Christmas In The Tropics 2008

Christmas In The Tropics 2008

1. Introduction

1.1 Objective of the report

The aim of this report is to highlight and understand how the event marketing mix (8Ps) has been adopted in the event, as well as to evaluate its tourism value and economic impact to Singapore.

1.2 Methodology of research

The primary sources are from the Internet, where media releases and information on the event are posted on the website of STB and the event’s official website respectively. In addition, part of my research inputs is derived from the experience through a site visit to Orchard- the “experiential” factor.

1.3. Background/ profile of the event

Orchard Zone (Tanglin Road, Scotts Road, Orchard Road)
Marina Zone (Rendezvous Hotel to Esplanade)
Date: 15 November 2008 to 2 January 2009
Organiser- Singapore Tourism Board (STB)
Sponsor- Hitachi Asia Ltd (Main Sponsor for Orchard Zone)
*Source: Christmas Light-up 2008 Factsheet.

Christmas In The Tropics is an annual year-end festive event to celebrate the joyous occasion, namely, Christmas. This year themed event includes the special Sweet Family merchandise and themed activities, as well as celebratory events, special promotions and shopping deals.


2. Marketing Mix

2.1 Components of 8Ps

2.1.1 Product/ Programme

Christmas in the Tropics is based on a theme. For example in 2007, the light-up theme for the event was “A Fairytale Christmas,” while the concurrent theme for decoration is “Christmas- It’s All About Love.” This year, the theme is “A Sweet Christmas in Singapore” and the designated areas (Orchard & Marina Zone) are transformed into fantasy candy wonderland. Decorations are centred on the Sweet Family who live in Christmas Town and run a Sweet Shoppe, while the landscape are adorned with colourful gumdrops, candy cane street lamps, palatable cupcake houses and giant doughnuts.

Identify/ describe: For the marketing mix on Product, the example would be the decorative lightings. These lightings are dazzling with the different colours used, and they follow the theme by having sweets and candies as the decoration.

As part of the primary theme for the festival to celebrate Christmas in Singapore, various shopping malls and complexes in Orchard (eg. Tangs, The Heeren, Ngee Ann Civic Plaza etc) are introducing a range of in-house events to celebrate the season, in line with the theme, so as to attract and encourage people to come and patronise them in Orchard, again.

More specifically, shopping malls like The Centrepoint, in line with the Christmas theme of all things sweet, will present ‘The Cacao Show’ where chocolate chefs challenge the world record for the tallest ever chocolate sculpture. Takashimaya goes green this year with its 16-metre tall Christmas tree powered by solar panels and lit by energy-reducing LED lights. Of which, a key highlight would be the Sweet Family themed activities, organised by the Orchard Road Business Association.
Taking it furthur to Clarke Quay, over at Central, along the Singapore River, it’s a white Christmas with a series of ice skating musicals and workshops.

From the 28 November onwards, the Sweet Family members will be giving away free candy and taking photos with shoppers every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night from 7pm to 11pm. Sweet-making demonstrations will be done in the sweet huts along Orchard Road where shoppers can indulge in sweet treats like ice-cream or traditional Singaporean sweets such as dragon beard and ting ting candy. A roving drummer band will also drum up festive spirit to a high, to hype up the atmosphere.
To add on to the grandeur of the event, furniture retailer Scanteak has specially flown in Santa Claus from Finland, for this festive season.

Another highlight of the season is Celebrate Christmas in Singapore which takes place from 19 to 25 December 2008. Nightly performances at various locations along Orchard Road will feature choirs, mime performances, carolling and dance and amongst these will be performances by international cultural groups hailing from Brazil, Taiwan, Indonesia, Hawaii, Australia and the Philippines. The colourful float parade returns to run nightly between 19 December and Christmas Day and will spread festive cheer from the heartlands to Orchard Road. The Christmas Village at Plaza Singapura will feature a singing Christmas tree.

