Festival & Event Management

Field Trip Report

Beer Festival

Introduction:

Asia’s biggest beer festival- Beerfest Asia 2009 happened in Singapore during the period of 29 April to 3 May, attracting thousands of beer lovers in Singapore or around the region. It is held at F1 tracks, behind the Singapore Flyer. The festival features more than 100 beers from all over the world, including Germany, Australia, Japan, China, India, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, Mexico, New Zealand, the UK and the USA.

Over 14,000 people rolled into Beerfest Asia 2009 to taste different kinds of beers and share their enjoyment with friends, while catching exciting performances by world-famous, all-female AC/DC tribute band Hells Belles and double platinum selling act Vertical Horizon, making their only stop in Asia.

Comparison:

Compared to the world’s largest beer festival in German –Oktoberfest, being held over a period of 17 days, Singapore’s beer festival share some similarities but yet has its different side.

Every year, this 200-year-old festival attracts over 6 million visitors all around the world. During the period, about 10 million pints of beer and more than 750,000 sausages are consumed.

Oktoberfest VS Beerfest

1. Product
It talks about what visitors want, need and will pay for. In this case, visitors in both festivals are looking for the enjoyment the beers bring about. They are given the opportunity to try out the unique and even best beer from different regions and countries. The rich varieties of beers attract beer lovers to come together and share their interest and love for beer. Visitors could also make friends with different nationality or from different region. These special events allow visitors to enjoy their days and memorable moments with their friends, family, or even strangers. They are allowed to get drunk together and have fun.

2. Place
It is the physical place and how it is created through design and programming. As the facilitating component of place, the distribution of event products and how they are sold to visitors, like how they distribute tickets to visitors are important in achieving their satisfaction. If done poorly, it will negatively affect their enjoyment.
For Oktoberfest, tickets are majorly purchased online through agents like Tickets Solution, Western States Tickets Service and been shipped or emailed by FedEx, or even electronically so that they can print out the tickets.
Oktoberfest products like t-shirts, hats, accessories and even basket for beer can be purchased on the event ground, or some items can be even ordered online, and been shipped or emailed to purchaser. Beer mug can be purchased from the Wiesn landlords and from other souvenir shops.
Tickets for Beer Asia can be either purchased online or at the door before entry. The souvenir shop which sells t-shirt of beerfest is just located outside the main event area, quite convenient for visitors.
In this area, Oktoberfest has done much better than Beer Asia, it has more souvenirs to choose from which will be more appealing to visitors.

3. Programming
It is a marketing decision especially by way of creating targeted benefits.
For Oktoberfest, one of the remarkable program will be the opening programs:

• The Grand Entry of the Oktoberfest Landlords. This is the festive prelude to the inauguration of theOktoberfest with beautifully decorated carriages bearing the landlords’ families, the splendid horse-drawn carts of the Munich breweries, waitresses on decorated floats, the music bands of the beer tents as well as the showmen‘s coaches. By tradition Munich‘s Lord Mayor takes part in this event. The procession is headed by the ”Münchner Kindl“, a young woman on horseback wearing a monk‘s habit.
• Breweries and The Munich Costume and Riflemen‘s Parade. Various groups dressed in traditional costumes, music and marching bands as well as trumpeters, amateur and mountain riflemen present themselves during this two-hour parade. The splendid carts of the Munich breweries, coaches and historical carriages, colorfully beribboned trees

and flower garlands leave the spectators of this stunning event with an unforgettable impression.

These 2 program are the most attractive and significant events that will draw visitor’s attention and help to earn huge revenue. There is also open air concert for visitors to catch while enjoy their beer and food. Certainly, besides these, at the foot of the Bavaria statue, the huge Oktoberfest grounds also provide carousels, roller coasters and all the spectacular fun of the fair for the enjoyment and excitement of visitors of all ages.

