Singapore Biennale 2008
The objective of this report is to identify how the various components of the event marketing mix had been adopted in the Singapore Biennale 2008. Not only that, evaluate how effective these components had been used to contribute towards the success of the festival. Lastly, it is also to consider the role of this event to Singapore and its value to the tourism economy.
Background
The past Biennale was held in 2006, and it has prominently enhanced Singapore as an international centre and regional thought-leader in the fields of contemporary visual arts. Organized by the National Arts Council (Singapore), the 72-day exhibition attracted more than 883,000 visitors from Singapore and travellers from all over the world. With 95 artists and artist collectives from 38 countries and regions, the diverse selection of artworks presented the best of both Asia and international art practices from Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. The 2006 Biennale provided an effective platform for people to dialogue and share information and resources amongst the arts community from Singapore and the rest of the world. With this new theme Singapore had, art and life was promoted in Singapore. People saw Singapore as a country which celebrates harmony, unity and respects among multiple ethnic groups.
Singapore Biennale 2008 is not just another event for the art world, but one that engages all sectors of the society and people across different sectors as it continues to break new grounds for creative expression. It has a theme of ‘Wonder’. Singapore Biennale 2008 is the largest and most provocative showcase of contemporary art by renowned visual artists from around the globe, with both indoor and outdoor exhibitions at Singapore’s iconic landmarks.
It is held from 11 September to 16 November 2008. Exhibition Hours: Daily 11am – 8pm, Closed on Mondays.
It has a number of different programs, for example, exhibition, encounters, kids’ biennale, education and outreach and parallel events.
Marketing mix
Strategic event marketing is the process by which an event organization aligns business and marketing objectives and the environments in which they occur, with marketing activities hat fulfil the needs of event consumers.
Event marketing mix
· Event production, program and packaging
· People and partnerships
· Pricing, entry or donation
· Event place, physical setting and processes
· Integrated marketing communication
Event production, program and packaging
The organizers of Singapore Biennale 2008 came up with this similar event after witnessing a significant positive feedback from the international media and art critics from the past Biennale 2006. Besides attaining 103,000,000 audience reach with more than 1,000 articles generated world-wide, the cumulative media value for print came up to be approximately $19,300,000, while the website generated over 1 million page views and unique visitors respectively. The overall tonality of media coverage was also highly favorable with strong, positive and fresh opinions formed and expressed.
It is an arts festival thus its market is defined. Previously, the theme was ‘Belief’, but for Singapore Biennale 2008, it is ‘Wonder’. There has been a change in theme of the festival. This shows a style change, in this case, a new theme. This is an event with a strong belief of marrying visual art with street culture – an intervention of art into public areas, allowing art to become an integral part of everyday life. This market is not very mature in Singapore, thus it is still not crowded and much easier to identify a good event sector.
The core concept of the program is art. The event program is placed in a related physical environment, in this case, the historic City Hall areas, along Marina Boulevard where the Integrated Resort is going to be built in 2010, Singapore Flyer which is one of the new attractions of Singapore, Esplanade, Singapore’s art museum and Padang. They have over 50 renowned artists’ works for exhibition, not only that, they have also a professional curatorial team. Having the sponsors and space for their event, Singapore Biennale 2008 had succeeded in programming itself.
The audiences will be able to receive a book, which has all the details of the art works, after purchasing the ticket.
People and Partnerships
National Arts Council (NAC) is the main organizer for The Singapore Biennale 2008. There is also the artistic director, Fumio Nanjo. He is currently the director of the Mori Art Museum and also an art critic and a lecturer at Keio University. He and the other two members, Joselina Cruz and Matthew Ngui, form the curatorial team for Singapore Biennale 2008. These people are all into arts and thus are able to come together for the same purpose. In this case, they share ‘a sense of sharing a common vision’.
Interns and volunteers are being called in to help bring this contemporary art to the audience, making the experience fun, enriching and accessible to all. These are some people who have interest in arts or the festival, if they were not interested at all, they would not even have joined or volunteered.
E.g. Venue partners: Raffles City Shopping Centre, Singapore Flyer.
With a large-scale event like this one, it is hard to create a sense of belonging, but strategies dedicated to building relationships with volunteers, sponsors and visitors are very common. For e.g. because of this festival, crowds are being attracted into the venues, provided locals or foreigners. The Singapore Flyer benefits from this by being in the area. Thus being a partner of Singapore Biennale 2008.