Identify/ describe: For the marketing mix of the Programme, the wide variety of activities lined up at different places help to bring out the festive mood and allow people to look forward to a mix of activities going on in the timeline of this event. For example, on the 20 December, there will be a mass “fun-a-thon” event where participants will solve sweet-related puzzles along Orchard Road using clue cards, and on Christmas, the people can look for to a grand night concert in front of Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza. Hence, all these activities would build up anticipation in visitors who are visiting for the event, particularly in the Orchard and Marina Zone.

2.1.2 Place

Identify/ describe: The area designated for the light-up and the focal points of the Christmas In The Tropics, not inclusive of the festive spirit, are Orchard Zone (Tanglin Road, Scotts Road, Orchard Road) and Marina Zone (Rendezvous Hotel to Esplanade). These are the prime spots for capturing a wider group of people to encourage them to come and visit Orchard and Marina area, even after the event.

2.1.3 Price

Identify/ describe: Free admission
An example is the free tour of the Christmas Light-Up on Orchard Road on the HIPPO Bus that is available for tourists only. This initiative is to showcase the nightlife and vibrancy of urban Singapore so that tourists can not only enjoy the sights and sounds, but also remember the experience.

2.1.4 Promotion/ People

Identify/ describe: The event is promoted through various means like its official website, STB, newspapers, magazines and media releases. For example, the event’s website (Link: http://visitsingapore.com/cit08/) is interactive and provides concise information about the year-end activities and other relevant details. With the colourful characters (the Sweet family) featured, it gives a glimpse of what to anticipate when one goes down to see the light-up and decorations.

To spread the festive atmosphere to other parts of attractions, visitor promotions also include ‘Kids Holiday Free’ and Adult ‘Party for Free,’ while not forgetting the shopping deals and specials such as the exclusive Sweet Family Merchandise. (Refer to Appendix 1 and 2)

Identify/ describe: For the marketing mix on People, the cottage houses outside Tangs, for instance, allows interaction between the promoters (staff/ volunteers) and the visitors in a different setting. Also, with the Sweet Family as the icon of the theme to attract people to come and interact with the members of the Sweet Family, people may want to capture these memorable moment through video-cam or camera to relate their experience in Singapore.

In addition, the event is seen to be targeting at the families and holidaymakers through its promotions for children, eg. ‘Kids Holiday Free’, and the free HIPPO topless ceiling bus tour for tourists.

2.1.5 Packaging & Distribution

Identify/ describe: For the marketing mix on Packaging and Distribution, the brochures at the Visitor Centre highlight the promotions of HIPPO tour has capitalised on the festive event to help promote its product (the bus tour). However, it also helps to promote for the event by placing the theme of the event on the cover side. For the event’s official website, it is designed based on the Sweet Family theme and it includes many other year-end happenings around Singapore too.

2.1.6 Partnership

Identify/ describe: For partnership, an example would be the retailers/ brands. These retailers/ brands (eg. Tangs, Robinson) have partnered in this event activity by being involved in the Santa’s Gift Bag, where customers can buy the selected chocolates and stand a chance to pick the heavier bag with special bonus gifts at these designated retail outlets. Merchants participating in this promotion are Aalst Chocolate, Chocz, The Cocoa Trees and Galler.

Besides that, there are different sponsors for the various items/ display. For example, outside The Heeren, there is a large Christmas tree sponsored by MayBank. Also, CocaCola has a bottle pyramid centrepiece next to The Heeren. And on top of all the customised sponsors, the main sponsor for the Christmas light-up in Orchard is Hitachi.

Through these partnerships and sponsorships, the event can maximize the marketing costs, while reducing the costs incurred.

In addition, furniture retailer, Scanteak, has specially flown in Santa Claus from Finland, for this festive season.

2.2 Evaluation

From my observations, Christmas In The Tropics has used the 8Ps to market and sell not only the product itself, but also to sell Orchard and Singapore as memorable, “Uniquely Singapore” holiday destination. In particular, the event has done well in bringing in theme and characters into it as they provide a setting and some form of interaction to connect the people with the intangibilities of the event, such as the festive mood and atmosphere. In short, considerable efforts, from the website to the light-up and the decorations, have been put into creating the experience for visitors.