However, Beer Asia has just a few programs provided for visitors, concerts which performed by Vertical Horizon, Hell’s Belles,53A, Beerfest All-Stars blues Band, Jack & Rai Featuring EIC, Goodfellas, Heritage, Reverie & Rene, Swiss Alpine Lions, B-Yond on different days. Besides that, it also has some game like racing game, pool, air hockey, foosball and pinball machines.

The good thing about it is that through this festival, it actually can bring out visitors’ awareness of Singapore local band and music, helping to promote local entertainment market.

4. People

The interaction between visitors, the setting, and the staff/volunteers constitute a large part of the event experience.

During Oktoberfest, staffs are dressed up in traditional costume and the ambiance of the tent where people gather around gives them a feeling of going back to olden days of Munich. It facilitates consumers and visitors’ experience and enjoyment during the festival.

While, staffs in Beer Asia wear standard uniform. They did have some interaction with visitors through some competitions and when they purchase beers, but it gave different kind of feeling compared to Oktoberfest.

5. Partnerships

The most common one will be governmental agencies. When packages are jointly marketed, event manages might have to modify the price and even their products to make the packages more attractive.

Oktoberfest has travel agencies as its partners. Travel agencies like Ludus Tour, they have been the hosting client for this festival for consecutive 5 years, their new design Oktoberfest-motif will be used in official advertising and marketing as well as on all souvenirs.

It also has hotels which provide accommodations as part of the packages when visitors buy tickets.

The Munich city government is enforcing international understanding, partnership and consultation for existing similar events.

Beer Asia has gained support from Singapore Tourism Board, ensuring growth for the festival for the next 2 years. It also has a partnership with Citibank, the cardholder enjoys discount when they purchase tickets.

6. Promotion

It refers to the full range of “communication mix” including: advertising, PR, and sales promotions. The communication mix requires ongoing management and relationship building, not just one-off efforts.

Being such mega event, Oktoberfest has its long history and is well-known by people all over the world. It is also supported by the government. It doesn’t only cater to adults; it also has a part for kids. Families can enjoy discounted prices for sideshows, rides and goods.

Beer Asia has advertised through printed media and TV. It has ticketing categories available like concession price, early bird price, at the door price, hospitality price and bulk ticket sales. This could be good to meet different people’s needs and demand. And even on that day we went, we could be able to enjoy lower price as we were going for project.

7. Packaging and Distribution

A destination is able to package with other attractions and series of events or it can offer their own. Intermediaries play a vital role in distribution network when selling tickets. It requires good relationship with packaging partners and intermediaries.

Oktoberfest keeps good relationship with its partners and travel agents, like the Ludus Tour I mentioned above, they have been in partnership for 5 years, and the tour agent provides 3 or 4 star accommodation within walking distance to the Oktoberfest grounds. All Ludus' Oktoberfest tour packages include private airport transfers to and from the hotel, three nights stay, daily buffet breakfast, a Traditional Bavarian Dinner, a bike tour of the city, a beer tent reservation at one of the Oktoberfest Beer Tents, a trip to Neuschwanstein Castle in the Bavarian Countryside, and a welcome gift with the official Oktoberfest logo.

Tickets are available online or through telephone. It will be shipped or email through FedEx.

On the other hand, Beer Asia has support from Singapore Tourism Board and Singapore GP, assuring certain media exposure and publicity. It also works with some budget airlines for regional visitors to come and enjoy the event. Its location is near Singapore Flyer, which is an attraction that most tourists will be able to visit, so they will also be aware of this festival. Tickets for this event could be purchased online, through telephone and at door. Which I think it is good for people with all needs.

8. Price

Event organizers usually have to set more than one prices for its products, e.g. admission to the event, merchandise, vendor rentals, and sponsorship fees.

There is free entry for visitor to go into the beer tents. Guests are granted discounts for attractions, admissions and products from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Monday to Friday, when the sign “Mittagswiesn” is displayed. Prices for souvenir vary.

