Comparing the 8Ps of Hong Kong & Singapore!!

The EXPERIENTIAL

	Singapore	Hong Kong
1	Product By participating in these events, people would experience museum in a different way. It would become a fun and memorable experience as they would also be able to spend a day out with their family or children. At the same time, by coming forth to these events organized by the NHB, both the children and the adults can learn more about the different museums and have an increase in general knowledge. People can also expect to have fun without paying too much money, other than transportation, drinks and maybe lunch. During Carnival for the Family, free popcorn was also given out.	Product The passing ‘Museums on the Go’ buses are a plus for the shoppers and tourists around the area. Because this event is not heavily promoted, few people would actually go to the websites, to check the itinerary of the bus. Most of them would just be surprised by the unique event rather then expecting anything.
	Singapore has a wider range of activities for the people and thus one can expect more when going to IMD in Singapore. It would be a ‘Coming for the event’ thing rather than a ‘Passing by’ experience like what people would get in Hong Kong’s IMD. IMD in Singapore would be more of a ‘core product’ as people hear about the event and then make arrangements to come down as a family. However, IMD in Hong Kong is more like a ‘Augmented product’ whereby the shoppers and tourist would be surprised by the moving Museum on the Go, which is only a bonus to them. The people’s main objective would still be shopping.
2	Place Most events of the festival are held near or mostly, in a museum. Even if not, it would be located at a place which is educational and fits the theme of that event. E.g.: ‘Healthy ice cream making’ workshop being held at Health Promotion Board Building. However, these places used would still be part of either the NHB or the Museum Roundtable. -Carnival Fun for the family’s setting: Simple tentage and stage set up. The tentage has simple rigging works done for ceiling fans. Has good stage design as the MC is able to overlook the outdoor events surrounding her	Place Main event is held at the Cultural Centre Piazza, while the ‘Museums on the Go’ is held along the attractions and shopping areas on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories.
	At Hong Kong, the museums are brought to reach out to the publics through the moving Vans. Whereas in Singapore, people are encouraged to visit the museums itself as the activities are held in close proximity to the museums.
3	Programming The main IMD day for Singapore would be 31st May which is the open house day, where there would be free admission to all participating museums in Singapore. However throughout the whole festival from 23rd to 31st May, there are certain highlights as well. Highlights consists of, Carnival fun for the family on 24th May, Chinese culture open house on 30th & 31st May, Krafty kids workshop throughout the festival, Raffles museum of biodiversity research on 24th May. There would be colourful stage performances, interactive installations, family carnivals and workshops for children of all ages, which includes a host of free and paid activities over two weekends! Carnival for the Family had arranged many free programmes such as caricature drawing, juggler, stone paining, face painting, sand art, dance party, young cinema, leaf rubbing and many more. Those events were spread over the whole day, and thus allowed people to have a chance to participate.	