FIELD TRIP REFLECTION REPORT (Events)
INTRODUCTION
The Singapore Arts Festival first began life in 1977 as a national arts festival celebrating local arts activity of Singapore’s diverse communities.
Five Foot Broadway is the name of the project for developing new Singapore musicals under the auspices of The Musical Theatre Limited, in collaboration with Esplanade. It was started in 2004, and to date it has incubated and performed demonstration no-frills productions of 22 new musicals. The event is made up of 6 short musicals and was held at Esplanade, in conjunction with the Singapore Arts Festival. Each musical brings story to life through song and movement and takes about fifteen minutes, which suits the fast pace of modern life.
It is a local event and the main purpose of the event is to encourage new writers and composers to create original works of musical theatre, in a compact contemporary format. It has social and entertainment value and helps expose people to new ideas and experiences.
BACKGROUND OF ORGANISER
The Five Foot Broadway Mini Musicals 2008 is organized by Musical Theatre Limited (MTL). Its mission is to turn Singapore’s life into music and song! MTL also helps creative people to write, compose and present new works of musical theatre, as well as organise activities to get more people to enjoy and contribute to this enthralling art form.
MTL is an Arts Charity and Institute of a Public Character, which allows donors to claim double tax relief on their contributions. It has presented 19 new musicals at the Art House and the Esplanade under their showcased programme called FIVE FOOT BROADWAY, in collaboration with Esplanade.
MTL has built a dynamic community of ‘people who love musicals’. These include scriptwriters, composers, songwriters, performing artistes and volunteer helpers. They were driven by their passion for musical theatre and are building their support base of corporate sponsors.
ROLE OF EVENTS TO THE ORGANISER
The event was held in collaboration with Esplanade. It creates positive images of the esplanade and brings in more people to the esplanade. Also, it helps create awareness about the company. MTL is a non-profit company and its staffs are made up of volunteers. By raising awareness of the company, there will be higher chances of volunteers joining the company.
STAKEHOLDERS
The stakeholders are National Arts Council, Creative Community Singapore, Arts Fund, Lee Foundation, Home-Fix Private Limited, Sing Avenue Productions, Super Galvanising Private Limited, Samuel Seow Law Corporation, Dr Mary-Ann Tsao, Ah Meng of M-Tech Motor Servces, Wahidah bte A Jalil, Courts (Singapore) Limited for providing all the furniture and transport in and out of stage, Victoria Moey for graphic design and Esplanade – Theatre on the Bay, for believing in Five Foot Broadway Mini Musicals.
TARGET MARKET
The event is targeted mainly at local audiences who have special interest in music and arts. These include music and art lovers, working adults and teenagers. The event is about bringing stories to life through lovely music. The music and art lovers will be able to appreciate the show. The showing time is at 7.00pm and 9.30 pm. This caters to the working adults as it is after the office hours. The tickets are also affordable for teenagers, at a reasonable price of $20.
MARKETING STRATEGIES
Product: It is important for the company to take note of what the customers need, want and is willing to pay for. As this is a musical event, the most important thing is to focus on providing original and creative music that will be presented to the audiences.
Place: The event was chosen to be held at the esplanade mainly because of its accessibility. The place is accessible and convenient to the working adults and even teenagers who are still schooling.
People: The staffs at the event were friendly and polite. They took the initiative to interact with the audiences. When questions were asked, they try their best to clear our doubts and offered us name card so that we can contact them if there are any other questions. The setting and the staff constitute a large part of the event experience. Thus, the hospitality received by the visitors does play a big part in shaping their experience.
Promotion: The event uses Electronic Direct Mailer (EDM) as its main marketing strategy. As music and art lovers surf the net very often in search for music and art events, the company has a list of people in their mailing list. When there is an upcoming event, the company sends out electronic mails to their mailing list. Apart from that, the company also uses the word-of-mouth marketing strategy.
Partnership: The event was held in collaboration with Esplanade. The Esplanade is a Singapore icon. By holding an event there, the number of people being attracted will be greater.
Price: The event is ticketed at the price of $25 with discounts given to students. The tickets are available at SISTIC.
RATE THE ORGANISATION OF THE EVENT
I would rate the event good as the security was tight as our bags were being checked before the show to ensure that no dangerous items are being brought into the theatre.
The staffs were efficient in crowd control. Although it was free seating, everyone managed to get seated in a short time. During the show, nobody was taking photos or filming.
The service was superb. The staffs were polite in giving instructions. When questions were raised, Mr. Mark Ha, the general manager, answered all questions patiently. He even offered his name card to us.
The best staging comes from good actors. The staging was excellent as the actors do care about what they are acting. They managed to bring the stories to life through their beautiful voices, emotions and music.
POTENTIAL OF THE EVENT TO MEET TOURIST DEMAND
The potential of the event to meet tourist demand is very low as it mainly targets on local audience. Furthermore, the main marketing strategies that the company used are EDM and word-of-mouth. This is insufficient as the chances of attracting tourists are low if they were to only send out electronic mails to their mailing list. It will only attract regular customers and not reach out to the mass.
During the event, there were very few tourists, which mean the event is still far from meeting the tourist demand. To attract more tourists, the company may consider adopting other marketing strategies that will be able to reach out to the mass.
HOW THE VALUE OF THE EVENT COULD BE RAISED
The mission of the Events and Entertainment is to establish Singapore as the “Events and Entertainment Capital of Asia”.
Firstly, in order for Singapore to be the events and entertainment capital of Asia, the company should target on tourists and different groups of people from around the world. The event should not focus on a niche market so that they can spread their demand.
There is a need to improve on their marketing strategies. To attract different groups of people from around the world, they should try advertising through media such as internet, newspapers and hanging banners and posters so that more people will be aware that there is such an event going on. The Singapore Tourism Board may also help promote the event on their website and give out flyers.
The company may also try to invite actors from other countries to make the stories more interesting. By including foreign actors, the chances of attracting tourists will increase. Furthermore, the family and friends of the foreign actor may support him and attend the event too.
Lastly, door gifts or souvenirs may be given to the audiences. When free gifts are given, it will definitely attract more people to the event.
All in all, organizing and planning an event is not easy. There is a lot of time and effort put into marketing the event and coordinating many things to ensure that all goes according to plan.
APPENDIX
posted by Lynn @ 10:05 PM
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