The Event Marketing Mix - 8P's

In the event marketing mix, there are 8 factors. They are product, place, price, people, promotion, programming, packaging and distribution, and partnership. 

3.1 Product

The first marketing mix will be product. There are four levels of products, mainly the core product, facilitating product, supporting product and the augmented product.

The core product represents the focus of the business and what the customers are really buying. In this case, the core product will be the food.

As for the facilitating products, it must be present in order for the guest to use the core products. In this case, it will be the chefs as they are the ones who cook the food for the people to consume. There was also online event brochure that was downloadable from the event website itself.

Supporting Product are extra products that add values to the core products which helps to differentiate themselves from their competitors. During the Singapore Food Festival period, several restaurants like The Cliff, Brizo Restaurant and bar and others will be offering special privileges. Guests can make use of the chance to enjoy the deals and foods that they do not usually do.

The augmented product includes guests’ involvements and is definitely important. In this case, as there are culinary demonstrations, people got to participate in them. As it is interactive, it makes the event more meaningful and entertaining.

In terms of branding, Singapore Food Festival has branded itself many years ago as this was the 19^th year of the festival. Moreover, there were more than 500000 people who turned up for the festival this year. Last year, there were only 450000 people who turned up for the festival. As many people in the world love food, it is definitely one event that they cannot miss. Thus, I believe it will definitely draw more people next year.

With these products, it enabled the people to understand and know more about the festival, whether it is before or during the festival. With the online brochures, it helped the people to plan their schedule and choose the ones that there were interested in, rather than to head to the festival and not knowing what was going on.

3.2 Place

Secondly, it will be the place. The Singapore Food Festival is held around Singapore, with its main event held at Waterfront Promenade, Marina Bay.

(Singapore Food Festival, 2012)

Other locations include Kampong Gelam, Little India, Bukit Timah Road, Sentosa, Singapore River and Jurong Fishery Port. These places are rather convenient to travel to and from as most of them have bus stops, taxi stands and Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Stations near them. For example, the nearest MRT Station to Sentosa is Harbourfront People have to take the railway or walk back to Vivo City and board the train. There is the circle line and the north-east line which is very convenient for people to travel to other place.

This has enable somehow contribute to the festival’s success as the main event was held at Marina Bay area, which is now very convenient for people to travel to. For the drivers, there are car park spaces nearby and for people who take public transport, there are bus stops and MRT stations nearby. Therefore, it gives many reasons to people why they should attend this festival. They do not have to worry about the inconvenience of transportation.

3.3 Price

Thirdly, the marketing mix used for this event is price. This event has made use of the discriminatory pricing. Discriminatory pricing refers to segmentation of the market and pricing differences based on price elasticity characteristics of these segments.

 As the admission to the main event is free, it does not mean that the people get to eat the food for free. They have to use the payment mode of cash or NETS FlashPay. However, people who are price sensitive should choose to pay using NETS FlashPay as they will be entitled with 20% discount off the bill. People are also entitled 15% discount off the platter which cost $20 originally and get a mug of beer at only $2 if they were to dine in at St James Republic Beer Garden. Thus, for people who wish to experience the Singapore Food Festival and are price sensitive, they can try dining here.

 However, for people are price insensitive, they could opt for the 3 seafood buffet that cost $108 at Resort World Sentosa or at the Sapphire Restaurant located at the 2^nd level of the Jewel Box which cost $88++. Unfortunately, reservations are needed. Hence, walk-ins are not recommended.

This allowed the festival to be successful as by applying this pricing method, the festival is able to target a wider group of people, who are the price sensitive and price insensitive people, rather than just the price insensitive people.

3.4 Promotion

Then, it is followed by promotion. During the period of the Singapore Food Festivals, there were special dining privileges. People could go to several restaurants that were listed on the website of the event. Also, it has promoted itself through websites, banners and online advertisement, for example, on the yahoo website. Through their websites, they also updated the programme list where people know when is for which event. Thus, they will be able to plan earlier in the schedule in order to make it for this festival. This is definitely useful as there are many people using the Internet nowadays as Internet is available almost everywhere. Therefore, people can get to know about the event even more fast than before and convenient too.

Moreover, as mentioned in the pricing sector, there was also 20% discount off the total bill if consumers were to use the NETS FlashPay card to make their payment. Also, there was also a contest where people will have the chance of winning vouchers by just spending $50.

