PICTURES OF FIELD TRIP

PICTURES OF EXHIBITIONS

REFLECTION REPORT---JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL

1)INTRODUCTION
Objectives
The objective of this report is to observe the marketing mix adopted by the Japan Media Arts Festival (chosen) that was held at the Singapore Arts Museum (SAM) and to evaluate the effectiveness of the marketing mix in contribution to he success of the festival. This report is also to evaluate the role of this festival in Singapore and how it contributes to the tourism economy.

Profile
The Japan Arts Festival which is held at 8Q museum, a new wing off the SAM which showcases a school concept of learning and enridhment on the 22nd of November till 14th December 2008 showcases art that has a strong focus on the Japanese culture such as Japanese anime, manga, entertainment and the new media. It is an annual event that attracts from amateurs and professional from around the world. It also features an interactive technology segment that showcases entertainment such as the Nintendo Wii. It boasts its cutting edge artwork that focuses on digital and new media arts.

2)MARKETING MIX EVALUATION

PRODUCT

The exhibition is divided into 3 segments. The first zone showcases very, very intricate and sophisticated artworks from these artists. The quality of the work presented exceeded what I read about it through the website. I got to see more of what I wanted to see at the space. The amount of works showcases there was also very sufficient and was enough for me to digest especially since I am a rookie at arts.
In Zone 2, the exhibition showcases technology in art forms so there were a lot of interactive game gadgets for visitors to try and play. In that same room as well, they had installation for trying out a Nintendo Wii games where you could also see yourself in the LCD screen. There was also small manga figurines and miniature everyday products that were very small and intricate which looked real.
In Zone 3 in the other hand, although the space was smaller than the rest of the exhibition, it had a lot of activities that visitors can try. It actually showcases Japanese entertainment through forms of their popular comic books which visitors can browse through and read. Also there were more installations of Japanese video games such as Super Mario Paper and game gadgets such as the Portable Play Station (PSP) as well as the Nintendo Wii. At the point of visiting, the zone was also showing a Japanese anime in an enclosed dark room where visitors can enjoy.
The entire 3 exhibition was consistent in a sense of quality and quantity. The very good thing about the exhibition is that there are small signage’s on the walls to explain some art definition in lay man terms which was very useful for me.

PLACE

On the website, I thought that 8Q was located within the SAM compound which was located at Queens Street (Bras Basah). Upon reaching the vicinity I felt that SAM was very accessible and easy to find. It was about10 minutes walk away from the City Hall MRT station and the fact that my bus stops exactly in front of SAM were a bonus. However, upon reaching to SAM entrance I was told that the festival is in another venue at another building and that an arrow would guide me to the building. To my dismay, 8Q was much further than I thought, it’s not within the compound but I had to cross the street and it even had its own separate address. It was a bit troublesome as I had to use the zebra crossing and particularly on that day, the weather was scorching hot. 8Q was actually an old school building so I thought that maybe it lacked certain facilities a normal museum would have. The entrance was very well furnished and it didn’t felt like a school at all. The exhibition was located on the 2nd and the 4th floor respectively according to their zones. There wasn’t any lift for me to use and I had to climb up all the way to the 4th floor first (for zone 1 &2) and then go down to the 2nd level for Zone 3.
The layout plan to get from Zone 1 to 2 was very confusing and I constantly had to ask for directions. However being located at such, there is a lot of Arts school such as La Salle, NAFA and SMU surrounding the radius of the museum and this is very strategically set to capture the students to visit the festival.

PROGRAMMING

Altogether, there is 4 public programmes that were catered by this festivals which includes a dialog session on contemporary Japanese culture, a robot making workshop, a few anime screenings as well as a talk on New digital technology and art. The programmes catered were very appropriate with the focus of the festival and that most of the programmes are free of charge except for the robot making session. Also the programmes planned had a consistent gap of about 5-7 days all through the period of the festival.

PEOPLE

From my visit at the SAM entrance to the 8Q entrance, I was greeted even before I had set my eyes on them and in all the exhibition space there was always someone that could guide me through without having me to look for them. They were dressed professionally and wore lanyards with a big red STAFF printed on it. They even showed me demonstrations so that I could get a nice understanding on what I was seeing. Even the security guards knew what was happening around the museum and they as well greeted me and help me through when I got confused getting from one place to another.
The visitors that were at the festival were mostly Caucasians both female and make of a rough age between 20 to 40 years old. They seem to me like arts enthusiast and had huge cameras with them taking shots of the exhibition.
However, the bad thing was not only the staff was present but also a few maintenance men doing their jobs like fixing door hinges and wiring as well. That was not a professional outlook to the museum and I felt that they shouldn't be doing work like this at this time when most of the visitors are visiting.

PACKAGING AND DISTRIBUTION

Not much of this component is used as most of the programs is free of charge. However, since the festival is an art event, it is package appropriately as there are also other arts events and festival happening at SAM. The entrance tickets were only available at the SAM and the 8Q counters and they had no or little distribution network as no intermediaries were employed. The only packaging was that they had a group and family ticket price offers and also product bundling where there were entrance tickets to both museum were also on sale at a cheaper rate.
Apart from that, there were also museum tour provided by the curators 3 times a day for free.
With the entrance tickets, visitors can redeem a free coffee at the nearby cafe at DOM, a free gift from the museum shop as well as a 10% discount on main courses at Trattoria Lafianda.