Pricing, entry or donation
Tickets can be purchased at any of the ticketing booths situated in the 2 main venues: City Hall and South Beach Development.Single Entry Pass:* S$10
*Each pass includes a one-time entry for one person only to City Hall and South Beach Development
Concessions50% Discount Off Admission Fee* for:
· Full time students with valid student pass
· Senior citizens aged 60 years and above
· Children above 3 years old
* Each Single Entry Pass comes with a copy of the exhibition's Short Guide. Admission to Singapore Flyer*a separate ticket charge applies to visits to Singapore Flyer. *Present your S$10 Biennale Pass at Singapore Flyer and top up the following for a Singapore Flight Ticket:
*S$21 per adult ticket
*S$20.65 per child or student ticket (Child above 3 years old or student with student pass)
*S$23.60 per senior citizen (With senior citizen pass)
Above are all the prices of the entrances. The pricing also caters to different groups of people. For e.g., students’ tickets are 50% of the original price. This way, it would be more affordable for them to experience the Singapore Biennale2008.
Event place, physical setting and processes
The venues are within walking distance that is best able to present the artworks and engage visitors in a meaningful way. Singapore Biennale 2008 will squarely focus on creating the journey of wonder through two large indoor spaces and a connecting outdoor area. It is also made very convenient for people to visit these art works as they are all interconnected venues. Moreover, these places are some key places of Singapore. They hold some heritage or some history, for e.g. the historic City Hall. Linking the two indoor venues is the Marina Bay Area, a location that itself speaks of wonderous ambition as it gets ready to be the new hot spot come 2010, with the opening of the Integrated Resort, new Financial Centre and a heritage waterfront development. Featuring a number of large-scale interactive and engaging outdoor installations, the water body of the Marina Bay serves as a focal point in connecting these works as you journey from the recently opened Singapore Flyer to the Central Promontory Site.
The organizer thought of ways to relate to arts through the use of the perfect venue. In this case, he used the Marina Bay Area as to prepare the audience for the on-coming hotspot in 2010 where the Integrated Resort is going to be. Moreover, the tickets can be purchased at any of the ticketing booths situated in the 2 main venues, City Hall and South Beach Development. This way, it would be very convenient for the audiences to get their tickets. They could get it there without a need to travel elsewhere to get it. Moreover, it is available on the spot when audiences visit the exhibition. Moreover, the tickets bought from anywhere gives entry to the audience to both the main venues. Most of the tickets are being paid by cash and obtained on the spot. The queue moves fast thus not much problems arise from these transaction processes.
Integrated marketing communication
The Singapore Biennale 2008 has its own website which shows very clearly what their plans are and giving all the necessary information that any audience needs. It has a ‘Home page’, giving the general description of what the event is about and other links like ‘About us’ to know more about who is involved behind the scenes. They have a number for other enquires so as to solve questions or problems that cannot be solved through the website. Not only those, media releases also done. These are forms of planned messages.
It also had banners and posters around the road and streets of Singapore, promoting itself in busy areas such as City Hall, The Esplanade, the arts museum of Singapore, and other town areas of Singapore. They also have outdoors and indoors art works. People walking by would be curious and look up on it. This is a form of unplanned message.
Ways to improve on the use of marketing mix component
It may have an online ticket booking system. This way, people will be able to have their tickets faster and no need to queue, shortening the queue for tickets at the 2 main venues.
They could have more ways of advertising. Like having the festival being broadcasted in the radio or having more posters in heartland areas of Singapore.
It is over all a great festival, with an overall of organized and clear marketing mix. It has made it easier for people of different income groups, having their exhibition in a related place, like City Hall and Esplanade and some other interconnected places. This way, the audiences would not just enjoy part of the exhibition but all of it. The pricing of the tickets and event/physical settings of the festival was ideal.
Tourism roles and economic value of Singapore Biennale 2008
Biennale 2008 is being held at many different locations. Not only in Singapore, but also being held in Sydney, Shanghai, Gwangju, and a Triennale in Yokohama. This is a major event. Through this major event being held in Singapore, Singapore was recognized as a country that is blossoming in artistic value. Some tourists coming into Singapore come here for the purpose of this event. This helps bring in tourism revenue. By holding the Biennale festival in Singapore, it has helped the country attract more visitors, especially those who are more interested in arts. For example, the Singapore Biennale 2006 wowed the audiences, and thus, being a follow up of Singapore Biennale 2006, Singapore Biennale 2008 may have attracted some of the same tourists who came during the Singapore Biennale 2006 festival. This helps to encourage repeat visits. These tourists would spend money on accommodation, F&B, transportation, etc.
