The event that I have chosen was Beerfest Asia 2009. It was held at the Singapore Flyer at the F1 track facing the Marina Barrage. This festival was held for 5 days: 29 April 2009 to 3 May 2009. As cited from beerfestasia.com, this event gives people the opportunity to get to taste and sample beers over 100 kinds of beer all under-one-roof. Beerfest also brings beers from places as far as from Chile, Mexico, Switzerland, and even Asian beers from Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia as cited from the Beerfest Booklet.

Another similar festival I am going to use as basis for comparison is the Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. Guides (2007) stated that Oktoberfest is “world’s largest public festival, starts from the third Saturday in September and keeps pumping day after day for a full-on alcohol-soaked fortnight”. People attending Oktoberfest keep drinking non-stop till they are very drunk. Despite this, this festival would still attract seven million visitors to the festival as described by Guides (2007).

I went on 29 April 2009 and reached around 7.30pm. There were some overlapping in terms of the marketing mix, and I would further elaborate in the later part of my report.

2. Objectives of the event

The objectives of Beerfest Asia as stated in a report by Toh (2009) with an interview with co-festival director Matt Bennett was,” the idea behind Beerfest is the experimental process of finding and enjoying beers that you may never otherwise encounter here in Singapore. Each brewery and distributor was invited to bring their unique beers to the festival where they can introduce and reach out to new customers”

3. Marketing strategy and marketing mix

3.1. Product

Kotler, P. et al. (2006) stated that a product is something that can be ‘offered to a market for attention, acquition, use or, or consumption that might satisfy a want or a need’.

The products offered by Beerfest were beers featuring more than 100 kinds of exotic and unusual brews from all over the world as cited from Toh (2009). Some of the brands that were at Beerfest were Thai beers like Singha and Chang’s, Archipelago Brewery, EFES, Flying Dog Brewery. There is also DeuS (Brut des Flandres), a Belgian Beer – the most expensive beer in the world…an English brew usually favoured by royalty in the United Kingdom” as written by Toh (2009) in his article.

different brands at Beerfest

In contrast, Oktoberfest has their own traditional beers as their main product. Guides (2007) stated that they have beers from fourteen enormous circus tents with different breweries brewing their own kind of beers including top breweries of the country. They are identified as the Big Six: Augustiner, Hacker, Hofbäu, Paulaner, Loweubräu, and Spaten. Beers at Oktoberfest are only beers from Germany.

3.2. Price

Kotler, P. et al. (2006) stated that price is the amount of money charged for a product or service.

At Beerfest, for the purchasing of beers, beer prices starts from S$3. Beerfest currency was available which was bundled up to $10 or $50 per booklet which can be bought at any of the booths at Beerfest as stated in the Beerfest Booklet. There were no cash transactions needed and customers would just use the beer vouchers to purchase beers from the vendors.. If one buys the vouchers, he would need to finish all the Beerfest currency within that day.

Purchase of Beerfest Currency

Prices of Beerfest Currency

Similarly, at Oktoberfest, festive goers will need to buy beer vouchers from the beer tents in order to get the beers with prices that range from 7.8 Euros – 8.3 Euros which costs around S$15 – S$16 and ranges from the different beer tents, as cited from Oktoberfest.de. In contrast with Beerfest, Oktoberfest vouchers would still be usable at other specific taverns and restaurants in Munich, Germany as stated in the FAQ site in Ocktoberfest.de.

At the ticketing side, the ticketing operator for Beerfest Asia would be Bytes Ticketing. With an operator to help to manage the tickets, the organisers themselves would be able to run the event exclusively. Prices range from $10 for Concession – Tertiary students, SAFRA members, senior citizens to Hospitality members which cost $75 a ticket for people who would have a package with reserved seat and free ride at the Singapore flyer.

Singha Beer Table Stands

Singha Beer Booth

Hospitality Tables for the Corporate groups

Outdoor Hospitality tables

Online reservation is unavailable for Oktoberfest. Furthermore, entry is free, but it does not guarantee them a seat and for those who are not seated will not be served any beers as cited from Oktoberfest.de.

3.3. Place

Beerfest took place at Singapore Flyer (SGF) at the F1 track facing Marina Barrage. A marquee was set up and held there. SGF is easily accessible from City Hall MRT station, or walk from Marina Square. Esplanade is nearby; hence people who are interested in Beerfest could attend easily.

On the other hand, Oktoberfest is held in Germany, Munich. There are fourteen enormous tents with sizes of aircraft hangars, multi-floored, and able to seat 8000 people each. Each brewery company has each own marquee and all of them are all situated side by side.

3.4. Promotion

Kotler, P. et al. (2006) said that promotion refers to the ‘specific mix of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and public relations a company uses to pursue its advertising and marketing objectives’.

The marketing strategy employed by Beerfest from the interview with the Events and Music Executive of Timbre Music, Mr Low, was application of the official website www.beerfestasia.com. Beerfest Asia utilised local media, and was featured in Today, Straits times, Business times, Life!*. Word of mouth was a very strong tool to promote the event as stated by Mr Low and Mr Patrick. In addition, those whom I interviewed also came when their friends asked them to go, if not they would not have knew there was such an event.

Beerfest Official Website

As for Oktoberfest, there was a special weekend train ticket to Munich. At Oktoberfest.de, it was already counting down. There was also an Oktoberfest-motif to press representatives. There were official advertising media, Oktoberfest merchandise (accessories, cups, clothes), and souvenirs ready for ordering. There were photos of past Oktoberfest featured on the website so that people could understand and know more about the festival.