Programming The main day would be the opening ceremony and gala on the 16th May. The Guests of honor and representatives from the participating museums and heritage organizations will hop on board a double-decker bus that will lead the “Museums On the Go” parade along Salisbury Road heading to Cultural Centre Piazza. There would be gala events and interactive shows, plus plenty of photo opportunities as museum mascots, clowns and international cultural ambassadors from the performance team pose with visitors against the backdrop of the parade cars. More than 30 museums and heritage organizations from Beijing, Guangdong, Macao and Hong Kong will join together, presenting “Museums On the Go: International Museum Day 2009, Hong Kong”. Specially designed to reach out to the public, with an eclectic mix of programmes presented in a carnival atmosphere that will show Hong Kong's local culture and heritage. The highlight of the event is a car parade entitled “Museums On the Go”, which will tour the attractions and shopping areas on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories. The fleet of parade cars will display the rich offerings of their museums, encouraging public participation in art, cultural and museum activities.
	In Singapore, events and highlights are being spread out over 2 weekends, so that people can enjoy the different events without over-squeezing, as the demand is being spread about. However, in Hong Kong, the main event happens at one place, and only having 2 days spread of the events, it is not well spread enough and might cause over-crowding of an area. With the over-crowding of an area, people might not be able to enjoy the event at its best which in the end, leads to the negative thought of the festival itself. Singapore also has better programmes as they have events which people can truly participate. There are many things people can do when attending the event in Singapore. Whereas, in Hong Kong, People can only view or at most, take photos of or with the exhibits going around. By creating participation, it would be more enjoyable for the people rather than just being audiences.
4	People -The people coming to these events would be mostly families with children. They would be greeted by friendly and welcoming staffs, which will then start their journey of the event on a cheerful and happy note. -For both ticketed and non-ticketed events, there would be a mix of volunteers and professionals giving information and advice to the publics. -During Carnival fun for the Family, I met families enjoying themselves with the many free programmes stated above (programming). They are mostly families with children ranging from 2-7 years old. All of them seemed ready to enjoy themselves with a day out, even if its filled with queues. Parents were happy seeing their children having fun and enjoying themselves. The staffs are also very family and children-oriented. They have patient and are willing to explain things slowly.	People -The targeted audience would be shoppers and tourists. Therefore, we can expect a crowd around the exhibits when the bus passes or stops at the designated stops. These people can range from babies to teenagers to adults or even senior citizens. -For Hong Kong, the very important people would include the performers. It is very important about the way they present themselves to match the character of the historic exhibits. -Another important role would be the driver of the ‘Museums on the Go‘ bus. By driving the Bus, he would be representing the museums. The way he drives along the streets would also be seen by the public. Thus he should drive according to the Hong Kong traffic rules.
	The attitude of both professionals and the performers would affect the whole aim of the events very greatly. If people have a bad experience with these people, they would naturally have the negative mindset about museums. This would then affect the number of people actually wanting to visit the museums. The attitude of the participants and audiences are also very important. If the people had a bad day before the event, they would not want to join in the crowd and get even more frustrated. At least for Singapore, the people are able to choose if they want to attend the event. However, for Hong Kong, people may be just shopping when suddenly faced with a crowd of people, blocking their way. These little little things might cause one to change their impressions of museums.

