Beerfest Asia 2009 at Singapore Flyer

Introduction Beerfest Asia 2009 was held for the second time in Singapore on 29^th April to 3^rd May at the Singapore Flyer.It featured over one hundred different kinds of beer from all over the world under one marquee, from distant countries such as Chile, Mexico and Switzerland, to long-established brewery countries such as Belgium, United States, America (USA) and Germany, not forgetting our very own Asian beers from Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore’s very own “Singapore Sling”. All participating breweries and distributors were specially chosen and invited to showcase their distinctive beers during the festival.

The festival also had an outdoor bazaar with a range of scrumptious food and merchandise.There were music entertainment by rock bands such as Hell’s Belles and Vertical Horizon from USA, not to mention disc jockeys (DJs) like DJ Samurai and DJ Jensen Ho from Power 98 FM. A variety of activities like arm wrestling tournaments and games was available too.

Comparison with Similar Event / Festival

Another successful festival is the Munich Beer Festival, or Oktoberfest. There are similarities and differences in the marketing strategies of Beerfest Asia and Oktoberfest and I have analyzed them below according to the eight “P’s” of marketing strategy along with a short introduction of the Oktoberfest.

1) Introduction of Oktoberfest
The Munich Beer Festival, or the Oktoberfest, held annually is a hallmark event of Munich, Germany occurring in the period between mid-September to early October for two weeks. The unique part of the Oktoberfest is that it starts on the third Saturday in September for two weeks in a park known locally as “Theresienwiese” or “Wies’n” in short. The festival features locally brewed beers and parades on weekends. It is also held beside an amusement park and there will be food stands as well as waitresses with baskets of brezen.

2) Product

The product for both festivals is clearly stated in the introduction, beers. However, there is a difference between the types of beers exhibited in each festival. There is also food and alternate source of entertainment, for example music performances and competitions or parades.

For Beerfest Asia 2009, the product is beers from all over the world. However, the product for Oktoberfest is locally brewed beers. The food featured at Beerfest Asia is also different from that featured at Oktoberfest.
As stated above, Oktoberfest is more focused on local delights such as brezen, a large salt-encrusted pretzel that complements well with beer. Beerfest Asia, on the other hand, featured a wide range of delicacies, from Asian delights to European and Western favourites.

3) Place
Both festivals are held outdoor with marquees and beside a certain attraction. The layout for both festivals are quite similar as the main activity is held in the marquee with lots of long trestle tables and chairs placed so closely with each other that visitors sitting down will be rubbing shoulders with the person next to him or her (reference to pictures on websites).
However, unlike Beerfest Asia, the Oktoberfest was held at the exact same location for the past one hundred and seventy five years where it originated, which is at Wies’n park. For Beerfest Asia, it has changed location from Fort Canning Park to Singapore Flyer along the Formula One tracks facing Marina Barrage.

4) Partnerships

Though both festivals have sponsors, their sponsors have a big difference among themselves.
For Oktoberfest, as the world’s largest public festival, the major beer companies sponsor for their own tents.

As for Beerfest Asia, it had a range of sponsors, from banks to magazines to music equipments and performers partners.

5) Promotion (Communications)

To encourage more visitors, both festivals need to have certain promotion.

For Beerfest, there is a discount for “early bird” tickets for those who pay using Citibank (sponsor) credit card. This is similar to Oktoberfest’s strategy of allowing visitors to reserve seats of specific beer tents that they would like to visit on the day so as to avoid waiting for a long time to get a seat on that day. Other than that, Oktoberfest also have promotions for families.

6) Programming

The programs for Beerfest Asia 2009 was quite similar for the each of the five-day-event. There were mainly music performances starting from evening till late night. There were also two specials: the Aussie Specials on 1st May and Celtic Clan Day on 3rd May. In addition, there was a “Victoria Bitter National Arm Wrestling Championship” held on the last two days of the festival.

As for Oktoberfest, all the programs are planned on weekends and seem to be repeated over the years. For example, for this year’s Okotoberfest, the programs includes the “Grand entry of the Oktoberfest landlords and breweries” on the first day, a costume and riflemen’s parade on the second day and an open-air concert of bands adding up to four hundred musicians on the second Sunday of the festival.
 
7) People

The audience of both festivals are the same as it requires visitors to be of legal drinking age to be able to participate in the festival and they are definitely beer lovers.

8) Price

For both festivals, there is a similarity as visitors have to pay for items consumed within the festival grounds.

The difference is the admission fee, as only Beerfest charged admission fee while Oktoberfest does not charge a fee as it is a public festival. The admission fee is considered quite expensive for students like me but it may be a tactic used to ensure that the right target audiences visit the festival.

All products are set at a reasonable price such that more visitors will be able to afford them. For example, beers at Beerfest starts from $3 onwards and the steamed prawns cost $5 per plate; all paid using the coupons that can be purchased at the entrance using cash. This is similar to beer tokens used by locals during Oktoberfest, which can be given to them by their companies or even as pension for the senior citizens, but it can also be purchased from the tent-owners too.