Also, to make the experience more unforgettable, the line-up of activities for programme in the various places not only helps to increase anticipation in the visitors as they look forward to more things to see and do, but also to disperse the crowd over the different venues to reduce overcrowding.

On top of that, the choice of designated areas for the light-up specifically in the city area, adds value for convenience as it is a central spot, as well as to showcase the splendor of Singapore’s skyline at Marina Bay area and the vibrancy of Singapore’s nightlife.

2.3 Suggestion

An area to consider, however, is the placement of the Sweet Family. For those who walk from Dhouby Ghaut MRT station, it requires a considerable walking distance before one can catch a glimpse of the Sweet Family. And it is made worse when the streets are packed with people walking in different directions on the same path. Hence, I would suggest that perhaps the display statues of the Sweet Family could be placed at different locations along the light-up areas so that more people can take photos with them without waiting too long. In this way, the experience of visitors can be enhanced without getting frustrated with the crowd and possible lead-time.

3. Role of the event and its generated economic values to Singapore

Currently, in this time of global economic gloom, a recent survey by Nielson1 showed that seven in 10 Singaporeans would be more cautious with spending during this period. And to cope with the tougher times, Singaporeans are spending less on clothing, tech gadgets, out—of—home entertainment while saving on gas and electricity. However, STB hopes to work through the situation with the lined-up of events and promotions to heighten the buzz of the year-end festivities by making Singapore a more attractive holiday destination, and rounding off the year on a sweet note for visitors.

A survey2 by the STB during the Christmas In The Tropics 2007 season showed:
-About 5 million people visited the Orchard Road area, of which close to 1 million were from overseas.
-More than 30 per cent of visitors were making a repeat visit to the Christmas light-up at Orchard Road.
-More than 40 per cent of tourists surveyed at Orchard were aware of the Christmas celebrations before arrival.
-Overall, more than 15 per cent of visitors had planned their trip to Singapore to coincide with the Christmas celebrations.

Hence, through this year’s extravagant event, STB aims to achieve its returns on investment of creating a wholesome experience for visitors is to “entrench Singapore as a top-of-mind destination for their year-end travels, especially for families and those seeking a fun weekend getaway3,” as well as to generate significant revenue spin-offs for the various stakeholders of the local tourism industry, namely, accommodation, transportation, F&B, attractions, retail and entertainment.

Also, the Orchard Road Business Association (ORBA), who is taking on a more direct and active role for the Christmas in the Tropics festivities this year by organising the themed activities, hopes to delight shoppers with the sweet offerings and continue to attract more visitors, both local and international, to Orchard Road.

Thus, all the concerted efforts to promote this themed Christmas event, as well as to event market for Orchard through it, are means to put Singapore on the travel destination map prominently, especially in the region. And together with the assumption that the branding of Singapore is sustained positively over time, it would then translate to long-term reputation and higher visitor arrivals to Singapore.


1 Refer to Ref. 2 of Appendices (from Channel NewsAsia)
2 Refer to Ref. 4 of Appendices (from media release in STB website).
3 Quoted from Ms Geraldine Yeo, Director of Leisure Marketing and Events Management, Singapore Tourism Board.


4. Conclusion

The event has encouraged people to visit the area as they take photo of dazzling light-ups and the adorable Sweet Family. Even at night, close to 11pm, there were still lots of people being involved in different activities like shopping and dining (eg. queuing in a long queue at Swensen’s) as I did my observation and photo-taking.

The event has attracted both locals and tourists to spend time at Orchard as they take photos of the decorations and all. This would translate into revenue as throughout the day, these people would buy food and drinks, make purchases as they shop and may spend on transportation like taxi to travel from one place to another. As a result, the macro impact of this revenue generation and spin-offs would add value to the economy. With the positive image and perception of the foreign visitors, positive word-of-mouth would then help to publicise Singapore, hence, increasing her reputation, and in turn, bring in more tourists to visit. This, again, helps to add value to the economy, both in the short and long run.

