Together with 5 of my other friends, we attended the Beerfest Asia 2009! It is the first beer festival which provides the perfect opportunity to try up to 100 different kinds of different beers from different countries under one roof. The festival was located along the F1 tracks, behind The Singapore Flyer 5 nights event from 29th April 09 to 3rd May 09. The prices of the beer will be ranged from as low as $3 to $9. Tickets to the festivals would be ranging from $10 to $65, but definitely Sistic charge of $2 still applies.
Basically, this festival is a perfect chance for people who appreciate beer, taste the different kind of beers from all around the world, or people who just don’t want to miss the great “beer deal” as beer sold at Singapore cost at least $4 with such a small variety. This festival is certainly rare especially for the beer lovers to immerse themselves within the fragrance while enjoying the arts of drinking.

This is the first ever time I attended such festival. And to my surprise there are also many of such beer events all over the world. One major one will be the Oktoberfest. Oktoberfest is also an annual festival that somehow similar to Beerfest Asia 2009. It is usually held in end September and will last for 16 days. It is the largest festival worldwide which attracts a great amount of visitors. At Oktoberfest, there are beer tents, amusements, circus appearances, parades as well as live brass bands.

So how are the two festival different from each other?

Basically, both Beerfest Asia and Oktoberfest provides beer as well as entertainment.
Beer will be the main product served at Beerfest and the genuine attending visitors would look forward to the wide variety of brews available. Of course, even though there might be a wide variety of beers available, the pricing is exceptionally important. This is because, even if there are 100 or even more kinds of different beers, pricing the beer for (e.g) $10, will not attract a wide audiences. Therefore, Beerfest Asia did a pretty good job in pricing the beer for as low as $3. It’s better then going to drink at a pub or club isn’t it? Apart from beers there are also mouth-watering snacks to go along with, one way of preventing yourself from getting drunk easily is to accompany your drink with some food, and it will definitely be healthier for our livers too! Other than just food and beer, there are also merchandise of souvenir and professional photo taking session to capture down the happiest moment to be bought home with you.

photographer

As mentioned earlier, the main product for Oktoberfest is also beer, food, and entertainment. However, one good thing about Oktoberfest is that they provide amusement rides too.

Next for the place where the festival was held,

Beerfest Asia 2009 was located at the heart of the city, at the open field behind the well-known Singapore Icon, The Singapore Flyer. The festival was also located near the Cityhall MRT station which makes it very accessible. The entire event will held at the open space under a big marquee, so despite rain or shine, the festival will carry on. Although the entire area is not very big, but the stage and tables were arranged in an orderly manner such that visitor can patronize every stall without any hassle. However, there is a disadvantage of the venue chosen. It was a little uncomfortable for the visitors to stay in the marquee with only installed cooling fans throughout the event especially during the warm and humid weather in Singapore. (I actually stand infront of the big cooling fan).

On the other hand, Oktoberfest is located at a 24 hectare open field which may not be near to any trademark of Germany. Having this event located at a relatively big open field, Oktoberfest is able to provide more activities and amusement rides and games. This would boost Germany’s economical strength as well as allowing the visitors to have fun. Oktoberfest is an annual event which people anticipate hence, the cost of advertising would be relatively low.

To make the festival works, partnership is very important. Thus Singapore Tourism Board had a partnership to the festival and will ensure the growth of Beerfest for the next 2 years. Also, Beerfest Asia is jointly marketed with Citibank. Citibank credit card holders will be entitled to 5% discount on any amount spent at the festival.

The promotion and communication of the event was through newspaper advertisement, online advertisements such as putting advertisement on popular websites i.e. facebook, word of mouth, and through family, friends and co-workers. Through interviews, majority of the people were aware of the event through the newspaper and friends. Other than the promotion with Citibank, there were also promotion of beer. My friends and I actually got to enjoy 2 bottle of Singapore Sling for the price of 1!

For Oktoberfest, most of the people know about the event as it was too popular and was an annual event. Thus, not much promotion and advertisement were required. Most of the advertisement was done by some hotel nearby the place of the event. For example, the hotel would provide complimentary entry to the event if the visitor is staying at their hotel. By doing so, it would be beneficial to both the Oktoberfest and the hotel themselves.

Programming within the event indicates the success or failure of the event. I felt that Beerfest program was effective enough to make me stay longer for the event. During a later part of the festival when most visitors get bored, they were able to then start the most waited event for the day such as having vertical horizon from USA and Hell’s Belles to perform. Also, there will be having FHM top 10 final girl-next-door models on the stage playing games. Such programming prolongs the stay of the visitors. Programs benefited the audience as it brings joy and enjoyment to them, at the same time when the visitors stay on for programs, the chance of having more beers purchased would be higher.

Oktoberfest Costume and Riflemen’s Parade. These are the program that is sure to bring on crowd to the event. Also there are other important events such as the Parade of Oktoberfest Landloard and Breweries, the Official Tapping of the Keg, and the Oktoberfest Mass. Other than going to Oktoberfest just for beer, people who are interested in such event would also visit, thus bringing in traditional events allows more people to join in the festival thus being a marketing decision to decide on what programs should be a must-have for the festival.