In the website, there is the link, ‘Getting to Singapore’. This link gives information to tourists who intend to come to experience the Singapore Biennale 2008. It also promotes and encourages people of other countries to come to Singapore for this festival. It has also put in a lot of efforts in providing information for tourists in the website. Singapore Biennale 2008 has created more jobs for some people as they do look up to interns and volunteers for manpower needed to operate the event smoothly. Thus employment is created.
Conclusion
The production of this major event is through the previous one, in this case, Singapore Biennale 2006. It was a similar event except for a change in theme of the artworks. For the programming, it was placed in various venues which are connected to the purpose of the event, i.e. Arts. Packaging was done by packing a short guide with every purchase of a ticket. The partnerships are also feasible as the event helps its partners to bring in the crowd which in turn would use their facilities, e.g. The Singapore Flyer. Furthermore, there are several different prices to cater to different income groups. Students, senior citizens, and child tickets are 50% of the original price. This shows that the organizers are aware of the different income groups of audiences that are in Singapore. It has done a good marketing mix research for it to come up with such good prices to cater to these audiences. For the venue, the organizer has placed all the artworks in a related area which has all the arts and history of Singapore. Moreover, the venues of the artworks are interconnected, making it very convenient for the audiences to move about and check out the artworks. It is very easy to obtain the tickets as the audiences are able to get it on the spot at the two main venues of the exhibition. For the integrated marketing communication, it has succeeded in capturing the public’s attention. By having some outdoor exhibitions, the artwork is exposed to the public, thus it is inevitable for people walking pass it to not notice. These are the marketing mix used by the event. In my opinion, I find that the event has used it very wisely, and thus obtaining such positive remarks and reaction from the public. It is overall a successful major event that is organized in Singapore, the Singapore Biennale 2008.
The objective of this report is to identify how the various components of the event marketing mix had been adopted in the Singapore Biennale 2008. Not only that, evaluate how effective these components had been used to contribute towards the success of the festival. Lastly, it is also to consider the role of this event to Singapore and its value to the tourism economy.
Background
The past Biennale was held in 2006, and it has prominently enhanced Singapore as an international centre and regional thought-leader in the fields of contemporary visual arts. Organized by the National Arts Council (Singapore), the 72-day exhibition attracted more than 883,000 visitors from Singapore and travellers from all over the world. With 95 artists and artist collectives from 38 countries and regions, the diverse selection of artworks presented the best of both Asia and international art practices from Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. The 2006 Biennale provided an effective platform for people to dialogue and share information and resources amongst the arts community from Singapore and the rest of the world. With this new theme Singapore had, art and life was promoted in Singapore. People saw Singapore as a country which celebrates harmony, unity and respects among multiple ethnic groups.
Singapore Biennale 2008 is not just another event for the art world, but one that engages all sectors of the society and people across different sectors as it continues to break new grounds for creative expression. It has a theme of ‘Wonder’. Singapore Biennale 2008 is the largest and most provocative showcase of contemporary art by renowned visual artists from around the globe, with both indoor and outdoor exhibitions at Singapore’s iconic landmarks.
It is held from 11 September to 16 November 2008. Exhibition Hours: Daily 11am – 8pm, Closed on Mondays.
It has a number of different programs, for example, exhibition, encounters, kids’ biennale, education and outreach and parallel events.
Marketing mix
Strategic event marketing is the process by which an event organization aligns business and marketing objectives and the environments in which they occur, with marketing activities hat fulfil the needs of event consumers.
Event marketing mix
· Event production, program and packaging
· People and partnerships
· Pricing, entry or donation
· Event place, physical setting and processes
· Integrated marketing communication
Event production, program and packaging
The organizers of Singapore Biennale 2008 came up with this similar event after witnessing a significant positive feedback from the international media and art critics from the past Biennale 2006. Besides attaining 103,000,000 audience reach with more than 1,000 articles generated world-wide, the cumulative media value for print came up to be approximately $19,300,000, while the website generated over 1 million page views and unique visitors respectively. The overall tonality of media coverage was also highly favorable with strong, positive and fresh opinions formed and expressed.
