2)Compare the selected festival with a similar festival that has been successful in another city in terms of its marketing strategy.

Another similar event that has been successful in marketing their event is the Matthew Street Music Festival in Liverpool. It has grown over the years and is the biggest free music festival in Europe.

2.1 Products

Both Singapore Flipside event and Matthew Street Music Festival key product are the music that the bands have play for the audience. One difference is that Matthew Street Music Festival is of a greater scale than the Singapore Flipside event as there are more than 95 bands and still growing at the Matthew Street Music Festival. However Singapore Flipside also has other performances which are not link to music. An example of other performance is the mime comedians from Japan.

2.2 Place

For the Matthew Street Music Festival the main stages are located at the Liverpool city centre. There are a total of 6 outdoor stages. As for the Singapore Flipside the stages are both outdoor and indoor. There are performance all over the esplanade including the esplanade indoor theatre, concourse and also the outdoor theatre also known as the theatre on the bay. Both the festival give a different ambience for the events due to the diff location and size of the event. The Matthew Street Music Festival is wilder with more performance going on and the amount of people at the event is astonishing.

2.3 Partnership

As both are big festival it require as lot of sponsors to help the whole event to go on smoothly. They will have their different host organization like Flipside which is part of Singapore Arts Festival will be under National Arts Councils while the Matthew Street Music Festival is under the Liverpool City Council. Matthew Street Music Festival is almost cancelled in 2007 by the government due to health problem cause by it however it is resumed after some time.

2.4 Promotion

Both the Singapore Flipside and Matthew Street Music Festival are annual event and have been around for quite some time. People who are interested in these events may be attending the event year after year. Due to that fact not much advertisement is needed. Advertisements are still shown on televisions, newspaper and websites to inform people on the dates of the event. Both the event attracts people from all over the world to see the performance. However we must keep in mind that every person will have their own taste and preference therefore each festival will attract different target audience.

2.5 Programming

The Matthew Street Music Festival and Singapore Flipside have some similarities and difference in term of the elements of the music. Both of them showcase music both local and foreign. For the Matthew Street Music Festival they include bands and artistes from USA, Brazil, Brazil, France, Italy and Argentina where else Singapore Flipside include band and artistes from Japan, Korean and Thailand. Another difference is that Matthew Street Music Festival is all about music mostly retro songs while Singapore Flipside includes other street performance and the music is more current. In my opinion I will be more interested to go to Singapore Flipside as there is more diversification of performance. However for those who are more interested in retro music will prefer to go to the Matthew Street Music Festival

2.6 Packaging and distribution

Both the Matthew Street Music Festival and Singapore Flipside have different type of packaging to attract visitors to the event. For the Matthew Street Music Festival performance will also be included in clubs, pubs and other various venues across the city other than the outdoor stages. For the Singapore Flipside they have package the event such that the timing of the different event are of close proximity and do not really overlapped with other performance. An example is that when I reach the esplanade there it is quite early and there is another Flipside performance going on in the concourse for all to enjoy. After watching that performance I still have some time to get something before going for the performance I wanted to go to. audience.

2.7 People

The performers at Singapore Flipside are very engaging as they try to get the people at the theatre moving and clapping their hands. They also have a short chat with the audience but due to time constrain it is kept to the minimum. One very interesting sight is that there is an uncle dancing in front of the stage. I find him amusing but at the same times applaud him as he is very fit for his age to be able to dance throughout the 3-4 min and doing it for 2-3 song. Even the mime comedians have their own way of engaging the audience and picking out their “volunteer”.

2.8 Price

Both the Singapore Flipside performance I went to and the Matthew Street Music Festival are free. For Matthew Street Music Festival there are performance in the pubs and clubs which in term will help to gain revenue as people watch the performance and enjoy the beverages there. Due to the fact that esplanade itself have a mall and also food outlets visitors will take the time to buy some stuff before going for the performance. However similarly they rent out their facilities to the performers who want to showcase their work to earn some revenue from the free festival performance. However some of the Singapore Flipside performance requires entrance fee.