Marketing Mix

1.       Product

A product is a set of intangible leisure experiences and tangible goods designed to satisfy the needs of the event market.

The core product of the Korea Festival is to create an awareness of the Korean traditional culture with a hint of pop culture, as well as to display the lifestyle of typical Koreans, their traditions and taboos.

Supporting products of the festival includes the brochures that are available at the venues themselves, their website which highlights their events and programs.

Facilitating products of the festival are the booths set up around the venue. For example, the Korean Street Fair held at I12 Katong had many booths/stalls set up, showcasing Korean food such as Apples, Rice Wine, Tea, traditional food like Mandoo (also known as Dumplings) and Ddeokbokki ( also known as Rice Cakes), and also Peperro, Korea’s rendition of Pocky, a cookie stick.

As for the augmented product, the atmosphere for the Korean Street Fair was not what I expected it to be. The event was named “Street Fair” but upon arrival, the feeling was not one of like stepping into Korea and its streets but rather just a mall with an on-going event. I felt that this point was left untouched by the organizers and can be greatly improved.

2.       Place

Korea Festival 2012 held its twelve different events scattered around Singapore. The launch of the festival was held at Shangri-La Hotel, which I found very fitting as many special guests were invited and performances were put up hence the arrangement of a 5-star hotel was definitely the right choice.

FLYing, a sports comedy, had also put up its first overseas show here in Singapore as part of this festival. Esplanade Theatre had hosted the show and I felt that it was a good decision as The Esplanade is one of Singapore’s trademark attractions.

Swing For Good, the Annual Charity and Gala Dinner meant for members of the business and diplomatic community, was held at Singapore Island Country Club, which holds the top rated golf course in Singapore, and also at St. Regis Hotel.

There were many other events held at Singapore’s more well known places such as the SMTOWN concert which took place at The Float @ Marina Bay and also K-Classic Concert performed at NUS Music Concert Hall.

However, I felt that there was one event which could have took place at another part of Singapore. The Korean Street Fair was hosted at I12 Katong. Although the mall itself was seemingly new, it did not have a space large enough for the event, making it quite a squeeze for visitors. Also, because of the limited space provided, I felt that there were not enough booths set up. If another location, such as Suntec Convention Centre, was used, more street food of Korea could have been introduced during the festival instead of just the rice cakes and dumplings. I12 Katong’s accessibility is not as convenient as compared to Suntec, with only limited buses that bring you there and is also not centralized. If it was held at Suntec, I am positive that the atmosphere and the turnout would have been better.

 

3.       People

The target audience for this festival are people of all ages who are interested in the Korean culture and the entertainment industry of Korea. This festival incorporates many different types of programs that are suitable in meeting the wants of the different visitors.

For teenagers, due to the increasing popularity of the Korean Hallyu Wave, Korea Festival 2012 brought in the SMTOWN LIVE WORLD TOUR III which includes many famous Korean artistes that are greatly sought after by fans all over the world.

K-Classic Concert was targeted at the older people, and for those who had a passion and love for classical music.

Events such as The Launch and the Swing for Good Annual Charity Golf and Gala Dinner were mainly focused on business associates and diplomats.

Literature inclined people were also targeted at with events such as ‘Meet the Author’ and also the Korean Film Festival ‘Romantic Korea’. Families could also attend the festival together with events such as TAL World Tour and FLYing.

Interaction from host to guests can also be seen during the Korean Street Fair, where there were miniscule performances and competitions held with members of the public.

This showed that the festival was planned out really well and was a success due to the widespread characteristic of it which reached out to all the different interest groups and audiences.

 

4.       Promotion

Personally, I felt that the promotion for the Korea Festival 2012 was not hype enough. The programs were advertised as an event by itself instead of the whole thing as a festival.  Many members of the public did not seem to know about the festival.

Advertisements for FLYing could be seen on television and also heard on a few radio stations but not until nearing the dates of the show.
SMTOWN LIVE WORLD TOUR III was publicized on a higher note due to the intensity of the K-pop Wave; however, what many did not know was that it was also an event under the Korea Festival 2012.

The promotions and advertisings could be greatly improved if they had made use of the media, such as television advertisements and radio broadcasts etc. to publicise about the festival as a whole. Korean trends are high in Singapore now and will spark the interests of many people. Magazines and Newspapers can also help in advertising, especially magazines such as TEENS, TEENAGE, I-WEEKLY and YOU-WEEKLY which are Singapore’s top read magazines.
Social Networks such as Twitter and Facebook are also a good source of publicity since more than 10 million users are on these websites per day, it will bring about an increase in the number of visitors. Having been a 2 month long festival, the event could have been highly promoted through the word-of-mouth. When visitors like what they experienced, they will naturally tell their friends which in turn brings about an increase in visitors.

Promoting a festival or event is very important as they are not a permanent exhibition. The number of visitors who patronize the festival or event will determine the outcome, whether it is a success or a failure.

 

5.       Price

Price is an important aspect of the marketing mix. It influences the demand of the public and it helps generate revenue from the event.

Looking at Korea Festival 2012, most of the events were free of charge except for TAL World Tour, Romantic Korea, FLYing, and SMTOWN LIVE WORLD TOUR III.

With only four events out of twelve bringing in revenue, one might thing that this festival will probably not generate any revenue at all. However, these 4 events are rather large-scale and the tickets itself are priced quite expensively. For example, SMTOWN’s concert tickets and priced at $168 for the cheapest and $268 for the most expensive seating. With such expensive tickets and with the addition of the show being a sold-out event, it might actually help to generate revenue or at least break-even.