PRICE

Initially, when I was viewing the museum website, it stated that there was no charges and that all the exhibition was free. However, upon reaching to the site, I was told that I needed to pay $3 to gain entry to the 8Q museum. I felt this important information was not well communicated and may cause visitors to flock to other free festivals such as the Korean Festival event which was also happening at SAM and that the Korean Festival is free of charge. The good thing was that they had a student concession price at $1.50 to the 8Q museum and they also offer relatively cheaper priced tickets if we were to opt for the bundle 2 in 1 museum tickets (SAM and 8Q) at $5 for student and also group tickets.
There were no merchandising on the festival only for the museum.

PROMOTION

There wasn’t any advertisements about the event and I only found out about it after I browse through Singapore Tourism Board (STB) calendar of events. Thus,I felt that festival lacked in this area and could be further improved by advertising it through television channels like OKTO or through arts magazines. However, upon browsing through SAM website, I became interested by how well they marketed the festival. There was also a press publication on the website about the opening of the festival.
At the main museum, there was no banners or such placed but on the pamphlets counter, there was one postcard that also served as a programme schedule. At the 8Q museum, a lot of the festival banners can be seen and a lot of graphics were all painted and pasted with graphic materials which made it seem that the festival is the main attraction there.

PARTNERSHIPS

Surprisingly, with the lack of promotion this festival had, it is supported by a lot of major players in the industry. This festival is organized by the 8Q Arts Museum, Agency for Cultural Affairs and CG Arts. It was also supported by The Embassy of Japan in co-operation with big players such as JAL, Nippon Express and Conrad Centennial Singapore. Apart from that it had media partners alliance with the Singapore Art Gallery Guides,SMRT,Media Art, Original Media and also MediaCorp TV Arts Central.
From what I have heard and seen, I realized that Arts Central is no longer airing and that it had been changed to OKTO. Thus I felt that this festival failed to update the changes that its partners are going through.

TOURISM ROLES AND ECONOMIC VALUE

The festival has a high probability of extending the lengths of stay of visitors because it the museum is located near the hotels as well. Moreover being an annual festival and its first time in Singapore, it attracts art enthusiast from all over the world and it also help to boost and complements the image of SAM as a dynamic art hub. This in turn recognizes SAM as an art hub and tourist might come and visit the museum again. With a reason to travel to Singapore, this might boost the tourism visitorship and increases tourism revenue indirectly especially since from what I've seen, there were a lot of Caucasian visiting the festival. This event also provides business opportunity as it allows Singapore (SAM) to have a platform in showcasing their expertise and in turn potential investors might want to hold more of such events in here especially since Singaporeans are now appreciating arts better. This will then add a commercial value in the arts industry here especially with the new ArtPark that will make its entrance in conjunction with the opening of the IR. With this, rates of employment increases as people are needed to run potential festivals as well as the spill over effect on the hotel, attractions and food industries.
However, there is a tendency that Singapore might be over exploiting the Arts industry and might damage the reputation it has. This can happen because Singapore is relatively new to this industry unlike Japan and France who are the major players in Arts. In addition to that, with a high number of visitors, there is a likelihood of inflated prices on the basic product that the locals depend on such as transportation and also food.

CONCLUSION

In all I felt that the exhibition was a success as it managed to gather visitors from all over the world to the event. Not only that, what was exhibited was truly above my expectation especially the one in Zone 1 and that the staff was doing a great s ervice by answering my questions with excellent knowledge. At the end of the exhibition I was asked to fill up a form asking me my purpose of visit and how I felt about the festival. This shows that they would want to know what experience I am getting and I felt most festival usually leave out feedbacks. Overall I would rate the festival as a must see and a good one.
However, I felt that the communication of the festival to the masses is very weak i n terms of promotion as well as the prices. This could be probably due to the fact that their supporting media, Arts Central is now not airing anymore and the message of the festival is unable to pass down to the TV viewers. If it were to keep up to the updates, the debut of the festival would be passed down clearly. I felt that there should be more advertisements about the festival so that the turnout would be much higher than what is seen. Not only that, it would be a bad thing to miss such an interesting as well as enriching event of the Japanese culture. The prices should also be told clearly as this might cause unhappiness amongst the visitors and SAM might be perceive as a scam by attracting people to come to the event without telling them the entrance tickets are chargeable.
The layout of the festival could also be improved and be put in mind that not all art enthusiast are able bodied people and the considerations of accessibility are put in mind. With all of these improved, I believed that The Japan Media Arts festival could achieve a higher success rate than what is now.

APPENDICES

http://www.singart.com/jmaf08/about.php (about festival)
http://www.singart.com/jmaf08/programme.php (Programme information)
http://www.singart.com/jmaf08/press.php (Press Release)
http://www.original.com.sg/ (Media Partner)
http://singart.com/8qsam/ (About 8Q Museum)