Beerfest Asia 2009 was held in Singapore on 29th April 2009 to 3rd May 2009. It was a perfect opportunity for people to taste and sample over one hundred different types of beers all over the world under a marquee. The beers offered in Beerfest came as far away as from the exotic Chile, Mexico, and Switzerland to traditional brewing nations such as Belgium, and Germany etc. Beer lovers can choose from independent craft beers, experimental brews or just good old established beer varieties they are loyal to. Further complementing the experience is the outdoor bazaar with a delectable range of food and merchandise. It was also a chance for people to enjoy mouth-watering food and exciting performances by Vertical Horizon and Hell’s Belles while indulging their beer.

I went to the Beerfest together with some of my polytechnic friends on the second day of the festival. It was a fun experience , as it was my first time attending such event. It was a cool place to enjoy after a long day of school.

This is me with all our tickets!

We were all given this green coloured hand tags upon entrance.
Although I'm below eighteen, I still managed to get into the festival.

A similar event which has been successful in another city would be the Oktoberfest which held annually in Munich, Germany. Oktoberfest is one of the most famous events in Germany, and the largest beer festival in the world.

In terms of Beerfest Asia and Oktoberfest in marketing strategy, both of them have similarities and differences in their experimental and facilitating components—mainly the product, place, programming, people, partnerships, promotions, packaging and distribution and price.

Product—both festivals offers the same product, which is the beers. Both festivals also provide a wide range of beers for drinkers to choose from. Beerfest Asia offers beer from all over the world, which cannot be found in Singapore. However, Oktoberfest only offers beers that are only brewed locally in Germany.

Place—they are both situated outdoor in tents or marquees near an attraction of the host community. For Beerfest Asia, the festival ground was located on the F1 tracks, which is behind the Singapore Flyer facing the Marina Barrage. As for Oktoberfest, it is located near an amusement park. Surprisingly, a lot of visitors do not visit Oktoberfest for the beer, but the other attractions like the amusement park, the roller coaster and other varieties.

Programming—both festivals have programmes such as music and entertainment. For Beerfest Asia, as their target market is mainly the working adults, it started its operation at late afternoon—3p.m. or 6p.m. It has music performances performed by Vertical Horizon, Hell’s Belles, 53A (Singapore), Beerfest All-Star Blues Band. There were also parties and DJ session by B-Yond VIP Club Night Mayfair, Power 98 JD Jensen Ho and DJ Samurai. There were also games at the sports bar such as foosball, pool and pinball machines.

As for Oktoberfest, as it is a recurring event, they target more on families. They start their festival in the morning—10am or at noon. They have programmes like ‘Grand entry of the Oktoberfest landlords and breweries’, ‘Oktoberfest Costume and Riflemen’s Parade’ and ‘Open-Air Oktoberfest Music’.


People—people in both beer festivals include workers, performers in the festival and the spectators who came for the event. For Beerfest Asia, the beer exhibitors recruited showgirls to help them in promoting their drinks. They also have DJs and other bands that gave live performances in the festival.
As for Oktoberfest, similarly to Beerfest Asia, its audiences are not only beer lovers, but also families. There are also performers performing in the parade. Tourists also came all the way to Germany for Oktoberfest too.





Partnerships—both festivals have partnered with sponsors to sponsor for their festivals. For Beerfest Asia, it has a wide range of sponsors to support them, from venue to music and performers to media and to ventilation.
Conversely, for Oktoberfest, as it is a public festival, the beer exhibitors support for their own tents.

Promotions—in order to attract people to come into the festivals, there must be certain promotions needed. Both festivals have come up with different ticket sales promotions for customers. There are early bird ticket promotions for those who are using the sponsor’s (Citibank) credit card for payment for people who are going for Beerfest Asia. Concession rates are also available for SAFRA members, senior citizens, tiertiary students and NSF members.


However, Oktoberfest does not have tickets sales promotion as the admission to the festival is free for public. They do reduce the price for all over Oktoberfest if families are visiting on the official family day, Tuesday from 12 noon to 6p.m.

Packaging and distribution—the tickets for Beerfest Asia are distributed island wide so that people could purchase them conveniently anywhere. They could either purchase their tickets online from Bytes Ticketing (http://www.bytes.sg) or from any outlets of O’Brien Sandwich Bars or Timbre Music Station. Beerfest Asia also packages itself with the local attraction as it is located near Singapore Flyer. Besides, those who bought the hospitality tickets are also entitled one free ride for the flyer.
As for Oktoberfest, it packages itself with spectacular large rides such as the Olympia Looping and Eurostar and also funfairs. Besides, it also packages itself with hotels for accommodation, so that tourists who are coming for Oktoberfest could enjoy the festival without worrying about the accommodation.

Price—instead of purchasing the beers straight from the vendors, consumers for both festivals were encouraged to buy the beer tokens as a substitute for currency. For Beerfest Asia, consumers need to purchase the currency booklet in order to purchase anything in the tent.

As for Oktoberfest, the companies hand out beer tokens to their guests, which can then be exchanged for beers in their respective tents.
Both festivals also have sales of merchandise such as mugs, T-shirts etc. Mugs are very popular souvenirs among visitors in Oktoberfest as they are made from heavy glass and have a decorative brewery logo on the side.

One of the best practices that beer festival has picked up would be holding their events near an attraction of the country. On one hand it could help exhibitors to promote their beers. On the other hand, it also helps the host community to promote its country and bring in more tourism receipts. Spectators who went for the event could also use this chance to visit the attractions if they rarely visit the attraction, other than visiting the festival. This could also let them know more about their local’s attraction.

Secondly, they also come up with programmes that are suitable for their target markets. This also helps to create the festival spirit.