It is an arts festival thus its market is defined. Previously, the theme was ‘Belief’, but for Singapore Biennale 2008, it is ‘Wonder’. There has been a change in theme of the festival. This shows a style change, in this case, a new theme. This is an event with a strong belief of marrying visual art with street culture – an intervention of art into public areas, allowing art to become an integral part of everyday life. This market is not very mature in Singapore, thus it is still not crowded and much easier to identify a good event sector.
The core concept of the program is art. The event program is placed in a related physical environment, in this case, the historic City Hall areas, along Marina Boulevard where the Integrated Resort is going to be built in 2010, Singapore Flyer which is one of the new attractions of Singapore, Esplanade, Singapore’s art museum and Padang. They have over 50 renowned artists’ works for exhibition, not only that, they have also a professional curatorial team. Having the sponsors and space for their event, Singapore Biennale 2008 had succeeded in programming itself.
The audiences will be able to receive a book, which has all the details of the art works, after purchasing the ticket.
People and Partnerships
National Arts Council (NAC) is the main organizer for The Singapore Biennale 2008. There is also the artistic director, Fumio Nanjo. He is currently the director of the Mori Art Museum and also an art critic and a lecturer at Keio University. He and the other two members, Joselina Cruz and Matthew Ngui, form the curatorial team for Singapore Biennale 2008. These people are all into arts and thus are able to come together for the same purpose. In this case, they share ‘a sense of sharing a common vision’.
Interns and volunteers are being called in to help bring this contemporary art to the audience, making the experience fun, enriching and accessible to all. These are some people who have interest in arts or the festival, if they were not interested at all, they would not even have joined or volunteered.
E.g. Venue partners: Raffles City Shopping Centre, Singapore Flyer.
With a large-scale event like this one, it is hard to create a sense of belonging, but strategies dedicated to building relationships with volunteers, sponsors and visitors are very common. For e.g. because of this festival, crowds are being attracted into the venues, provided locals or foreigners. The Singapore Flyer benefits from this by being in the area. Thus being a partner of Singapore Biennale 2008.
Pricing, entry or donation
Tickets can be purchased at any of the ticketing booths situated in the 2 main venues: City Hall and South Beach Development.Single Entry Pass:* S$10
*Each pass includes a one-time entry for one person only to City Hall and South Beach Development
Concessions50% Discount Off Admission Fee* for:
· Full time students with valid student pass
· Senior citizens aged 60 years and above
· Children above 3 years old
* Each Single Entry Pass comes with a copy of the exhibition's Short Guide. Admission to Singapore Flyer*a separate ticket charge applies to visits to Singapore Flyer. *Present your S$10 Biennale Pass at Singapore Flyer and top up the following for a Singapore Flight Ticket:
*S$21 per adult ticket
*S$20.65 per child or student ticket (Child above 3 years old or student with student pass)
*S$23.60 per senior citizen (With senior citizen pass)
Above are all the prices of the entrances. The pricing also caters to different groups of people. For e.g., students’ tickets are 50% of the original price. This way, it would be more affordable for them to experience the Singapore Biennale2008.
Event place, physical setting and processes
The venues are within walking distance that is best able to present the artworks and engage visitors in a meaningful way. Singapore Biennale 2008 will squarely focus on creating the journey of wonder through two large indoor spaces and a connecting outdoor area. It is also made very convenient for people to visit these art works as they are all interconnected venues. Moreover, these places are some key places of Singapore. They hold some heritage or some history, for e.g. the historic City Hall. Linking the two indoor venues is the Marina Bay Area, a location that itself speaks of wonderous ambition as it gets ready to be the new hot spot come 2010, with the opening of the Integrated Resort, new Financial Centre and a heritage waterfront development. Featuring a number of large-scale interactive and engaging outdoor installations, the water body of the Marina Bay serves as a focal point in connecting these works as you journey from the recently opened Singapore Flyer to the Central Promontory Site.
