Singapore Slingers 2008

Traditional Marketing Mix Adopted by the Singapore Slingers

- Promotion

Promotion mix is a total marketing communications program adopted to attract a particular market segment for an event. It may include advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and personal selling.

In the case of the Singapore Challenge Series 2008/09, they have used the Internet as a tool to promote the event. The Singapore Slingers owns a website with updated match schedules, information on the different pricing packages and many more. The website is a form of advertisement and also a gateway for Slingers Fans to know more about the history of the team, updates of the team players transfer as well as the stats of the players.

The Singapore Slingers have an appropriate logo to represent the team. The management also designed a logo for the Singapore Challenge Series 2008/09 and come up with a “Singapore Slingers Mascot”. These have effectively project a positive image and it is definitely a form of promotion for the event.
(Refer to http://www.singaporeslingers.com/)

In addition, the Singapore Slingers has managed to acquire sponsorships and this has greatly boosted the positioning of this sporting event. The sponsorships also act as an advertisement for this event. Each sponsor owns a website which will help promote this sporting event. In fact, the management of Slingers is encouraging sponsors to use their players as part of the marketing mix to promote the team. This form of marketing strategy is very popular in other parts of the world but it is rarely adopted in Singapore. (Refer to http://www.marketing-interactive.com/news/7129) Some of the sponsors for the Singapore Challenge Series 2008/09 include the Singapore Sports Council, Brewerkz, Singapore Pools, Air Asia, ACCOR and many more.

In my opinion, the promotion of this event is very small scale. It only adopted the Internet as the only advertising medium to promote both the image of the Singapore Slingers as well as the Singapore Challenge Series 2008/09. Hence, I feel that just one form of advertising is unable to reach out to more people. I suggest that it will be ideal if the management can venture into other forms of advertisement like radio, television, press advertising and many more.
Events Marketing Mix Adopted by the Singapore Slingers

- Product Experiences

The product experience is the experiential process of an event which will be affected by the programming and packaging of an event.

Programming is a critical aspect of an event product. In the case of the Singapore Challenge Series, physical environment, human resource (commentator, cheer leader, marshals etc…), performance of the basketball players contribute to the event experience.

The Singapore Challenge Series 2008/09 is held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium with a total of 11,000 seats. The basketball court is centralized to facilitate better view for the spectators. There are also strong lightings shone at the basketball court to brighten up the sports hall. There are 4 huge LCD screen showing the scoreboard which is facing the four wings- North, South, East, West. All these physical factors are taken into considerations when programming an event.

During the game, the commentator is enthusiastically commenting on the game. He managed to arouse the spectators’ feelings by initiating the crowd to cheer for the teams. When the opponent possesses the ball, the commentator will initiate the crowd to shout, “Defend”. Hence, the spectators are able to feel a sense of belonging to the team they are supporting.

The main factor that will trigger the heart of the spectators is the performance of the team players. They are able to arouse the feelings of the crowd. For instance when they have scored a goal, the crowd will cheer and when the player lost possession, they will cheer even more. Hence, they are important in creating that excitement and experiential effect.

Packaging of the event is also important in the event marketing mix. Packaging is a service bundle of entertainment, food and beverage and merchandise as a product offer. For the case of this sporting event, the management of Slingers has done it. While watching the game, one is able to enjoy beer supplied by BREWERKZ, one of the sponsors of the Singapore Challenge Series. It is definitely a value add to the event. After the event, spectators are allowed to enter the basketball court to have a photo taking session with the basketball players.

Overall, the whole sporting event was spectacular. With the aid of strong lightings, background music and the enthusiastic commentator who arouse the excitement level, I would rate this event 4 out of 5 stars.

- Pricing

The tickets are affordable so as to attract young Singaporean fans, families as well as expats living in Singapore.

The prices of the tickets are as follows:

GENERAL ADMISSION
Premium Seating (Category 3)**
ADULT - $16
CHILD - $12
Gallery General Admission (Category 4)**
(Arena & Terrace Baseline Areas - No Seat Number Allocated)
ADULT - $12
CHILD - $6
Balcony General Admission (Category 5)**
(Balcony Areas - No Seat Number Allocated)
ADULT - $6
CHILD - $6
SEASON TICKET -10 TICKETS
Family Ticket (Category 3)*
4 tickets to each game - 2 Adults - 2 Children (2-16 Years). Average $10 per ticket - $400
Season Ticket (Category 3)*
ADULT - $147
CHILD - $107
The price of general admission for students is 25% off the standard price. This is also able to attract students to this sporting event. Apart from the general admission tickets, the management is also targeting at the corporate level- the business associates. The price of the corporate seating is definitely more expensive as compared to the general seating. It is a corporate package by which consumers will seat in a hospitality box, an enclose area to watch the basketball match. Consumers are also served with food and beverages while enjoying the match. A range of benefits is offered exclusively to corporate box holders of the team. The corporate packages are Game Night, Corporate Hospitality Box, Corporate Seating, “Great Wall” Corporate Brick, and lastly the Season Tickets.
(Refer to http://www.singaporeslingers.com/index.php/corporate/)
These pricing strategies are targeted at a very large market. The target markets not only include students, young Singaporean fans, families, and expats living in Singapore but also the corporate people. By targeting at the corporate level, the management of the Slingers is also creating opportunities to work with the different corporate business associates to expand the team. Referring back to the “Corporate Seating” package, one is able to Network opportunities with all Slingers sponsors through out the season. This is definitely a win- win situation for both the Slingers, co- sponsors as well as the corporate customers!