For Beer Asia, there are 5 types of tickets: concession, early bird, at the door, hospitality and bulk ticket sales. They have only one merchandise shop which sells t-shirt at S$18 outside the main event area. And there are also a few booths inside like game station. The price for beer starts from S$3 beerfest currency bundled up to S$10 to S$50 per booklet is available.

As the event place is not very big, there are not a lot of shops and activities available for guests.

Stakeholders

• Host Organization: Singapore GP is the main organization that will benefit from the festival and also overlook the process of the event.
• Host community: taxi driver or residents who will drive pass that area.
• Sponsors: Citibank , Singapore Tourism Board which give sponsorship and rights, Uniquely Singapore, FHM, Singapore Flyer
• Media: Straits Time, Channelnewsasia, Power 98 FM, Juice
• Co-workers: volunteers helped out in the event, business partner like Singtel, Singapore Tourism Board
• Participants and spectators: staff and guests

Main Purpose of the Festival

As what is said by the Co-Festival Director, the idea behind the festival is the experimentation process of finding and enjoying beers that you may never, otherwise encounter locally here in Singapore. So far, I think they have already achieved the purpose though not fully. Due to the limitation of space, there are not rich varieties of beer being brought in. However, it did offer local a chance that they might not have in their whole life to taste the different kind of beer in just one place. They might even get the beer for free. In addition, they are able to enjoy the performance by various artists and even find out potential local musician, such a good deal.

Amount of Tourism Benefits Received

Such kind of festival is meant the increase the revenue and tourism receipts, but due to various limitation like space, lack of advertisement, lack of awareness, it doesn’t really receive as much revenue as expected. But yet, it is a successful event.

Conclusion

Overall, it is considered a successful event as it achieved its purpose to certain extent. However, there are a lot of rooms for improvement. They might want to try different things like having a theme or making the atmosphere of the event place more appealing by decorating it. There are also many ways that they can improve in the ways that they deliver the message to public. I would rate it 3 upon 5, and I would also like to see a better beer festival next time.

Festival & Event Management

Field Trip Report

Beer Festival

Introduction:

Asia’s biggest beer festival- Beerfest Asia 2009 happened in Singapore during the period of 29 April to 3 May, attracting thousands of beer lovers in Singapore or around the region. It is held at F1 tracks, behind the Singapore Flyer. The festival features more than 100 beers from all over the world, including Germany, Australia, Japan, China, India, Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, Mexico, New Zealand, the UK and the USA.

Over 14,000 people rolled into Beerfest Asia 2009 to taste different kinds of beers and share their enjoyment with friends, while catching exciting performances by world-famous, all-female AC/DC tribute band Hells Belles and double platinum selling act Vertical Horizon, making their only stop in Asia.

Comparison:

Compared to the world’s largest beer festival in German –Oktoberfest, being held over a period of 17 days, Singapore’s beer festival share some similarities but yet has its different side.

Every year, this 200-year-old festival attracts over 6 million visitors all around the world. During the period, about 10 million pints of beer and more than 750,000 sausages are consumed.

Oktoberfest VS Beerfest

1. Product
It talks about what visitors want, need and will pay for. In this case, visitors in both festivals are looking for the enjoyment the beers bring about. They are given the opportunity to try out the unique and even best beer from different regions and countries. The rich varieties of beers attract beer lovers to come together and share their interest and love for beer. Visitors could also make friends with different nationality or from different region. These special events allow visitors to enjoy their days and memorable moments with their friends, family, or even strangers. They are allowed to get drunk together and have fun.

