Part 2.8/5: Marketing Mix- Price

Price

As the Korea Festival 2008 is broken up into different events happening one after another, there is no one price for the whole festival. However, for the Korean Flavour Fiesta, the admission is free. This is without question a bonus for the guests since frankly speaking, no one can resist something that does not come with a price tag. It is also definitely a bonus for students like me, or even big families. Having able to attend a fiesta for free means being able to attend the event with friends or with the whole family without having to worry about budgets. It was certainly a wise move by the organisers to make the first event of the Korea Festival 2008, the Korean Flavour Fiesta that is, a free admission one so as to attract more people to get to know that there is such a festival happening in Singapore and perhaps attract them to the other events held as part of the Korea Festival 2008.

However, theory wise, price does not only come in the form of a price tag. Even for events such as the Korean Flavour Fiesta which is non ticketed and is free admission, every event still comes with a price. The price in this case would refer to time spent at the event, travel cost and lost opportunities. The duration of the fiesta is from 12.30pm to 8pm. It is a rather long event but the organisers have inserted many interesting performances and activities so as to keep guests occupied. Therefore the price here would be in terms of the time spent at the fiesta. As for myself, I was at the fiesta from 1.30pm till 6pm. That is 4 ½ hours spent in the fiesta! Time passed by quickly as I watched the many performances and walked around visiting each booth.

In terms of travel time, it may not so much apply to Singapore’s context as it is relatively easy to travel everywhere in Singapore and does not take much time. The only thing is that ViVo City is still relatively out of the central area hence people who live in the opposite side of ViVo City may take quite some time to travel there.

As for lost opportunities, an example would be that I spent my time at the fiesta rather than shopping in ViVo City or hanging out in Sentosa which were both a stone’s throw away. Hence, I would think that the fiesta managed to capture people’s attention and attracted them to stay around the fiesta area rather that to spend their time and money at other places.