Report

 1.0 Introduction           

The objective of this report is to evaluate the effective use of Marketing Mix in the event, Food Safari 2008. Another objective is to find out the tourism roles and economic value of this event. 

Food Safari 2008 is a free for all mega-fiesta and lifestyle event, held from 14^th to 16^th November at Suntec City Convention Center, Level 4, Halls 402, 403 and 404. It is the first show that combines all three Singaporean’ favorite pastimes- eating drinking and shopping- on one occasion.

It’s economical pricing suggests that the masses are whom they are targeting.

2.0 Evaluation of the Effective Use of Marketing Mix

The 8 components of Marketing Mix are namely, product, place, packaging and distribution, promotion (communications), partnerships, price and people.

2.1 The Product as an Experience

Even before the event, Food Safari 2008 has already been highly publicized to create anticipation for the visitors. With its high accessibility, the convenience factor has been satisfied and therefore a pleasant journey to the convention center. 

During the event itself, the product has again met the needs and wants of the visitors through a wide variety of food and beverage from different ethnic roots at an economical price, to be feasted on safari-style. Workshops like French Desert Tasting and Making, Culinary Demonstrations by celebrity or renowned chefs, Safari King Culinary Challenge Grand Finals and African Folk Music Performances also add on to the new and one-of-a-kind experience.

In this instance the visitors’ want of ‘value for money’, food to please their palates and a unique experience has been fulfilled.

Different genres of food and beverage from all over the world, exotic or local and  up to 15 countries, include French Wine, Vietnamese noodle soup, Cantonese roast meat platter and, African Chapati, food catered to vegetarians and even Yeo’s natural choice of drinks for the health conscious. As a result, the needs of people with dietary requirements or wants are catered to as well.

After the event however, uncontrollable factors like congestion and long waiting time for public transportion had negatively affected the overall enjoyment or experience of the visitors. This is due to the bulk of visitors all leaving at the same time. Aggravating the situation were other events like The Fashionista occurring concurrently at the Suntec City Convention Halls.

To minimize long waiting time, more shuttle bus trips to and fro Suntec City could be arranged. And because a couple of events are all hapenning simultaneously, it is only logical to employ more security guards. This can not only more effectively manage the crowd but also heighten the security levels of the venue.

2.2 Place

The event was a spacious seating in a lush green setting, camouflaged by a safari trail of delicacies and complemented by non-stop cooking demonstrations, all of these just next to an electronics fair. Spamming 8000 sq m, the selected venue of Suntec City Convention Center is an ideal place, first thing for its size, secondly, its simplicity that allows the organizer more versatility in decoration and design accordingly to the theme, and thirdly for its accessibility or proximity to transportation.

Amidst the greenery, the event feels almost like a safari but buzzing with people and cooking. Unexpectedly though, a place for cooking, once thought to be stuffy and hot seemed cool due to the air-conditioned venue. So although the place was packed, the atmosphere seemed comfortable, and therefore rousing desires of visitors to stay longer or visit the event again in 2009.

The hall has also been divided into 5 stations, namely, the Cook Out, the Watering Holes, Sweet Temptations, Home & Kitchen and The Food Safari Workshops. There is therefore no confusion despite the size of the event.

However, the atmosphere of the venue could have been played up more to give out an even more dominant safari outlook. In this case, the decoration and design of the venue and booths could be exaggerated further. More replicas of flora and fauna could be added to jazz up the atmosphtere provided they are not of obstruction to the human traffic.

Collaterals were not given out at the venue, but a brochure is available for download online. This is a suitable medium due to the widespread popularity of Internet usage. Also, the brochure was not a necessity since a shared map, a program and workshop lists were all readily available for reference at the entrance of the convention hall.

2.3 Price

Admission to the event and food tasting was free, workshop fees are at 5 dollars per workshop and food were priced very fairly. The prices were generally economical and will appeal to the local public or food lovers of the public whom they are targeting.