2. Place
It is the physical place and how it is created through design and programming. As the facilitating component of place, the distribution of event products and how they are sold to visitors, like how they distribute tickets to visitors are important in achieving their satisfaction. If done poorly, it will negatively affect their enjoyment.
For Oktoberfest, tickets are majorly purchased online through agents like Tickets Solution, Western States Tickets Service and been shipped or emailed by FedEx, or even electronically so that they can print out the tickets.
Oktoberfest products like t-shirts, hats, accessories and even basket for beer can be purchased on the event ground, or some items can be even ordered online, and been shipped or emailed to purchaser. Beer mug can be purchased from the Wiesn landlords and from other souvenir shops.
Tickets for Beer Asia can be either purchased online or at the door before entry. The souvenir shop which sells t-shirt of beerfest is just located outside the main event area, quite convenient for visitors.
In this area, Oktoberfest has done much better than Beer Asia, it has more souvenirs to choose from which will be more appealing to visitors.

3. Programming
It is a marketing decision especially by way of creating targeted benefits.
For Oktoberfest, one of the remarkable program will be the opening programs:

• The Grand Entry of the Oktoberfest Landlords. This is the festive prelude to the inauguration of theOktoberfest with beautifully decorated carriages bearing the landlords’ families, the splendid horse-drawn carts of the Munich breweries, waitresses on decorated floats, the music bands of the beer tents as well as the showmen‘s coaches. By tradition Munich‘s Lord Mayor takes part in this event. The procession is headed by the ”Münchner Kindl“, a young woman on horseback wearing a monk‘s habit.
• Breweries and The Munich Costume and Riflemen‘s Parade. Various groups dressed in traditional costumes, music and marching bands as well as trumpeters, amateur and mountain riflemen present themselves during this two-hour parade. The splendid carts of the Munich breweries, coaches and historical carriages, colorfully beribboned trees

and flower garlands leave the spectators of this stunning event with an unforgettable impression.

These 2 program are the most attractive and significant events that will draw visitor’s attention and help to earn huge revenue. There is also open air concert for visitors to catch while enjoy their beer and food. Certainly, besides these, at the foot of the Bavaria statue, the huge Oktoberfest grounds also provide carousels, roller coasters and all the spectacular fun of the fair for the enjoyment and excitement of visitors of all ages.

However, Beer Asia has just a few programs provided for visitors, concerts which performed by Vertical Horizon, Hell’s Belles,53A, Beerfest All-Stars blues Band, Jack & Rai Featuring EIC, Goodfellas, Heritage, Reverie & Rene, Swiss Alpine Lions, B-Yond on different days. Besides that, it also has some game like racing game, pool, air hockey, foosball and pinball machines.

The good thing about it is that through this festival, it actually can bring out visitors’ awareness of Singapore local band and music, helping to promote local entertainment market.

4. People

The interaction between visitors, the setting, and the staff/volunteers constitute a large part of the event experience.

During Oktoberfest, staffs are dressed up in traditional costume and the ambiance of the tent where people gather around gives them a feeling of going back to olden days of Munich. It facilitates consumers and visitors’ experience and enjoyment during the festival.

While, staffs in Beer Asia wear standard uniform. They did have some interaction with visitors through some competitions and when they purchase beers, but it gave different kind of feeling compared to Oktoberfest.

5. Partnerships

The most common one will be governmental agencies. When packages are jointly marketed, event manages might have to modify the price and even their products to make the packages more attractive.

Oktoberfest has travel agencies as its partners. Travel agencies like Ludus Tour, they have been the hosting client for this festival for consecutive 5 years, their new design Oktoberfest-motif will be used in official advertising and marketing as well as on all souvenirs.

It also has hotels which provide accommodations as part of the packages when visitors buy tickets.

The Munich city government is enforcing international understanding, partnership and consultation for existing similar events.

Beer Asia has gained support from Singapore Tourism Board, ensuring growth for the festival for the next 2 years. It also has a partnership with Citibank, the cardholder enjoys discount when they purchase tickets.

6. Promotion

It refers to the full range of “communication mix” including: advertising, PR, and sales promotions. The communication mix requires ongoing management and relationship building, not just one-off efforts.

Being such mega event, Oktoberfest has its long history and is well-known by people all over the world. It is also supported by the government. It doesn’t only cater to adults; it also has a part for kids. Families can enjoy discounted prices for sideshows, rides and goods.

