event Tourism” (2nd Ed.), Chapter 11: “Marketing”

8. Singapore Biennale Video (2008)Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irHHCMwmGmY&feature=related
Last accessed 18th Nov 2008

Some photos are courtesy of the official and related websites of the Biennale.