- People and Partnership

There are a total of 14 sponsors working together with the management of Slingers to make the Singapore Challenge Series 2008/09 a success. One example will be BREWERKZ. BREWERKZ is the service supplier that provides food and beverages to the corporate customers who purchase the corporate tickets. At the same time, BREWERKZ is also promoting their reputable name as an American restaurant that provides American cuisines and their own brewed beers to the corporate customers indirectly. This is an example of an event developed on the basis of relationship and goodwill. It is a win-win situation for the sponsors and the event management.

In the case of the Singapore Challenge Series, the people of interest not only include the consumers but also the community on a large scale. As the main purpose of this event is to provide a state of the art basketball entertainment and to promote basketball in Singapore, the management of slingers is working with the Basketball Association of Singapore and the sports school to achieve the goal. This is definitely a proactive move by the management of slingers because it is stealthily capitalizing on the market.

- Event ‘Place’, Physical Setting and Processes

The place consists of two elements. They are the event venue and also the place in which consumers can purchase the tickets. The event venue of the Singapore Challenge Series is held at the 11,000 seats Singapore Indoor Stadium (SIS). Apart from the physical setting mentioned in one of the events marketing mix “The Product Experiences”. I would like to comment on the accessibility of the event venue. It was rather inaccessible because I have to alight at Kallang MRT, walk a distance to the Stadium Walk and Stadium Crescent before I can take a public bus to the Singapore Indoor Stadium. There are three public buses in operation that will transport me to the indoor stadium and they are bus number 11, 16 and 608. Although there were 3 public buses in operation, I still have to wait for approximately 30 minutes for the bus to arrive. It was indeed a bad experience. This somehow affected my mood for the sporting event. Hence, I feel that the government would consider increasing the number of buses around the vicinity of SIS or increase the frequency of trips of each public bus so as to decrease waiting time of the buses and also improve the accessibility there.
There are two ways in which consumers of the event product can buy their tickets. One way is to buy tickets through ticketing agency while the other way is to purchase tickets online. In the case of the Singapore Challenge Series, consumers are able to purchase their tickets through SISTIC and via the Singapore Slingers website. With the use of ticketing agency, it is able to broaden the distribution network because there are many ticket box office located in Singapore and that the ticketing agency will also market the event through their websites and brochures to create awareness. The use of Internet as a medium to sell tickets to the consumers has some advantages for the event producer as well. For instance, tickets sales can be monitored accurately and this will be a useful data to decide on the target market as well as the level of marketing mix used in the next similar event. Moreover, the use of Internet for ticket sales also saves the hassle of queuing up.
Overall, I feel that the event producer managed to attract consumers by creating convenience to purchase the event tickets. I agree to a certain extent that it is relatively inconvenient to travel into the Singapore Indoor Stadium, however, the event producer managed to turn the tide by bringing the venue of ticket distribution to the customers. It is indeed a good strategy.
- Integrated Marketing Communication
Integrated Marketing Communication includes all sources of contact that a consumer has with an event (market relationship) as potential delivery channels. In the case of the Singapore Challenge Series, there are many channels adopted by the event producer to convey the event to reach out to their target market. Internet is one of the many communication mix adopted. The event producer also works with the various sponsors and designed a logo and a mascot for the sporting event. Apart from all these communication mix, the event producer also encouraged marketing agencies and the various sponsors to use the Slingers players as part of the marketing mix to promote the team. The integration of all these marketing communication actually creates a psychological effect on the mind of the consumers through the image of the whole marketing efforts. Personally, I feel that the event is successful in a way that it has attracted me to go for this sporting event again. From the initial point of contact which is the advertisements on the Singapore Slingers website (Logos, pictures and videos of the event, positive comments of the event) to the purchasing of event tickets and the whole experiential moments at the sporting event, have create some form of positioning in my mind. I managed to feel the event and eventually it make me think about the experiential moments after the event. These result in me having the intention to attend the event again. It is a form of behavioral pattern.

The Singapore Challenge Series 2008/09 may be a newly launched event, yet, it is able to effectively attract their target market through use of traditional marketing mix (promotion) as well as the events marketing mix. No doubt, there is some negativity in some part of the marketing mix. However, the event producer is able to turn the tide by giving positive event experience through service bundling (combination of F&B and basketball match), acquiring many sponsorships as a form of prestige and positioning of the event, create conveniences at most of the contact points (ticket box office, human flow etc) as well as appropriate pricing strategies. All these are taken into account in the mind of the consumers and they are the determinant factors to which consumers will come again for the next similar event.

Although the event producer is targeting young Singaporean fans, families and expats living in Singapore as their main target market, indirectly, they are also attracting many foreigners from others parts of the countries to support their teams. All these will result in the incline of tourism receipts which will help generate revenue for the Singapore Economy.

Being a participant of this event, I would rate this event 4 out of 5 stars. It is worth the money.