Beer Asia has advertised through printed media and TV. It has ticketing categories available like concession price, early bird price, at the door price, hospitality price and bulk ticket sales. This could be good to meet different people’s needs and demand. And even on that day we went, we could be able to enjoy lower price as we were going for project.

7. Packaging and Distribution

A destination is able to package with other attractions and series of events or it can offer their own. Intermediaries play a vital role in distribution network when selling tickets. It requires good relationship with packaging partners and intermediaries.

Oktoberfest keeps good relationship with its partners and travel agents, like the Ludus Tour I mentioned above, they have been in partnership for 5 years, and the tour agent provides 3 or 4 star accommodation within walking distance to the Oktoberfest grounds. All Ludus' Oktoberfest tour packages include private airport transfers to and from the hotel, three nights stay, daily buffet breakfast, a Traditional Bavarian Dinner, a bike tour of the city, a beer tent reservation at one of the Oktoberfest Beer Tents, a trip to Neuschwanstein Castle in the Bavarian Countryside, and a welcome gift with the official Oktoberfest logo.

Tickets are available online or through telephone. It will be shipped or email through FedEx.

On the other hand, Beer Asia has support from Singapore Tourism Board and Singapore GP, assuring certain media exposure and publicity. It also works with some budget airlines for regional visitors to come and enjoy the event. Its location is near Singapore Flyer, which is an attraction that most tourists will be able to visit, so they will also be aware of this festival. Tickets for this event could be purchased online, through telephone and at door. Which I think it is good for people with all needs.

8. Price

Event organizers usually have to set more than one prices for its products, e.g. admission to the event, merchandise, vendor rentals, and sponsorship fees.

There is free entry for visitor to go into the beer tents. Guests are granted discounts for attractions, admissions and products from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Monday to Friday, when the sign “Mittagswiesn” is displayed. Prices for souvenir vary.

For Beer Asia, there are 5 types of tickets: concession, early bird, at the door, hospitality and bulk ticket sales. They have only one merchandise shop which sells t-shirt at S$18 outside the main event area. And there are also a few booths inside like game station. The price for beer starts from S$3 beerfest currency bundled up to S$10 to S$50 per booklet is available.

As the event place is not very big, there are not a lot of shops and activities available for guests.

Stakeholders

• Host Organization: Singapore GP is the main organization that will benefit from the festival and also overlook the process of the event.
• Host community: taxi driver or residents who will drive pass that area.
• Sponsors: Citibank , Singapore Tourism Board which give sponsorship and rights, Uniquely Singapore, FHM, Singapore Flyer
• Media: Straits Time, Channelnewsasia, Power 98 FM, Juice
• Co-workers: volunteers helped out in the event, business partner like Singtel, Singapore Tourism Board
• Participants and spectators: staff and guests

Main Purpose of the Festival

As what is said by the Co-Festival Director, the idea behind the festival is the experimentation process of finding and enjoying beers that you may never, otherwise encounter locally here in Singapore. So far, I think they have already achieved the purpose though not fully. Due to the limitation of space, there are not rich varieties of beer being brought in. However, it did offer local a chance that they might not have in their whole life to taste the different kind of beer in just one place. They might even get the beer for free. In addition, they are able to enjoy the performance by various artists and even find out potential local musician, such a good deal.

Amount of Tourism Benefits Received

Such kind of festival is meant the increase the revenue and tourism receipts, but due to various limitation like space, lack of advertisement, lack of awareness, it doesn’t really receive as much revenue as expected. But yet, it is a successful event.

Conclusion

Overall, it is considered a successful event as it achieved its purpose to certain extent. However, there are a lot of rooms for improvement. They might want to try different things like having a theme or making the atmosphere of the event place more appealing by decorating it. There are also many ways that they can improve in the ways that they deliver the message to public. I would rate it 3 upon 5, and I would also like to see a better beer festival next time.