Therefore, with such promotions, its aim was to increase the number of footfall and spending of the people who went for the festival. Thus, this enabled the festival to meet its goal by having more than 500000 people participating in this festival.

3.5 People

The next marketing mix that is used for the event is people. For Singapore Food Festival, many international and local people went for the event. The main purpose of their visit is for the seafood as this year the theme of the festival is “Seafood” and also to taste the local and multi-racial delicacies. Also, there were celebrity chefs and famous chefs from Singapore participating in this festival. Thus, it will definitely draw more people to this festival as they would love to taste their cooking and support them if they happened to be their fans.

By having these people at the festival itself, it has hit the Singapore Food Festival 2012’s goal by exceeding last year’s number of people attending this festival. With a huge difference in the number of people attending the festival, there will definitely be a huge difference in the amount of revenue earned by the festival. Thus, with nearly 100000 more attendees, the revenue generated is definitely much more compared to previous year. In 2012, they managed to increase in sales by 30%, comparing it to last year’s (Asia one, 2012).

3.6 Programming

Another marketing mix used by the event is programming. Programming within the event is also a marketing decision, especially by the way of creating targeted benefits. Part of their programme was that they invited Mr Teo Ser Luck, Ministry of Trade and Industry, as well as the main sponsors, partners and organizations to the launch of the festival. As Chef Eric Teo has 24 years of cooking experience, Celebrity Chef, and the President of Singapore’s Chef Association, many people were coming for the festival just to watch his demonstrations. Most importantly, as he appeared on many cooking programmes on Singapore’s media, many housewives are his fans. Thus, with someone who is influential, it will be able to market the event even more and attract more people to the festival itself. Therefore, more people will spend more there which will then lead to the festival earning more revenue.

However, there was no performance. Instead, the culinary demonstrations replaced it. Hence, many people will focus on the demonstrations by the chefs. I think this is a good approach because people might not learn anything from those usual performances while these culinary demonstrations enable them to bring home some skills from the chefs and they could even cook the dishes for their family and friends.

Moreover, this festival is planned in a way that all programmes are suitable for all ages. For example, for children who cannot handle spicy food, they can always go for other delicacies that are being offered at the site.  Also, the timing of the event was from 11AM to 11PM daily. I find the timing rather reasonable since the event is located near offices, businessmen and woman can head down for lunch and dinner.

Additionally, there was also contest where people can get to win vouchers by just spending $50 or even the grand prize which is to sail on the luxurious cruise. Through this contest, people will want to spend more as they will be able to win prizes. Thus, this enables the festival to earn more revenue.

Therefore, with these attractive prizes and famous chefs at the festival itself, it definitely attracted more people to the event. Not only it attracted people who love food, it also attracted people who are keen in winning prizes and for people who wished to take this opportunity to see the Singapore’s famous chefs. Thus, these factors lead to the success of the festival.

3.7 Packaging and distribution

Another marketing mix used for this festival was packaging and distribution. For this festival, there was no level of distribution used as the entrance fees are free. People had to only pay for the food that they consume. However, using different levels of distribution will help the festival as it will attract more people’s attention and thus raising their awareness of the festival. For example, tour agencies can inform the tourists who are travelling to Singapore during the month of July about this festival, and they can use their free time during the tour to participate in this festival.  This will enable the tourists to have a taste of Singapore local and multi-cultural delicacies.  

However, this marketing mix has not contributed towards the success of the festival as no packing was done to promote this festival. People who went for the festival were not due to special tours that were arranged for it.

3.8 Partnership

The last marketing mix used for this festival was partnership where it involves the stakeholders in running of the festival. Singapore Food Festival 2012 had several sponsors and partners from various organisations, which can be seen from the picture below. Their main sponsor for the festival is NETS FlashPlay.  

(Singapore Food Festival, 2012)

With NETS FlashPay as the main sponsor, people get to purchase the limited edition of NETS FlashPay card at $12 which has $7 worth of value inside the card, at the main event venue itself. As mentioned above, they will then be able to be entitled with 20% discount off their bill. Not only the NETS organisation is able to gain economically, it enabled people to bring the card around with top-up machines nearby and it allowed people to not carry so much cash on them, especially when there are many people around. This allowed them to feel much safer.

With such discounts, it has attracted more people to the festival.  This is certainly one of the factors that caused the sales to increase, hence leading to the success of the festival.