The marketing mix has been effective in contributing to the success of the event. Through the 8Ps, the experience of the event is refined and depicted, as various aspects of the event (from the smallest to the more significant details) are looked into. For instance, from getting the relevant information for the respective event activities quickly, to interactions with staff/ volunteers/ promoters and the choice of variety of happenings/ highlights of the event programme. In conclusion, the event has brought significant tourism and hence, economic, value to Singapore, especially so as intangibles like positive word-of-mouth have both short and long term benefits.




References

1. Christmas In The Tropics 2008. http://visitsingapore.com/cit08/ Accessed on 10 Nov 2008. Last accessed: 20 Nov 2008.

2. Channel NewsAsia. SINGAPORE: Consumer confidence in Singapore has fallen to an all—time low (20 Nov 2008). http://sg.news.yahoo.com/cna/20081120/tap-056-nielsen-survey-shows-consumer-co-231650b.html. Accessed on 20 Nov 2008.

3. Christmas Light-up 2008 Factsheet. http://app.stb.gov.sg/Data/news/1/c8e3534f4b1d065ea1d0e5874ed80b00/081113%20-%20annex%20a%20-%20clu%202008%20fact%20sheet.pdf. Accessed on 20 Nov 2008.

4. Singapore Tourism Board. It’s A Sweet Christmas In The Tropics This Year! (13 Nov 2008). http://app.stb.gov.sg/asp/new/new03a.asp?id=9463. Accessed on: 20 Nov 2008.


5. Appendices

1. VISITOR PROMOTIONS

i. ‘Kids Holiday Free’
Families travelling with children will be able to enjoy special visitor promotions at selected attractions and dining establishments under the ‘Kids Holiday Free’ promotion. For every two paying adults, two children will enjoy free admission, special meals and other sweet surprises. More than 20 attractions are participating, including the Singapore Flyer, HiPPO River Cruise, Singapore River Cruises, Jurong BirdPark, Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, the National Heritage Board museums and Sentosa, amongst many others. The same promotion extends to some 10 dining establishments such as Chen Fu Ji, Hard Rock Café, Billy Bombers, Marriot Café, Indian Grill and Karma Kettle where up to two children dine for free with every two paying adults.

ii. Adults ‘Party for Free’
Party animals can get set for a wild night out as they enjoy perks like 1-for-1 drinks or complimentary entry to some of Singapore’s hottest clubs under the ‘Party for Free’ promotion. Participating pubs and clubs include favourites such as Loof, Thumper, Zouk, Bar None, Attica and St James Power Station.

2. SHOPPING SPECIALS

i. Sweet Family merchandise
For the first time, the theme of Christmas in the Tropics will adorn special festive merchandise. The Sweet Family will grace the packaging of the largest chocolate bar in town – a special 1 kg dark chocolate bar by Aalst Chocolate which will be available at selected department stores. The Cacao Show at The Centrepoint will also feature the Sweet Family on bite-sized special edition pralines.

The Sweet Family will also be part of special tourist giveaways at Action City and the Orchard Road Singapore Visitors Centre (SVC). At Action City, shoppers who spend at least $50 will get a Uniquely Singapore Breadou Donut in a specially designed “The Sweetest Christmas” box. Visitors who spend at least $200 (with maximum of three combined receipts) can redeem a Sweet Family eco-bag as well as a Jurlique beauty sample redemption card at the Singapore Visitors Centre at Orchard.

ii. Santa’s Gift Bag
This year, in line with the Sweet Family theme, Santa’s Gift Bags will contain sweet treats such as chocolates, fruit cakes, gingerbread and other delectable delights. Perfect presents for sweet-toothed friends and family, these bags of treats range from S$15 to S$35 and will contain items valued between S$22 and S$80. Merchants participating in this promotion are Aalst Chocolate, Chocz, The Cocoa Trees and Galler.


3. HITACHI
The Christmas Light-up continues to have a strong corporate supporter in Hitachi Limited. “The Christmas Light-up has been an important event in the Hitachi calendar since 1991. Christmas is a season of giving, and through this event, the Hitachi Group in Singapore raised funds to sustain about 150 social service programs. We always strive to be SWEET to the community where we belong,” said Mr Shunsuke Ohtsu, Hitachi Ltd’s Chief Executive for Asia.