The FACILITATING

	Singapore	Hong Kong
5	Partnership -National Heritage Board - The Museum Roundtable -Fox Movies (Partner), Night At The Museum 2 premiums were given out with every 4 museum admission tickets purchased on 24th May	Partnership -All museums and organisations under Leisure and cultural services department -Other local museums and heritage organisations -Heritage organisations outside Hong Kong such as 'Cultural affairs bureau, Guangdong provincial department of culture, Guangzhou municipal of culture and, Beijing municipal administration of culture heritage' -Ocean Park, whereby it gives 10% discount to "SmartFun Annual Pass" holders
	Both partners with museums that are under the care of the government. This allows them to use the facilities without paying a high price as this is a public event. By partnering with Fox movies, both FOX and the Museums would be able to gain from the partnership. FOX would be able to create brand awareness among the locals, while the museums would be able to attract more people to the events through the attractive prizes that FOX have sponsored. Ocean Park is not a direct partner for the event, but is a partner for the museum pass. By being in partnership with the museums, Ocean park would expect an increase in ticket revenue. The benefits given to museum pass holders were 10% off ocean park tickets. I would say that Hong Kong has better benefits in this partnership as they get to work with people outside Hong Kong to present the event. For Singapore, the management works within the NHB itself, and thus reduces the chance of increase social circle.
6	Promotions SALES -‘Win 3-days Family Passes’ which is a sms contest, whereby one family up to 5 persons can have free entry to any museums for the 3 consecutive days stated. The usual selling price for this 3-days family pass is $50. -Highly encourages participation of senior citizens by have free admission for many of the events ADVERTISING -Does advertising on facebook, brochures, flyers, banners and have an official website PUBLIC RELATIONS -There was article write ups about on the newspaper and it seems to be due to public relations rather than advertising as it was a write up with the writer’s experience rather than a one way kind of advertisement telling people about the events.	Promotions SALES -Has no sales promotions for the event as there are no ticketed sales at all. The only available sales going on were the sales of the museum passes which allowed unlimited admissions to certain museums and 10% off benefits for 6 months or up to 1 year. ADVERTISING -Has an official website promoting the event -Advertised on official governmental websites (Leisure and Cultural Services Department) PUBLIC RELATIONS -Has article write up on www.chinaviews.cn titled ‘International Museum Day 2009 opens in Hong Kong’. It was a short article written by Mu Xuequan.
	Singapore does more on sales and advertising promotions compared to Hong Kong. This might be due to the fact that for Singapore, there were exact plans of the programmes and thus needed to have a rouge gauge of the attendance. This is even more necessary as Singapore has got ticketed events whereby knowing the exact number of participants is very important. This is to avoid over-booking and also to avoid wastage of space. However, for Hong Kong, the main idea was the ‘Museums on the Go’, which aims to attract more of people around the area, where ever the museum bus stops. Because it offers non-ticketed events throughout the festival, there is not need to do much sales promotions. The sales of the museums passes were also only a facilitating product which was just to make full use of the event to promote its museums.
7	Packaging & Distribution -A brightly coloured website which shows that the event caters to families and children very well (with all the smiling faces of the children) -Free signing up of the IMD mailing list for people to receive regular updates on the campaign as well as museum events throughout the year. -Hotline which opens daily from 9am to 7pm -A facebook account where people can become fans easily and know more about the event.	Packaging & Distribution -Official website is laid with some interesting pictures, giving people an idea of what they can expect during the event. -The website also have simple yet catchy background music that makes people want to attend the event and have an experience of what’s going on. -Website has versions of English, traditional Chinese and even simple chinese.
	It is good that Singapore creates its website colourful to attract its targets of families and children. However, how many children would actually know how to come to this website? A more practical way I feel, would be that they should use media such as children channels (e.g.: OCTO), children magazines (YG) and more family-oriented media. One medium they could have used was the community centers, which caters to families. A good packaging that Hong Kong have done that Singapore missed out was the language converter in the website. While Hong Kong is more to the Chinese side, we can see that they still try their best to cater to the tourist with the use of English. It is quite disappointing when Singapore’s website is only presented in English when we are supposing multi-racial and has 4 main languages. Both websites gives people a feel of the atmosphere people would get upon visiting the events. For Singapore, its through the many pictures displayed, while for Hong Kong, it’s the music in the background which give people the feel of the atmosphere.
8	Price This festival is filled with a mix of free and ticketed events. Ticketed prices ranges from $3 per child to $35 per pair. The ranges of prices are caused by the different age groups and their demands. There are also prices that cater to the Senior Citizens or students with concessions. For such ticketed events, one should book in advance to reserve a space. However for the free events, one would only be able to ensure a space for themselves by coming to the event early is this so because free events has no advance bookings and no predictions can be made about how the crowd is going to be like.	Price Viewing of the main event at the Cultural Centre Piazza and looking at the ‘Museums on the Go’ is not charged. Flyers and leaflets would be given to public to encourage them to take part in the museums activities throughout the year (which probably is inclusive of the Museum Pass, ticketed or non-ticketed event).
	Although the main events and the ‘Museums on the Go’ do not charge admission fees, the people going for this event would still have to pay for their transportation from wherever they stay to the Cultural Centre Piazza. Even upon reaching the places to watch the free performances, the visitors would be hungry and would spend money on food, drinks and even souvenirs. By choosing to go for this event, time spent there is also another loss for the people. They could have used those hours to earn more money.

With the table above, I would like to conclude the comparisons of International Museum Day between Singapore and Hong Kong, in terms of its marketing strategies.
Overall, I felt that Singapore has done better in promoting and marketing this festival and its events.