Introduction
The runner gasps for air tediously. The crowd wave and shouted exuberantly. All of them were cheering for Mr. Tony Lee Kee Fatt as he heads towards the finish line. His face was soaked full in sweat but his eyes were lighted like the stars above him. His goal was only meters away from him now. As he sprinted past the finishing line, everyone was applauding him. Flashes from cameras shone brightly as if it was daytime. However, he was not distracted. Mr. Lee’s kept on focusing to breathe as hard as he could. His team, REDSXTREME 1 has won the 10.5km Team Challenge relay and clocked a time of 2 hours 44 minutes and 58 seconds all together. The atmosphere there was magnificent and I was so delighted that I had gone for this hallmark event, Adidas Sundown Marathon 2008.
Organizer Background
This first-ever after dusk marathon in Singapore was organized by Hivelocity Pte Ltd and proudly sponsored by Adidas, Powerbar, Polar and many more. It was the same team at Hivelocity who made the Aviva Ironman 70.3km Singapore Triathlon dream possible. The night race was inspired when Mr. Adrian Mok, an endurance athlete, who ran an Ultramarathon of 168km in 2005 and completed the race in a little more than 24 hours. Below is a quote by him:
"It is just different running at night. It's quieter and you are able to clear your mind to focus on your run. I want to bring this experience to all runners. The experience of running at night. We train at night, why don't we race at night?"
Yes. This is why he invited all runners to join him to experience the magic of the race.
Role Of Events To The Organizer
Place Marketing
The event creates a positive and healthy image for Singapore and draws locals, especially investor (sponsors) who are interested towards sporting events.
Tourist Attraction
The event will attract not only runners, but also their family and friends to spend some quality time in Singapore.
Image Maker
The marathon ties in with our Uniquely Singapore tagline, as it is a night race and goes to show that even during the night, Singapore has a fun and healthy side of it too.
Stakeholders In The Event
The following are the 2 most important stakeholders for the event.
Government
The moment I heard of the event, another surfaced in my mind. Sundown, first-ever, sports; those were the keywords that linked me to another event. The event I had in my petite brain was none other than the Formula 1 race in Singapore, which was going to be held on 28 September 2008. The race is part of history making too as it was the primary race to be held after dusk and in a new host country. Being able to make the hours of darkness fun and healthy is what the government has been striving towards. These two events are definitely a try-out to target tourists to stopover or stay at our island. Government agencies will be keen to analyze the turnout of the event and decide if the activities such as these are pull factors for our tourism industry.
Sponsors
Sponsors are constantly keened to support highly recognizable events. That is why events such as Standard Chartered Marathon or the F1 race draws competition from various companies. Being able to sponsor increases their brand awareness and not forgetting, their corporate image. Having a good image in the consumer’s mentality will boost their reputation and their products/services. This is why events that are highly recognized can easily engage sponsors to support them while companies are willing to back them up.
Target Market
Athletes
The athletes that I am mentioning about do not refer just to local athletes rather athletes around the world. The Sundown Marathon has in fact attracted about 600 foreign runners. These athletes come from an array of countries, with Kenya the furthest from what I knew! I believe that their stay is not very long but throughout the time they landed on our airport till the time they left, these foreign athletes and their families/friends have engaged and experienced our culture. Furthermore, their reside generated revenue for our tourism sector which in turn boosted our economy and the vision that we have laid down for 2015.
Couples can improve their relationship through attending events such as these as scientists have found out that working out together on a sport increases intimacy in the relationship.
Corporations
Although the Standard-Chartered Marathon is well known among corporations, the main goal of this night run was to differentiate from it and become the premium night marathon in the world. Based on the uniqueness of running at night, the event attracted more than 30 teams from various corporations. These runners include expatriates as well.
The response turned out to their expectations, as their targeted runners were 6000 and 6029 was the final tally of runners. The minimum condition of the runners was to be above the age of 18 and they were to apply through the Internet.
Marketing Strategies
Strategic Public Relations Group (SPRG) was the overall in charge for media relations sector. A media center booth was set up to respond to media enquiries on the site. SPRG held a media conference in 6 weeks prior to the event. Press releases were sent and it received quite a bit of press coverage. I could see that the media relations were done fantastically as there were numerous journalists and cameramen on site.
The marketing efforts were unexpected in a way because the organizers targeted local runners and ads were placed in banners or magazines or media coverage in Singapore only. The bizarre point was that about 10% of the overall runners were foreigners. They attribute this to the word-of-mouth or the Internet.
Overall, I feel that based on their objective of targeting local runners merely, they have done a marvelous job. The organizers exceeded their goal of 6000 runners. In addition, the media provided them with the publicity they required. I believe that more could be done next year and a higher target could be reached with more marketing done. They can advertise through Nuffnang Pte. Ltd, which is Asia’s First Blog Advertising Community. There are hundreds of blogs which have Nuffnang as part of their blog. I have faith in the organizers to attract foreign runners to compete in the run. I have a wild idea, which is to have a pre-run through the Orchard area on one night a month before the event to create hype and draw more awareness for the event.
Organization Of The Event
I was very fortunate to be granted an interview with Mr. Darren Choy, Managing Director of Adidas Singapore and Malaysia. He spoke to us that the idea of this event was conceptualized 2 years ago while the planning got underway just 10 moths ago. He highlighted that the event has no difficulties drawing runners, as the running culture in Singapore is strong and it helps to promote a healthy lifestyle to people.
He mentioned that local participation (friends and family) is high and the government should promote this event as part of the Uniquely Singapore tagline.
When asked about the organization, he seemed to be very pleased, as there were no major problems along the way. The only feedback he gave to us was that there were not enough parking slots. He wished that this tiny hitch could be resolved next year.
Based on my observations, I will give a thumb ups for the organization. The whole route of the marathon was well premeditated. There were booths for the various sponsors to advertise their products or services. Even a massage area was set up for runners should they require one. There were volunteers from Temasek Polytechnic at the baggage area. Barricades were set up near the finish line to prevent the runners from being intercepted. Vendors were selling food to worn out runners. Nevertheless, the superlative factor of the whole event is the new i-Gantry electronic race timing system. The only pointer that I would like to mention is that the area was quite dimly lit and the vast area of the site was not fully utilized.
(For more information about i-Gantry, please visit http://www.sundownmarathon.com/index.php?page=faqs under how will my race timing be recorded)
Potential Of The Event To Meet Tourist Demand
As this year advertising is carried inbound only, not much foreign runners knew about it. I can see that with more advertising to other countries next year, more people would want to be there at the event and they will bring their friends and families along, meeting tourist demand. There is tremendous potential within this event. Organizers can come up with a distinct souvenir/symbol (key chains, caps) and that very souvenir will remind people of the Sundown Marathon each year.
Value Of The Event To Be Align With The Tourism Mission Of Singapore
The mission of Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is to build tourism into a key driver for economic growth for Singapore. As mentioned above, the Adidas Sundown Marathon can draw foreign runners and their families and friends too. If the event is able to succeed as a world-renowned marathon such as the Boston Marathon (Oldest annual marathon) or Connemara International Marathon (Regarded as the most scenic marathon routes in the world), chances of the marathon being a key element to the tourism economy is significant. Having a better marketing strategy (8 P’s) is a good way to start.