9) Packaging & Distribution

The sales of tickets for Beerfest could be bought online, at the festival entrance as well as at some of the sponsors’ websites or shops. Thus, most of the intermediaries are the sponsors themselves. They have also packaged Beerfest tickets with Singapore Flyer tickets and sell at a cheaper price to attract more visitors to both the festival and the attraction. This is also done for Vertical Horizon’s Concert Day (2nd May) tickets.

Similarly, Oktoberfest is packaged with hotels such that tourists will have no trouble enjoying the festival.

Best Practices

One observation made is that there were a lot of showgirls promoting beers for each booth. This may be to attract more male drinkers to purchase beer.

The programs planned were also designed to cater to the audiences, be it working adults or families (on 3^rd May). The atmosphere created by the programs encourages visitors to just drink and enjoy the night, as I have experienced that day.

Another observation is that the festival attracted visitors from the attraction near it. Thus, it is a good idea to locate the festival at a location beside an attraction to experience the spillover effect from the attraction and vice versa, generating more revenue. This can be seen from the sales of the Beerfest tickets.

This brings me to the next point which is the “early bird” ticket promotion which helps to confirm the minimum number of visitors for Beerfest. It also helps to generate revenue for the organizing company.

Apart from that, the most of the booths also gave out samples to allow visitors to have a try of their beer before persuading them to buy. One booth even gave a whole bottle to us as samples when we asked for it. Though we were only students, a promoter helped us to get samples as he explained our situation to his fellow promoters. This can be a good promoting tactic to attract visitors to buy the beer as they may be tempted to have more after the first try. Not to mention, the organizer that we interview also gave us a treat of prawns which was simply delicious and we just had to get more.

Lastly, the period in which the festival was held consisted of a long weekend due to the public holiday for Labour Day (1^st May). This helps to promote more visitors as adults do not have to work and can come down to this event with their family as well.

Stakeholders

Stakeholders of an event include host organization, host community, sponsor, media, co-workers, participants and spectators.

Firstly, the host organization is Beerfest Private Limited. They plan and organise the event from scratch.

Secondly, the host community for Beerfest Asia 2009 is Singapore.

Thirdly, the sponsors of Beerfest Asia 2009 are Citibank, Absolut Vodka and many more. They help to provide resources, such as manpower and money, to enable this festival to happen.

Next, the media involved are FHM and Time Out Singapore magazines as well as Power 98FM which helps to publicize the festival through broadcast and printed media.

The co-workers involved are any workers working in Beerfest. This includes exhibitors, promoters, even showgirls promoting Formula One. The musicians are also co-workers as they are paid to help create the right atmosphere for the festival.

Lastly, all visitors of the festival are spectators of the festival and the participants are the exhibitors and the food and merchandise vendors. The visitors may be working adults who chose to relax and hang out with friends and colleagues after work or tourists that happen to be in Singapore at that time or deliberately visit Singapore for this festival to try out different types of beer.

Main Purpose of Beerfest Asia 2009

The purpose of Beerfest Asia is for developing trade and to allow beer lovers to undergo the “experimentation process of finding and enjoying beers that you may never, otherwise encounter locally here in Singapore” as quoted from Mr. Matt Bennett, Co-Festival Director of Beerfest Asia 2009 in the media release.

Since the main target group is the working adults, a long weekend off will mean more time for them to chill out at the festival and other than indulging in beers, they can also try different types of food variety offered there by vendors such as O’Briens Sandwich Bar.

Secondly, the festival is expanding each year and thus it will help to promote beers in Singapore and this may lead to economic benefits such as business dealings and help bring Singapore’s economy out of the pits.

Lastly, as Singapore Tourism Board (Uniquely Singapore) is one of the partners in Beerfest Asia, its purpose should include promoting Singapore as a happening destination as well.

Tourism Benefits

Beerfest Asia 2009 generated a lot of publicity within and outside of Singapore. This could have lead to an increase in tourist or extending tourists’ length of stay in Singapore. Due to the media coverage and exposure attracted, Singapore’s image should be enhanced and result in increase in inbound tourists. This may also place Singapore on a competitive edge against countries that holds a similar event or festival.

Beerfest Asia also acts as a platform for promoting businesses in Singapore. This is not only true for participating exhibitors and food and beverage vendors but for the businesses that are indirectly involved in the festival as well. Not only that, Beerfest generates more tourist receipts for all businesses directly and indirectly involved in it.

Conclusion

Beerfest Asia can and will bring about new opportunities for Singapore. Other than thinking of how to sustain Beerfest Asia, they should focus on long-term goals to expand the festival as well. Receiving feedbacks from visitors will in turn help improve the marketing strategy to create more awareness and open up a new world of business opportunities in Singapore, which is the beer industry. All in all, Beerfest should work to become a hallmark event like Oktoberfest and someday have people flying to Singapore just for this festival.