The event I have chosen to attend is "CNY Electronics Fair 2013" which was held at the Singapore Expo, Hall 5 from 4th of January 2013 to 6th of January 2013, 11am to 9pm on all three days.
What is the objective of this event? Give a brief background to this event.
The objective for this event would be to clear all the
outdated 2012 electronic stokes but at the same time give consumers an
opportunity to buy electronic products at an affordable price. This way, it would be a
‘win-win’ situation for both the seller and the consumer.
This fair was organised by Audio House. Audio House is Singapore’s electronics
mega store with the widest selection of sound rooms under one roof as well as
the longest full HDTV wall. Audio House is also the first CASE Trust certified
electronic specialist and the first electronic retailer to be awarded “The Best
of Singapore in Service Excellence”, by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).
The CNY Electronics Fair 2013 offered top brand electronics including Samsung, Sony, LG, Toshiba, Canon,
Nikon, Mitsubishi and many more at madly discounted prices. The electronic
products available at the fair ranged from televisions, cameras, IT products to
home and kitchen appliances.
Who is the target
audience?
I.T. enthusiast: I.T. enthusiasts would usually either need new gadgets and
equipment or are seizing opportunities to expand their I.T. collection by
getting more equipment at the fair’s heavily discounted prices.
Teenagers: Teenagers these days tend to be more into gaming
and electronics. They also like to keep up with the more trendy and newest
technology but are not able to afford them at normal prices. Thus, having this
electronics fair will give them an opportunity to get what they want at a
cheaper and more affordable value.
Parents: Students usually require at least a laptop or a computer
at home to do their schoolwork/projects on, especially for those in the Polytechnic
where most of the student’s work has to be done online. Having this fair would
actually give the lower income parents an opportunity to purchase a laptop or a
computer for their child at an affordable price.
Also, since Chinese New Year is around the corner, in lieu of the traditional 'red packet' or also known as 'ang bao', parents could actually take this opportunity to cancel off any items on their children's wish list by purchasing any electronics products that their child has always wanted but purchase it at a much lower price.
Businessmen/business women: They could be deemed targeted
audiences as well as they usually use their smartphones as a mini computer. In
order for them to be up to date, the latest technology has to be used. At the electronics
fair, the items they need would be cheaper and more affordable for them.
How is the event publicised?
(in other words, how does the target audience get to know about the event)
“CNY Electronics Fair” was publicised mainly through print.
Besides mainstream
advertising, there was also online advertising. Websites such as insing.com
also put up details of the fair and also a short description to advertise for the
event. These event websites actually have a large following and thus, making it
a good platform to make the event known to many Singaporeans.
Is the event in the
media? If yes, how widely is it reported? (do a quick analysis of the reports,
in terms of the angles that the media take, the importance of the coverage, and
your opinion of the impact of coverage.) if no, why do you think the media did
not cover the event? What do you think could be done to attract media coverage?
Yes, the event was in the media but at the same time, I would not consider it
widely reported.
I guess since it was just an electronics fair, not much
could have actually been reported. Even the print advertisements did not
contain much, just basic information such as, where the event would be held. The main focus
of the advertisement was to showcase how cheap some of the products were going for. That
was used as a form of persuasion to lure the readers to the fair.
There were advertisements online and on print but I still
feel more could have been done to attract more media coverage. Maybe, they could have brought in a special guest star to make an appearance on the
fair’s main stage. I feel that this would actually help gain more media
coverage of the fair.
Assume you are the
manager overseeing this project, evaluate the success/failure of this event.
How would you do it differently for greater success?
All in all, I felt that the electronics fair was a really
great success.
As I was walking to the EXPO hall, it was rather quiet so I
thought that the fair would not be very crowded. However, when I reached the hall
where the fair was held, there were really ALOT
of people. The amount of people that
turned up for the fair really took me by surprise.
Also, extra effort was taken to put up directions, signs and
advertisement all over the Singapore EXPO to ensure that the fair goers would
know which direction to walk when they arrive at the EXPO. Even people who were
at the EXPO but not there for the fair would end up knowing about it since there were
boards advertising the fair at every entrance and arrows pointing in the
directions that the fair was held at.
Despite the great success, I think that some improvements
could have been made. One change I would make if I were the manager would be to
ensure that there were more exits. Since there were so many people and everyone
was packed like sardines, it made it really hard for me to exit the hall. Like
any fair goer, I walked all the way to the other end of the hall to see all the
different booths. However, once I had reached the end, it was really hard for
me to make my way back to the exit/entrance as I had to squeeze pass all the
other people.
Another improvement I would make would be to give different
booths an allocated time slot to advertise their products. When I was at the
fair, EVERY booth had a person standing on top of boxes and tables and shouting
into microphones showcasing and advertising their products.
That made things really noisy and messy as at every booth there was someone
shouting into the microphone.
That is why I would actually allocate each booth timeslots
for them to advertise on the microphone. So maybe if it is not time for the
booth to stand up on tables and advertise through the microphone, promoters could
just be standing on the ground at their booths and telling the fair goers about
their products and promotions. This way, we would not have every booth shouting and fighting for the attention of the customers.
Overall, I felt that the event was a great success! It was
pretty evident that sales were soaring through the roof from the number of
people that turned up for the fair.