As Beerfest Asia is located at city area, there are opportunities to do packaging and bundling of goods and services. As Beerfest Asia is located around Singapore Flyer, the destination could do package events with other attractions and services. As such, patrons are entitled to a free beer and a complimentary ride on the Singapore Flyer when they purchase the concession ticket for the Beerfest. The distributions of the tickets to the event are online booking of tickets, purchase of tickets through intermediaries such as Sistic, and also through the reception booth at the entrance of the festival event.

Similarly for Oktoberfest, tickets could be purchased online, as well as at the entrance to the event itself. However, as Oktoberfest is located at an open field, there are no attractions around the location for the event to do packaging with.

At Beerfest Asia, all the staffs were very friendly and hostile. Pretty models were employed to interact between customers and thus providing a positive experience. Also, with more interaction among customers and staff, customers could easily be convinced with the event being a good event and thus having the animator effect whereby will make them come back to the festival again next year. There would also be a booth for massaging services done by professionals in cute rabbit costumes to provide massage services to ease one’s body after taking alcoholic beverages. This not only is beneficial for the health, but also builds up the rapport of the visitor and staff.

The reasonable pricing of the beer eventually attracted more sale receipts. The event organizer set more than one prices for their products which is the admission fees to the event. Admission fees were charged for as low as $10 to $65, and Sistic charge of $2 applies. Students and early birds were charged at a lower price from $10 to $20. This price strategy helps to get a minimum number of people to attend the event. Fees for weekdays are different from prices from weekend. This is a strategy as during weekend, more visitors will be expected. Other than that, by setting the admission fees higher on weekend help in crowd control. Nevertheless, massaging service was also provided, with fees required. This would further increase revenue for the event, and also it allows the stressful people to have their body massaged and calmed down, thus being beneficial to both the organization and the visitors themselves.

One litre of beer sold at Oktoberfest will cost between 8, 30 € and 8, 60 € which is equivalently to S$17.50, although the price of the beer were quite expensive, revenue from the event was not affected as seen from last year experience. Through word-of-mouth and media, everyone knows that the event is worth going for and worth spending their money on. Beer tokens will also be available for sale with some discounts on certain mode of payments. Despite of that, companies could also provide their staff with such beer tokens to attract them in participating Oktoberfest.

Some of the best practices done by Beerfest Asia was the concession tickets for the students, nation service men, and senior citizens and also the early-birds discount for people who do not fall under the above category.

As there were numerous different brand and type of beer available at the festival, each and every brand is competitors to each other. Thus to be able to stand out from other, “Singha Beer” put in the best effort and had done a good job by having the largest number of pretty beer ambassadors promoting the beer. This would definitely bring in more sale receipts are males are generally more attracted to pretty beer ambassadors. Despite of that, bright branding and logos could also attract more people.

Special guest appearance by the vertical horizon and hell’s bella the premier all female AC/DC tribute act added extra lively touch to the whole event. This is another good practice as it also attracted their fans who might not think of going to Beerfest Asia 2009. Nevertheless, the FHM girl-next-door contest also brought in extra crowd to the event. All these performance and stage activities would definitely prolong the stay of the visitors.

To make a festival or event work successfully, stakeholders plays a very important role. Stakeholders are the host community, host organization, sponsors, media, co-workers, participants and spectators. The host community of Beerfest Asia will be Singapore where the event is located. Host organization are Singapore exhibition & convention Bureau and Australian trade commission it is sponsored by Singapore Tourism board, Citibank, Absolut Vodka, Singapore Flyer, Grand park hotel and more. The Media such timbre music the official music partner, B-Yond the club party partner, BMC for the official musical instrument partner and more. Co-workers for the event will be the staff, volunteer as well as the performers for the event. They are exceptionally important as they will be the one interacting will the visitors. Lastly the participants and spectators are people who visit the festival to enjoy the beer, fun, and program as well as the exhibitors such as the 6 Drunk Men, Carlsberg, Singha Beer, and many more.

It is not very often that we get to have a taste of good beer at a decent and affordable price in Singapore. Thus, I believe, the main purpose of Beerfest Asia is to showcase good brewed beer to people all around Asia at one. Beers are as complex as wines, thus to allow people to experience beer which suit the climate where they are living to more complex styles of beer, is a kind of knowledge. Thus, Beerfest Asia allows more people to understand about different beer and be more educated about the world handcrafted beer. Therefore, it allows everyone to learn the arts of drinking instead of abusing the alcohol

As there is a certain percentage of foreign visitors for the festival, occupancy rates of hotels would be significantly increase as compare to normal time. They would also take this opportunity to visit other places of attractions and boost the economy. As this is an alcohol event, most of the visitor would certainly have the chance to experience the well developed transport system. Over at this event, it provides a great opportunity for both locals and tourists to in exchanging culture and knowledge over a mug of ice cold beer.

In conclusion, Beerfest Asia 2009 is a success. It marks a important moment in history of Singapore beer industry. Regardless of nationality, status or language, beer lovers get together with one aim, to bring their love and passion for beer to a greater height. Such events should be held and reached out to the public. This is to promote healthy and happy drinking rather then abusing of alcohol.

some activities you should play before heading home