The organizer thought of ways to relate to arts through the use of the perfect venue. In this case, he used the Marina Bay Area as to prepare the audience for the on-coming hotspot in 2010 where the Integrated Resort is going to be. Moreover, the tickets can be purchased at any of the ticketing booths situated in the 2 main venues, City Hall and South Beach Development. This way, it would be very convenient for the audiences to get their tickets. They could get it there without a need to travel elsewhere to get it. Moreover, it is available on the spot when audiences visit the exhibition. Moreover, the tickets bought from anywhere gives entry to the audience to both the main venues. Most of the tickets are being paid by cash and obtained on the spot. The queue moves fast thus not much problems arise from these transaction processes.
Integrated marketing communication
The Singapore Biennale 2008 has its own website which shows very clearly what their plans are and giving all the necessary information that any audience needs. It has a ‘Home page’, giving the general description of what the event is about and other links like ‘About us’ to know more about who is involved behind the scenes. They have a number for other enquires so as to solve questions or problems that cannot be solved through the website. Not only those, media releases also done. These are forms of planned messages.
It also had banners and posters around the road and streets of Singapore, promoting itself in busy areas such as City Hall, The Esplanade, the arts museum of Singapore, and other town areas of Singapore. They also have outdoors and indoors art works. People walking by would be curious and look up on it. This is a form of unplanned message.
Ways to improve on the use of marketing mix component
It may have an online ticket booking system. This way, people will be able to have their tickets faster and no need to queue, shortening the queue for tickets at the 2 main venues.
They could have more ways of advertising. Like having the festival being broadcasted in the radio or having more posters in heartland areas of Singapore.
It is over all a great festival, with an overall of organized and clear marketing mix. It has made it easier for people of different income groups, having their exhibition in a related place, like City Hall and Esplanade and some other interconnected places. This way, the audiences would not just enjoy part of the exhibition but all of it. The pricing of the tickets and event/physical settings of the festival was ideal.
Tourism roles and economic value of Singapore Biennale 2008
Biennale 2008 is being held at many different locations. Not only in Singapore, but also being held in Sydney, Shanghai, Gwangju, and a Triennale in Yokohama. This is a major event. Through this major event being held in Singapore, Singapore was recognized as a country that is blossoming in artistic value. Some tourists coming into Singapore come here for the purpose of this event. This helps bring in tourism revenue. By holding the Biennale festival in Singapore, it has helped the country attract more visitors, especially those who are more interested in arts. For example, the Singapore Biennale 2006 wowed the audiences, and thus, being a follow up of Singapore Biennale 2006, Singapore Biennale 2008 may have attracted some of the same tourists who came during the Singapore Biennale 2006 festival. This helps to encourage repeat visits. These tourists would spend money on accommodation, F&B, transportation, etc.
In the website, there is the link, ‘Getting to Singapore’. This link gives information to tourists who intend to come to experience the Singapore Biennale 2008. It also promotes and encourages people of other countries to come to Singapore for this festival. It has also put in a lot of efforts in providing information for tourists in the website. Singapore Biennale 2008 has created more jobs for some people as they do look up to interns and volunteers for manpower needed to operate the event smoothly. Thus employment is created.
Conclusion
The production of this major event is through the previous one, in this case, Singapore Biennale 2006. It was a similar event except for a change in theme of the artworks. For the programming, it was placed in various venues which are connected to the purpose of the event, i.e. Arts. Packaging was done by packing a short guide with every purchase of a ticket. The partnerships are also feasible as the event helps its partners to bring in the crowd which in turn would use their facilities, e.g. The Singapore Flyer. Furthermore, there are several different prices to cater to different income groups. Students, senior citizens, and child tickets are 50% of the original price. This shows that the organizers are aware of the different income groups of audiences that are in Singapore. It has done a good marketing mix research for it to come up with such good prices to cater to these audiences. For the venue, the organizer has placed all the artworks in a related area which has all the arts and history of Singapore. Moreover, the venues of the artworks are interconnected, making it very convenient for the audiences to move about and check out the artworks. It is very easy to obtain the tickets as the audiences are able to get it on the spot at the two main venues of the exhibition. For the integrated marketing communication, it has succeeded in capturing the public’s attention. By having some outdoor exhibitions, the artwork is exposed to the public, thus it is inevitable for people walking pass it to not notice. These are the marketing mix used by the event. In my opinion, I find that the event has used it very wisely, and thus obtaining such positive remarks and reaction from the public. It is overall a successful major event that is organized in Singapore, the Singapore Biennale 2008.
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