Be the manager

Event: Ben & Jerry's Chunk Fest, Fort Canning Green
Date: 6 Dec 2008.

Objective
The event is dubbed 'Celebrating Love, Peace and Ice Cream.' This means music, performances, contests and of course, ice-cream. Lots and lots of ice-cream. In fact, 12 exclusive flavours are flown from the USA just for the event. Other than ice cream, there were also contests, like the Vermonster Eating Contest, tarrot card and palm reading, caricaturists, as well as airbrush tattoo making.

Target audience
Ice cream enthusiasts young and old, especially those who claimed to be ice cream lovers but have yet to sink their teeth in some Ben & Jerry's goodness. And there's also the loyal Ben & Jerry's fanatics, who turned up in droves. Not even the brief rain could dampen their mood (no pun intended) for ice cream.

How the event publicized

It was announced through various radio stations. There were also advertisements in newspapers, magazines, you name it. And obviously, in Ben & Jerry's outlets in Singapore, since it's an event by Ben & Jerry's.

Is the event reported in the media?

The media, not so much. It's probably because an ice cream festival, like this one, is not exactly very 'newsworthy'. There are many other food festivals in Singapore and not all of them ended up in the pages of newspapers or magazines, other than a mere mention here and there. So I think the event would have to stand out more, other than being the first and only ice cream festival in Singapore. Or, they could just invite a very established local act to perform at the event to generate more media buzz.

Assume you are the manager overseeing this project. Evaluate the success/failure of this event. How would you do it differently for greater success?

Judging from the huge turnout, I would say the event was a great success. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, enjoying their ice cream and the activities, as well as spending time with their friends and family. The only failure is probably the lack of media coverage of the event, even with all the advertising and publicity.

If it was up to me, I would take the weather into consideration when planning the event. I would probably go for a location that have some sort of shelter, although not completely indoors, so that the scheduled activities could go on as planned. Aside from that, I would invite some established local names to perform. Not only would it generate some media coverage, more people would show up to catch their favourite acts perform. More people show up = more people buying ice cream and supporting Ben & Jerry's. And oh, I would also have the Vermonster Eating Contest on stage instead of on the ground so that everyone could witness some of the action from where they were sitting.

Here are some of the photos taken at the event.