Homepage of Oktoberfest Website

photos of past Oktoberfest

3.5. Packaging

There were packaging schemes for the admissions for Beerfest. It caters to all age groups from the public. it ranges from concession which cost $10 for Tertiary Students, NSmen and senior citizens; to hospitality members which cost $75 a ticket for people who would have a package. Group packages were available for the public e.g. package plan for a group of 20^#.

3.6. Partnerships

Partnerships would mean two companies working together to produce the event.

There were multiple partnerships between Beerfest and such companies. One of the partnerships that Beerfest had was with Citibank Credit Card. For Citibank credit card holders there was 15% discount for Early Bird and At-the-Door tickets for Citi Clear Platinum card members; 10% discount for other Citibank credit card members^* whereas there are no such packaging for Oktoberfest.

3.7. People

People are those who have direct contact with the customers.

Mr Low said that departments working at Beerfest were ticketing, security, cleaning crew, beer vendors, and contractors. From observation, the people working there were from e.g. F1 – selling Magazines, O’briens – Sandwiches, etc. There was one beer vendor wanting to prove that his beers were good and he even offered free beer to the customer so that he could taste how it was. If the beer was not good, it would be free. The people involved would be the beer girls that drink with the customers. The people could also be the bands that were performing and this would be more elaborated at programming.

one of the food vendors handling the food – SwissBake

singha beer girl

myself with the F1 Girl

As for Oktoberfest the people who are involved would be the organizers of the event, the owners and the employees of the respective breweries.

3.8. Programming

The Beers were also part of the program although it was the main product. Toh(2009) cited that  Beerfest had international rock performances by Vertical Horizon(USA) and Hell’s Belles(USA), an all female AC/DC, arm-wrestling competitions,. Mr Low added that there were also F1 simulators where professional car drivers actually use to practice. There were also dancing competitions by the Singha and the FHM girls that were impromptu on the day I went.

F1 Stimulators: real F1 drivers use to train for competitions

FHM girls and Singha Beer Girls are dancing to the song being played

Towards the end, I could see that the people were enjoying the entertainment as they were having fun and cheering for the bands. This is also part of the product that Beerfest is offering to its customers to make their experience at the event enjoyable and fulfilling.

I took this video when i was there. Music was by 53A, and the whole event is quite hyped up and everyone was enjoying the song that was played. at the last few seconds of the video, FHM girls were dancing and jumping to the song.  [more videos at "Videos and Pictures"]

people are enjoying the music

As for Oktoberfest, some programs would be the Lord Mayor officially opening the festival at noon by tapping the first barrel of Oktoberfest beer in the Schottenhamel tent by the park’s entrance. There are also amusement parks with roller coaster rides, go-carts, fun-fair entertainments and also the Ferris wheel as stated by Guides (2007).

4. Best practices of both events

The best practice for Beerfest was product. It was good because cutomers gets to try and sample over 100 kinds of beers from all over the world with prices starting as low as S$3.  It allows people to know more how beers are being made. Singapore sling was also featured at Beerfest and sold for $10 a bottle using Beerfest currency. Beers at Beerfest would be better in comparison to Oktoberfest because the latter only have beers from Germany while Beerfest features international beers. Therefore Beerfest would be a better option.

Oktoberfest was better in terms of Promotion because it has been planned several months before the festival even started for that year; it has already been collecting orders for the Oktoberfest 2008 souvenirs in preparation for year 2009.  Contrastingly for Beerfest, promotions have not been done well although Mr Low said that they have done ample promotions. But many that were interviewed said that they heard from their friends instead of seeing it in the media.

Oktoberfest 2008 Souvnirs

5. Reflect on the main purpose of the event

I think the main purpose of this event was to bring everybody from all around the world together to get to taste beers from all over the world, catch up and network. It is like killing three birds with one stone! I think the beer vendors would want to create awareness and build reputation about their beers to the public. The people that I interviewed at the event, their purpose for coming for the event was to de-stress, and to come here to socialise and catch up with friends. Mr Patrick, the marketing executive of Singha beer said that the reason for Singha coming here would be looking for more business opportunities and being able to network with beer companies all over the world.

Myself with Mr Patrick

6. Identify the stakeholders of the event.

Event stakeholders affect the success of the event itself. From the festivals and events lecture 1 notes, stakeholders include: Firstly, the host organisation which were Ublues Group and Timbre Music. Secondly, host community which includes Singapore Tourism Board, Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau, Australia Government – Australian Trade commission, Singapore Flyer whom had given permission for holding the event at the place, participants and spectators whom are the public attending the event, co-workers would include the student volunteers, the staff working with the organisers, media: Straits Time, Life!, Business Times, FHM, Timeout Singapore new media which included the website and hungrygowhere.com and lastly the sponsors: Lowe Refrigeration, Citibank Card, Absolute Vodka, Grand Park, Power98FM, B-YOND, NLX Event Services, D.A.S, CSP, DMC, food & beverage logistics, Bio-Air  .

7. The amount of tourism benefits received from Beerfest Asia 2009

The amount of tourism benefits received from Beerfest Asia was not very much because many of the tourists who came here did not come solely for the event itself. There was one I interviewed was that he was here for the Boat Asia instead of the Beerfest itself. It was only that his friends were having a booth there and so he went there to help out. Most of the party-goers who went there mostly were the white-collar workers, so it did not really appeal much to the foreigners.

8. Conclusion

Personally, I felt that the promotions for Beerfest were not very strong as compared to the interview I had with Mr Low. It was a bit contradicting as he had told me from the interview that he had a lot of promotions and advertisements for the event, but actually I only saw very limited news articles and advertisements that were related to this event. It was only when I was assigned to this project then I got to know about this event. Many that I have interviewed also agreed that the marketing strategies that they employed were not as effective as most of those who attended only knew through word-of-mouth and not by the marketing strategies that were employed by them.