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Summary of interview with event organizer [24 September]
Wednesday, September 24, 2008, 10:21 PM
Questions asked & answered:- Is Singapore Beer Festival a sponsorship driven event? - "Not really sponsorship driven, but it helps alot"
- What organizer give sponsors in return for their contributions? - "Beer for their sponsorship, and a tent at the event for socializing and networking with all the high net worth individuals present"
- Are there any sponsorship package offered? - "No"
Issues:- It somehow is confusing / contradicting that the organizer did not offer any sponsorship packages to attract the sponsors, but yet there are so many sponsors willing to invest in this event. It is not a sponsorship driven event, but the sponsors involvement do help the event alot. Probably the organizer had not expected the amount of sponsors who are willing to chip in to the event, so they hadnt thought of the event as 'sponsorship driven'.
- The organizer mentioned that they offered the sponsors beer, tent and the high net worth of individuals attending. However, did the organizer thought about or asked the sponsors about their target market? What the event organizer deem as 'high net worth' may not be as 'high' if the sponsor's target audience isnt that group of people. It just could be a mistake of barking up the wrong tree.
- Matt Bennett also mentioned that they left their marketing to Singapore Tourism Board. But have they thought that STB probably will just chuck the event under the F1 GP Season, which may not be what the sponsors want? Because all event like to have their own unique selling point, if they are always linked together with another mega event, this small little event will never be able to succeed hiding under that big umbrella.
Recommendations:- For the first year, it may be interesting to not have sponsorship packages because when an event is new, more eyes will be set on it. Sponsoring the event may just be a chance to flash the brand around which may explain the amount of sponsors SBF have, for being the first in Singapore. However, this tactic will not work forever. Consider the sponsors as a customer: we will need to keep pleasing the customer so that they will remain loyal and keep coming back for repeat purchases.
- Understanding the sponsors is critical because we will then know what they want, then the event can be wind towards the sponsor's needs. They are the one investing, some sort of providing capital for the event, so we need to take in their suggestions and needs too. If the sponsors cannot find what they want, they will eventually leave.
- Marketing is the most important factor to look at during the planning of an event. Most of the event budget usually goes to creating awareness / hype for the event. It will be good if Matt can oversee the marketing of the event to himself because without the hype and awareness, the turn up rate will not be good since no one knows about the event. Or probably, Matt may not need to oversee the whole marketing process, but he should at least have regular updates from STB than just throw the whole marketing project at STB.
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