The first component identified is
Product of marketing mix.
This component discusses all elements that make up the event which include factors such as the entertainment offered, standard of service, opportunities for social interaction, staff interaction with visitors and the ‘brand’ image the event enjoys among the target market.
The amount of entertainment offered is comparably extensive as the interesting art pieces truly amazed the visitors. Exhibits ranging from adorable stickmen at Kids’ Biennale to gorgeous photographs framed and hung upon the walls and many others are more than sufficient to render speechlessness from the audience. I remember there is one such remarkable artwork which objects turn around as you move about, it has got me put on thinking cap and trying to figure out how is it done so.
Here it is.
The standard of service is good with passionate helpers around the exhibition halls to aid you with any questions, there is definitely a high degree of staff interaction with visitors. There are also directory signs placed to lead visitors through out the viewing. Visitors are also rest-assured with available facilities such as washroom and food and beverage outlets near by.
As visitors are free to roam around the rooms, they can have the chance to meet and interact with the other visitors who share such same interest which in fact promotes social exchange.
Singapore Biennale has a history of the first inaugural edition in 2006 that had more than 883,000 visitors and generated more than 1,000 press articles. It was placed on the international arts map ever since then and has gained a great deal of recognition amongst the locals and foreigners. This is indisputably an advantage that the event enjoys with its branding, it can attract and promote higher visitors’ rate for its upcoming events.
Next component is
Price of marketing mix.
It includes monetary cost and non-cash costs of price that consumers have to pay for visiting the event, with consideration of the total benefits they receive.
The entrance fee of the event is Singapore Dollars $10 for adults, $5 for students, and for those who hold community club membership gets a 30% discount. The entrance fee entitles ticket holders to enter three main exhibition venues as well as other complimentary artwork displays on the street, a total of seven. However, there is additional cost to top up for the art experience at Singapore Flyer.
The value of the amount paid depends on the difference between benefits offered and costs incurred by consumers. The costs incurred include time spent on the event and physical efforts to consume the experience.
Time spent on viewing all exhibits particularly at the City Hall takes up approximately two hours and one and a half hours at South Beach Development. Taking into concern of the walking distances between each venue, consumers are using half a day’s time, around five hours to finish viewing all exhibits.
As the exhibits are located at different locations, consumers have to either walk or take public transports to get to each exhibition venue. Therefore, the amount of physical efforts used on the event is considerably large.
For the abovementioned costs incurred by consumers, the event managements actually attempted to alleviate the difficulties by value-added the journey with some artwork displays along the street side such as those at Raffles City and Esplanade Bridge. This way, it created a tour of wondrous art experience as the artwork displays lined up along the journey to bring consumers through all exhibitions. Moreover, the selection of venues are within walking distance that are best able to present the artworks and too engage visitors in a meaningful way. Guidebooks and exhibition venue information are available for visitors’ need. And not forgetting the promotional rate that was offered to adult visitors during specific timings of the day, they are privileged to pay just half the price for the tickets by reading out a sentence from a brochure given. All these efforts are very much able to ease the cost or difficulty if any, that are encountered by the consumers.
The benefits provided to the consumers are the vast information of exhibits, a fantastic visual arts experience with marveling artwork displays as well as the novelty of an encounter at the largest international biennale of contemporary art. Look at the pictures of few exhibits taken, these brilliant pieces truly amazed me and satisfied my curiosity for arts.
Weighing the difference between the total benefits and costs, there is an apparent positive difference and a great net value to the consumers. For such an international exhibition with numerous superb art pieces showcased, the price that consumers are paying is satisfactory and reasonable. Especially for art lovers and those who appreciate, the non-cash costs mentioned earlier on are actually extra value to them.
Third component is
Promotion of marketing mix.
The communication activities employed for the event are advertising, sales promotion and publicity.
Under advertising, the event utilized marketing tools such as magazines, Internet and mobile platforms. The art magazine, Asian Contemporary Arts and Culture is the designated magazine that published information on the event. Through the Internet, there is an official website for consumers to get to know more, as well as blog and the famous community network, Facebook. These are very good ways to advertise the event as they have tremendously boundless network of millions of people across many countries. It also placed advertisement on public transports such as SBS buses that travel around everywhere in Singapore daily. These advertising tools are practical, effective and reasonably cheap, certainly are very good ways to reach out to the consumers.
The event also collaborated with various companies such as Singapore Flyer, PAssion and McCafe where consumers receive special discounts. It also worked together with sponsors to hold cross-promotion, renowned organizations such as Club 21, IKEA, Anderson’s, Tiger Beer and many more are the sponsors of this event. These two promotions could help to generate revenue for the sponsors and meanwhile result in additional sales.
As for publicity, there are few press releases for the event and that include its opening ceremony officiated by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong. Readers can definitely obtain good and accurate information with updates regarding the event.