However, workshops were already full way before the event started. The organizer, Sphere Exhibits, a subsidiary of the Singapore Press Holding Pte Ltd could have jacked up the price to maximize revenue and match demand and supply appropriately, without being socially irresponsible.

Traveling time and cost were relatively low due to the venue’s high accessibility. The opportunity cost incurred by the visitors or attendees could  be the inability to participate in another similar event, Asian Food Expo, occuring simultaneously in the Singapore Expo. And because the event is stretched over friday, saturday and sunday, visitors’ favorite TV programs, shoppng at orchard and the like would all have to be sacrificed.

Yet opinionatedly, if taken into consideration the price visitors have to pay, and the things they get at the Food Safari, the deal was an extremely ‘value for money’ one.

2.4 Partnerships

The official media partners for the Food Safari 2008 are The Sunday Times, HOME & DÉCOR and 91.3FM. The organizer will make use of these traditional media mediums for promotion and advertising purposes. Due to the surge in use of the web, Food Safari will make use of its online partner, SoShiok.com to help them create an online presence as well as carry out aggressive online marketing on their website.

The official wine chiller partner is KADEKA (JAPAN), Official drinks partner is YEO’S, and other partners include Libbey, AudioHouse, U-Save Equipment Pte Ltd. These partners also sponsor for the event.

The event is supported by TASTY Singapore and SINGAPORE’S CHEF’S ASSOICATION to showcase the event’s assured quality.

Partners solicited all played suitable roles in the event with respects to their abilities and the nature of their business. 

2.5 Promotion (Communications)

The channels used to communicate the event to the visitors were traditional media like newspapers, magazines and radio, as well as new media like its very own website thefoodsafari.com mainly for information, enquiries and registration plus several online articles to be read up on. Partners of the organizer also played a crucial role in promotonal efforts as mentioned above.

Newspaper releases that spread across different papers happened over a period of time, continuously from 26 October to 15^thth November as part of relationship building. Over this span of time, new news or information about the event is gradually released to constantly create buzz and talk as well as anticipation. Other than the above mentioned, these could be seen as efforts to boost event attendance too.  

Whatever stated in the promotional materials was carried out as promised. This satisfaction would lead to repeat visits and the spread of -word-of-mouth, resulting in even more visitors durinf the FoodSafari 2009. 

Other than attempts to boost attendance, antics to improve spending were made too. Also as part of relationship marketing, a card for the FoodSafari was introduced. By paying a special price of $19.90 on the second day of the event, card holders are entitled to money vouchers which they can spend on-site. Moreover,  later after the event, the card’s storage value could be spent on food items from various food and beverage businesses. 

2.6 People

The organizer seeks to meet the needs of the visitors but has in fact exceeded them. In fact for a large-scale event that charges economical price, the service was better than expected. The staff at the entrance was extraordinarily observant. From personal experience, when a visitor looks lost, the staff would approach and assist him immediately. In the convention hall itself, exhibitors were extremely warm, friendly, all smiles and always ready to assist, for instance photo-taking for groups of visitors.

 Also, the exhibitors present were of different ethnicity, thus blends in well with the international array of food on exhibit. For example, African, Peranakan, Filipino and Vietnamese.

2.7 Packaging and Distribution

The Food Safari 2008 was not a standalone event. Located just next to it is an electronics fair that features renowned brands like Sony, Samsung, Sharp, Toshiba, LG, and Philips. The purpose of this is probably not only to create a shopping, eating and drinking experience, but also ‘make use’ of each other to draw in more crowd.

The Food Safari has also ‘made use’ of the Safari King Culinary Challenge Grand Finals as a distribution network to attract more people to the event. In this case, the culinary challenge had been strategically positioned all the way to the back of the convention hall, forcing visitors to walk through the whole stretch of exhibits and therefore arouse more visitor expenditure, as well as increase brand exposure of the exhibitors.

