Event Management

Lee Ee Lin

0607098A

T01

Event Management, Reflection Journal

ADIDAS Sundown Marathon

Introduction
The Adidas Sundown Marathon was held on 31st May 2008 held at Changi Point for the start and ending point. It was the first ever Night race marathon held at Singapore. There was a total of 6088 runners who participated.
There are 4 different categories namely; Ultra-Marathon 84km, Marathon 42km, Corporate Challenge Relay (10.5km x 4 Runners) and lastly the Team Challenge Relay (10.5km x 4 Runners). All runners are entitled to get the goodies bag according for the category they joined. In addition, top 3 places of the Marathon will 1 year Adidas sponsorship and along with a trip to Germany to participate in this year’s Berlin Marathon or New Zealand to participate in Auckland Marathon respectively for the champion.

The background of the organiser
The organiser of this event is Hivelocity, they specialised in providing consultation, help to market and distribute brands at the same time organize sporting events. The services provided ranged from Event Consultancy to E-Marketing and to Database Management. They is involved in organising the Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore Triathlon 2007. (http://www.hivelocity.com.sg/)

Discuss the role of events to the organiser (or attraction / venue)

The role of this event to Hivelocity is can be either; Tourist attraction, Image maker and Animator. For this event, it can help to attract tourists who are interested in sports. By holding the event at Changi, it allows the runners to admire the view in the duration of the run thus creating a positive image for the runners. At the same time, create a sporty image for Singapore and reduce any possible negative imagery such as Singapore not being a country active in sports. It helps to encourage first and repeat visit to Changi as well.

Identify the stakeholders in the event

Stakeholder is defined as a person or group that has an investment or interest in this event.The stakeholders of this event involves everyone who has participated in making the event possible and successful.

Namely; the Sponsors: Adidas, PowerBar, POLAR, Ultimate direction, Oakley, 100 plus and F&N Ice mountain ; Event partners: National park and Athlete's circle ; Official Printer: Drummond printing pte ltd and Snap Shots ; Partner in sports: Milo, SGrunner.com, Dell, ELM, SMU, Field gear, Subway, Millenia Walk and M1 ; Singapore Sports Council ; Tote board ; Singapore pools. Most importantly, the participants of the Marathon.

Identify the target market

The target market for this Adidas Sundown Marathon is mainly the people who are actively involved in sports as well as individuals and companies who are interested in participating in a sport event and to promote healthy living within the companies.

Critically discuss the marketing strategies employed by the organiser
The marketing strategies employed by the organiser are the 8 P's.

The product is the Adidas Sundown marathon. Venue chosen for this event Changi point, with it's nice sceneries and cooling breeze from the sea sides. Makes it an ideal place for running the marathon as the runners an enjoy the view as hey are running. The roads affected by this marathon have also been closed down to ensure the runners' safety.

Partnerships for this event included National park, Athlete's circle, Milo and many others. They are the stakeholders involved in producing the event. In order to let the partnership to be successful, event organisers may have to change the pricing in order to make the packages offered viewed as being attractive.

In term of Promotion, Adidas Sundown Marathon had work towards establishing a good Public relation by holding a race bib bidding at Hortpark's fruit room with the present of Mr Teo Ser Luck (Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports and Ministry of Transport and Member of Parliament for Pasir Ris-Punggol) and all fund raised will be donated to a special sports fund for the children at Beyond Social Services. This help to establish a positive image about this event and at the time time, good publicity. In line with this, Adidas invited sponsors and partners such as Oakley and polar to help further establish the sporty image.

Packaging and distribution , for the race pack collection it is located at Millenia Walk over a period of two days from 11am to 9pm. People who is interested in the event can sign up online, making it convenient for them.

The cost for participating in this event, range from $50 - $75 for 42km, $100 - $140 for 84 km and $250 for the Team and Corporate Entry (10.5km per runner)
The most important factor in organising the event is the people such as the organiser, staff, volunteers and stakeholders who made this event possible. Most of the volunteers are mainly the students at Republic Polytechnic and SMU As everyone of them helps to contribute to the runner's experience of this entire marathon. The hospitality received by the runners will directly affect their experience about this marathon.

How would rate the organisation of the event? why?

I rate that this event is successful but only to a certain extent. The good point about this event is that the organiser, Hivelocity have good experience at organising marathon and other related sporting event. They have place multiple pit stop and rest point for the runners such as a healthway medical massage area and an Athletes' rest area so that the runners can rest themselves there. In case of any accidents they have also set up a medical post and a command centre to oversee the entire event to reduce any unnecessary miscommunication or accidents. There are also a baggage deposit tent to help the runners look after their belongings, so they do not need to worry about it and enjoy a carefree run. Everything for the event are properly and neatly organised

However, the venue of the marathon is quite inaccessible. The car parks are all fulled and there was heavy, slow traffic. A 10-15 minutes walk before the venue can be reached, so it was rather inconvenient to go for the event.

Discuss the potential of the event by the organiser to meet tourist demand?

Adidas Sundown Marathon is fully capable of attracting tourists who are actively involve in sports and meeting the demand for tourists interested in Marathon. To further encourage the runners to try their best for the run they introduced the rewards and hand out a certificate for all participants. This event can be further advertise to attract any tourists interested in the Marathon to take part.

Suggest how the value of the event could be raised to be align with the tourism mission of Singapore (STB)

The mission of the Board is to develop and champion tourism, so as to build the sector into a key driver of economic growth for Singapore. In addition to make Singapore the Events & Entertainment Capital of Asia with events all different types of event ranging from pop concerts, opera, blockbuster musicals, sports to art exhibitions.

Adidas Sundown Marathon organisers can be raised to be align with the tourism mission of Singapore by getting the Singapore Tourism Board to be involved as well. With the STB involved in planning they will help to contribute to ideas that will help to align this event with the STB mission of creating Singapore as the Events & Entertainment Capital of Asia. In addition, they can also advertise and promote more regarding this run. To help promote a sporty image for Singapore. So tourist or athletes who are interested in Sport related event such as a Marathon would consider to come over to Singapore. All these will ensure there will be more publicity, thus increasing exposure of Singapore to other countries.

___________________________________________________________________

APPENDIX

The logo