The promotional efforts are sufficient and effective, however it could be better. One way to enhance its promotion to reach out to more people is to extend its advertisement to radio telecasts. As many people listen to FM stations almost everyday, it is absolutely one way to increase awareness of the event. It is also cheap, quick to produce and results in no lead time.
Fourth component is
Place of marketing mix.
There are three main exhibition venues with four mini stations of artwork displays on the street. A decision is made such to create a journey of art installation, and to give visitor a total sensation of contemporary art in Singapore. All locations are closely linked with walking distances less than half an hour, there are nearby bus-stops to take visitors to and fro the places where each ride will not take more than fifteen minutes.
In my opinion, I personally think that this is an extremely innovative approach to present the art exhibits which outstands the ordinary ones held in monotonous exhibition halls. As arts is an exciting thing that surprises, keeps people in awe and overwhelms with its dynamism and profundity, this method of presenting the interesting art pieces has further augmented the total visiting experience.
The ticketing booths are stationed at City Hall and South Beach Development. Both venues are the centrally situated along the route, this contributed largely to the convenience for consumers to get the tickets and then travel to another exhibition venue after exploring the current one they are at.
This is good, however as technology advances, perhaps the event should undertake the use of Internet as another distribution medium. By allowing consumers to get the tickets online, it offers a great deal of convenience and time saving. It speeds up the transaction without wasting time on waiting and as revenue comes from buyer’s credit card, it facilitates security and ease of collection. Since Singapore Biennale has an official website on its own, such feature could be added on to boost the ticket sales.
Buying a ticket is much equivalent to visiting the event, it would unquestionably encourage visiting rate if consumers buy tickets online due to the advantages of online ticket purchase.
Fifth component is
People of marketing mix.
There are four groups of people under this component – cast, audience, guest and host. The cast is a group of volunteers and interns recruited under Singapore Biennale Volunteer programme. They are students and adults who undergone professional trainings and with on-site previews and opportunities to interact with the artists and artworks, they are able to provide consumers’ doubt with answers to their best of ability.
I had an encounter with one of its staff at the exhibition hall in City Hall, his forthcoming attitude and detailed explanation clearly displayed his zeal for arts and service. And from the smiles I received upon entering the hall, it is utterly apparent of how passionate the cast is and their efforts to making the experience fun and enriching to all. I felt the ardor for arts in them.
The audience of the event varies from children to adults, locals to foreigners, particularly the art lovers and in fact majority of the society. The event is opened to everyone as I noticed from its pricing strategy. I personally feel that this is brilliant and appropriate as it welcomes people from anywhere and any status. And as it does not consider targeting a niche market, many first-time visitors are given a chance to be exposed to and astounded by the beauty of arts.
The guests are invited international VIPs. The first and second days of event are specially restricted for the invited guests to visit the exhibits and that gave the guests a feeling of being privileged. Event is hosted by the National Arts Council in partnership with Fortune Cookie Projects, directed by Fumio Nanjo.
Sixth component is
Physical evidence of marketing mix.
The physical evidence includes layout, furnishing of venue and sound quality.
The layout of the entire exhibiting area stretches around Marina Bay from Central Promontory Site along Marina Boulevard, Esplanade Bridge and to the Singapore Flyer. Distances between each point are considerably short and takes up less than fifteen minutes to arrive at next location. This is an exceptional concept that brings about an extravaganza of wonders of arts as its theme suggests. The layout and routine are meticulously planned so that visitors would not waste much energy or time on traveling around to view the artworks.
The venues and their appearances are selected after much forethought to present its desired outcome as unique appearances of its different approach. South Beach Development could be said to represent the past of Singapore, City Hall the present in transition and Marina Bay at Singapore Flyer the future. The environment of each location is clean and comfortable, there is orderliness of the way the artworks are displayed. Each and every piece of exhibits displayed at each venue tells about the theme it is designated to depict. The décor and ambience that each exhibiting room owns have further enhanced the arty atmosphere. Therefore, the furnishing of the venues could be said to be very much well done.
As for the sound quality of the exhibition venues, there is definitely an excellent sound system as I could hear from certain exhibits that play music and sounds. The powerful bass and all made me felt the artworks deeper that brought me to gaining a greater insight into the artists’ expression. On top of that, the rooms are actually built sound-proof with no noise that disturbs the others in another exhibiting room.
The physical evidences of the event are terrific with little or almost no room for improvement which is quite unnecessary.
And lastly, the seventh component of marketing mix to be discussed is
Process.
Process is the customer involvement in the leisure service. As the visitors are free to move around the exhibition venues to view the artworks, it is said that customer involvement is considerably high to a certain extent. There is customer involvement when they view the exhibits and gain knowledge and information from them. However, there is a lack of programmes and activities to bring the visitors together.
There could be few scheduled timings daily for games regarding the artworks displayed to increase customer involvement. Games such as creating an art piece or Q&A sessions about the exhibits could be introduced to such an event. Prizes could also be used to entice a higher rate of participation.
With such activities to heighten the fun atmosphere in the exhibition venues, there would be better involvement between visitors and the event.