2.8 Programming

Other than food tasting around the Safari trails of delicacies, sphere exhibits have also made use of the programmes and workshops available to create target benefits for all food lovers and further enhance their experience.

For instance, Presenting Global Gourmet, a day programme for food lovers to pick up culinary tips from the chef and PIZZA by-the-meter, where Italian Master Pizza Chef, Raffaele Meloni (from the Lotus Group of Restaurants) will demonstrate the steps required in preparing a 1 meter long pizza. Workshops include California Uniqueness for wine tasting and tips on wine and food matching as well as Japanese Sashimi Making.

The food safari is therefore not only a place to eat, drink and shop, but also an interactive place to be engaged in and learn about something that food lovers are interested.

Night programme highlights include music performances by renowned bands such as Esquina Latina comprising of 9 members from Columbia, Cuba and Singapore. The music performed will not be based on a single country group, but from a variety of genres and instruments. Therefore, the night event highlights could appeal to the public who are interested in food items coming from all over the world. These night programme highlights could too further enhance the experience of the visitors as they feast.  

3.0 Tourism and Economic Values of Food Safari 2008

3.1 Economic Impact and Tourism Value

The economic impact on a host city is defined as the total amount of additional expenditure generated within a city that can be directly or indirectly attributed to the staging of an event. (Sourced from: http://www.uksport.gov.uk/)

As observed though, majority, or rather, almost all the visitors present were locals. Therefore, this event is of little tourism value. To some extent however, it is of economic value for creating higher consumer spending in the current down economic period.

3.2 Potential of the Food Safari

Nevertheless, the event is believed to be a potential tourists draw. Singapore is renowned for some of the best foods in South East Asia, having strong influence from early settlers from China, India and Malaysia. Therefore our exclusive mix of food and Singapore’s reputation for being a food paradise could be made use of and played up. This can act as a main draw for the tourists to come over, to have a taste of paradise’s uniqueness.

Plus points adding on to the overall tourists draw is the concept of the Food Safari- it being a lifestyle event where shopping, eating and drinking happens, as well as its unique safari theme.

Opinionatedly, the food safari could be held twice a year. Once is when it features food from all over the world, to target locals, whilst another that features the wide array of local food, to target tourists.

If large numbers of people come in from outside the locality for the sake of this event, and spend their money on accommodation, shopping, food and drink, this spending would provide an economic boost to local organisations. Such an injection of income into a local economy has the potential to create more jobs, and it is possible that a cycle of economic development could occur.

4.0 Conclusion

Overall, the organizer’s use of the marketing mix was very effective, also suggested by its attendance of 50000 on the 1^st day of the event.

The product was an overall positive experience with needs and wants met, the place was designed to contribute to a comfortable and safari like atmosphere, the price was value for money, there was good cooperation between partners in terms of marketing, promotions were aggressive enough to generate high turnout, packaging and distribution facilitated the enjoyment of visitors and boost turnout numbers, and programming has created targeted benefits for the food lovers.

Bibliography

http://www.thefoodsafari.com/, The Food Safari, last accessed 23 November 2008

http://www.travel.com.sg/publish/stbportal/en/home/apps/event_detail.html?pageName=EventDetail&buttom=detail&eid=8887&eventType=1, The Food Safari, last accessed 23 November 2008

http://my.hardwarezone.com/news/view.php?id=12126&cid=5, SPH Launches the Food Safari Home Electronics Fair, last accessed 23 November 2008

http://yumyumasia.com/2008/04/25/food-safari-in-singpapore/, Food Safari in Singapore, last accessed 23 November 2008

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_302387.html, 50,000 at food, electronics fair, last accessed 23 November 2008

http://www.uksport.gov.uk/assets/File/Generic_Template_Documents/Publications/Major_sports_events_The_guide/ECONOMIC_IMPACT.pdf, The Economic Impacts of Major Events, last accessed 23 November 2008

15 November 2008, The Straits Times, Feasting Safari-Style