Thirdly, the good thing Beerfest Asia had could be by using showgirls for direct selling. Different beer exhibitors have different showgirls to promote their drinks. The showgirls were there to attract attention to the exhibitor’s beer with their beauty. This could probably attract more male drinkers into buying their liquid.

(my guy friends were attracted to these pretty showgirls!)

Sponsorship also helps the host organisation to decrease their financial burden. They can also aid them in their marketing and media expertise. For example, using the radio station Power 98 FM as a form of promotional tools. They could let radio listeners know the existence of beer festival as using this media is their capability. Then again, the festival also helps the sponsor to increase their brand awareness and brand image enhancement. It also creates sales or hospitality opportunities. Therefore, both sponsors and sponsees benefit from the festival.

Having tickets promotions such as early bird discount is good as this can confirms the number of attendees for the festival. Ticket selling is also part of their revenue. Besides, people who bought the tickets earlier set a minimum number of people visiting the event. In addition, having concession rate for students and senior citizens is also another good choice as this allows students like me who has no income get the chance to experience this festival spirit.

“We take this opportunity to promote the drink,” said Mr. Patrick Koh, sales & marketing manager of Singha beer. During the interview with Mr. Koh, he also added that the number of people who came for this event was much better as compared to last year.

-Picture of Mr Patrick Koh & Me

In a festival or event, there are also stakeholders that help to support the event and they have the potential to influence the company’s decisions and actions. For an event’s stakeholders, it involves the host community, host organisation, participants and spectators, co-workers, media and sponsors.

The host community for Beerfest Asia 2009 is Singapore. The host organisation is Beerfest Private Limited. They are the event organisers for Beerfest Asia. As for the participants, they are the participating beer exhibitors and different food & beverage merchants. The spectators would be beer lovers in Singapore or around the region, working adults and some foreign tourists. They came to beer festival to try out different types of beer and also socialise with their friends or colleagues.

The workers who are working in the beer festival are the co-workers. They are the ones who provide services for the spectators. These workers include showgirls who were promoting Formula One and workers working for the beer exhibitor. Power98 FM and FHM magazines are also media that help to advertise the festival through broadcast and printed media. As they are targeting mainly on the working adults, these media could reach to them easily.

Lastly, there were sponsors like Timbre Music, Bio-Air etc. These sponsors help to support the beer festival. As Beerfest Asia was located outdoor on the F1 tracks, proper ventilations are needed so that the spectators would not feel warm. Music and performances also help to create atmosphere in the festival.


-Sponsors of Beerfest Asia 2009

The main purpose of Beerfest Asia 2009 is to serve as a business event to promote beers and also to promote Singapore. Businessmen or working adults were attracted to come to Beerfest to chill out after a long working day. As it was held around Labour Day (1 May 2009) and weekend, most workaholics in Singapore would have the time to spend their evening to come into this festival. While indulging themselves with their beer, they can also try out different types of food offered by various participating food and beverage merchants like O’Briens Sandwich Bar and Butcher House.

Singapore Tourism Board also partnered with Beerfest Private Limited to use this festival to promote Singapore. As Beerfest Asia 2009 was located in front of Singapore Flyer, facing the Marina Barrage, this helps Singapore Tourism Board to promote Singapore’s attractions. It will also create awareness of Singapore to other countries as this festival is Asia’s biggest beer festival.

Beerfest Asia 2009 could result in visitors to the festival extending their length of stay and visiting other local attractions and tourism destinations. It may also attract media coverage and exposure that enhance the profile of Singapore, resulting in improved long-term tourism image and visitation. People may come to Singapore for Beer Festival, instead of travelling to Germany for Beer Festival in Oktoberfest.

Beerfest could also provide Singapore with a strong platform for showcasing her expertise, hosting potential investors and promoting new business opportunities. The media exposure generated by beerfest could illustrate the capacity, innovation and activities of Singapore. Participating food & beverage merchants could also gain their revenues from the earnings of the food sales. They could also use this opportunity to let others know more about their restaurant.

I think Beerfest Asia is a good place for people to taste and try out different types of beer and what different countries can offer. However, it can also be improved by improving its marketing strategy like creating more awareness to the public. They could also do surveys for feedback so as to see which areas they could improve on. By doing this, this could help in making the festival sustainable and being able to hold it annually in Singapore. Having a festival like Beerfest also helps Singapore to increase more tourists in coming not only to the festival, but also visiting Singapore’s attraction.


We enjoyed ourselves, do you?

1. Johnny Allen, W. O. (2002). Festival and Special Event Management. Sydney: John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

2. Media, R. (2009). Beerfest Asia 2009. Retrieved May 18, 2009, from Beerfest Asia 2009: http://www.beerfestasia.com/

3. Oktoberfest Munich. (2009). Retrieved June 19, 2009, from muenchen.de: http://www.muenchen.de/Tourismus/Oktoberfest/7548/index.html

4. The Oktoberfest Website. (2009). Retrieved June 21, 2009, from Oktoberfest.de: http://new.oktoberfest.de/en/

5. Uniquely Singapore- Event Calendar. (2009, April). Retrieved June 19, 2009, from Uniquely Singapore: http://www.visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home/apps/event_detail.html?pageName=MonthlyEvent&buttom=detail&eid=9272&eventType=1

6. Brochure of Beerfest Asia 2009

Acknowledgment
Thank you Mr. Patrick Lim (IT, Sales & Marketing Manager) and Mr. Steven Ling(Marketing Executive) of Singha Beer for the information given and free beer.

SYE MUN is my name:D
Currently studying in Leisure&Resort Management

Let me share with you my experience in this blog about Beerfest Asia 2009! :D

2K04, Ole-BB, VBUS, Beerfest Asia 2009,

June 2009

Cher is the designer. Inspiration from .fourth!Romance, Exuvalia, mintypeach and Zeenon's DevianArt.