Cathay Cineplexes Brand Experience
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The various cinema operators in Singapore offer movie going experience, products and services with little differentiation. There is no brand loyalty for movie goers and this happen presents an opportunity in itself for a cinema brand to stand out as a champion. A study was carried out on Cathay Cineplexes on how they can make use of existing(or non existing) touchpoints which the brand can leverage to improve customer brand experience and at the same time reinforce the brand strength.
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Cathay Cineplexes Brand Experience
- 1. ASSIGNMENT 3 AD206 Branding, PDAD-045F Done By: Yeo Zhenxi, 0708 Lecturer: Patrick Song 1st Feb 2015
- 2. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION HISTORY VISION MISSION CORE VALUES BRAND VALUES POSITIONING TARGET MARKET COMPETITOR MARKETING/ADVERTISING BRAND STRENGTHS TOUCHPOINTS POST-PURCHASE STRATEGY REFERENCES 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 - 7 8 8 9 - 11 12 13
- 3. INTRODUCTION The cinema visitorship in Singapore is actually on the decline for the first time in several years. And cinema operators are going all out to woo movie-goers and stem the decline, such as with new luxury features which they believe consumers will splash out on. Singapore has one of the world’s highest per capita cinema attendance rates at 4.5 visits per person per year. According to figures from the Singapore Department of Statistics, cinema attendance - based on the number of tickets bought - fell from about 22.1 million in 2011 to 20.9 million in 2012, or a drop of just over 5 per cent. Attendance had previously grown from 19.6 million in 2009 to 20.3 million in 2010. Reasons cited by cinema operators for the drop in visitorship include an increasing prevalence of online movie piracy or simply the popularity of movies released. Also the various cinema operators in Singapore offer movie going experience, products and services with little differentiation. There is no brand loyalty for movie goers, but this problem presents an opportunity in itself for a cinema brand to stand out as a champion. Golden Village, Cathay Cineplex and Shaw are the 3 most recognized cinemas in Singapore. Despite Golden Village being the largest cinema chain in Singapore, various researches based on consumer feedbacks shows that Cathay Cineplex stands a chance to reinforce its brand strength, which will be discussed in this report. 1
- 4. HISTORY Cathay Organisation’s history as a pioneer in movie entertainment began on 18 July 1935 when it was incorporated as Associated Theatres Ltd. It set up its first cinema, The Pavilion, in Kuala Lumpur in 1936. Associated Theatres Ltd was later renamed Cathay Organisation Pte Ltd in 1959. In 1939, it launched its first cinema in Singapore at the Cathay Building and revolutionised the movie-going experience with the introduction of air-conditioned theatres and spacious seats. In the 50s and 60s, under the guiding hands of the late Dato Loke Wan Tho, Cathay Organisation expanded into film production and produced many award-winning and popular movies from both its Hong Kong and Singapore Studios . By the 70s, Cathay’s cinema empire had expanded to 75 cinemas in Singapore and Malaysia. The brand had also been established as a reputable film distributor with networks spanning Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and as far as Europe and Latin America. Responding to the changing economic environment of the 80s, Cathay Organisation rationalised its cinema business, selling out its cinema operations in Malaysia. In Singapore, Cathay chose to move with the trends and operated only quality cineplexes offering the top of-the-line cinematic experience. Stand-alone cinemas were converted into multiscreen halls giving birth to the concept of multiplexes. Today, Cathay Organisation is a diversified Group with core business activities in cinemas both in Singapore and Malaysia (having reentered the Malaysian market in 1997), film acquisition, distribution & production, property related management services, retail malls, a Chinese restaurant, museum gallery, a unique brand of hotel, advertising and event management services. The company has since also entered into a new market, the Middle East, in a joint venture company to establish and manage cineplexes. VISION To be the premier organisation engaged in providing quality family entertainment, leisure and lifestyle and property management services to the community. MISSION We are committed to providing safe and fun quality entertainment, leisure and lifestyle products and services to our customers in Asia, by enhancing customer satisfaction, using state of the art technology and entertainment venues. 2
- 5. CORE VALUES Integrity - We will be impartial and honest with our colleagues and customers, to be exemplary in our conduct at all times. Entrepreneurship - We believe in the spirit of entrepreneurship in expanding our business and developing new ventures that will add value to our operations and profitability. Fairplay - We value our relationships with our business associates and our employees and practice fairness in all our business dealings to the mutual benefit of all parties. Creativity - We strive to be innovative and constantly be on the forefront of our industry to develop new and interesting entertainment and leisure experiences for the enjoyment of our customers. Teamwork - We believe in working as a team amongst our staff and with our business associates to tap on the experience and contributions from all parties to synergistically maintain our competitive edge in the dynamic business environment in which we operate. BRAND VALUES The vision of Cathay Cineplexes is “to present a total Film Entertainment Experience for Total Customer Satisfaction.” Placing each and every customer as the number one priority, the company’s business model revolves around the provision of choice, comfort and convenience for the customer. Team work is key in delivering its promise, as is “prompt, efficient and courteous service to ensure the highest quality of film presentation, food service, comfort and cleanliness” as stated in the company’s mission. The Cathay brand is more than just a name, it is a set of values and attributes that reflects the spirit of the company – one that epitomises its vision to become a leading corporation that provides quality and wholesome family entertainment, leisure and lifestyle, without forgetting its roots and heritage as well as the core values of the business built over the years POSITIONING There is not much of a significant positioning even until Jun 2013, when Cineleisure Orchard, the flagship cinema of Cathay Cineplexes, has announced the completion of its three-month expansion programme with the launch of three brand new movie halls at Level 4. The expansion boost a total capacity at Cathay Cineplexes Cineleisure Orchard to 15 movie halls and 2,281 seats, cementing its position as the largest cinema in Singapore. Yet this is not sufficient to differentiate itself from the big cinema chain competitor, Golden Village. 3
- 6. TARGET MARKET 65% of visitors are youths age 15 – 24 and 20% are young adults aged 25 to 34. Proving its popularity among the young, 89% of the movie-goers there are those aged 39 and below. They are also affluent with 71% of them coming from household earning more than $4000. 36% of them are students while 29% are professionals, managers, executives and businessmen(PMEBs). http://archive-sg.com/page/2388444/2013-07-03/http://www.jcdecaux.com.sg/solutions/cinema/on-screen-advertising/cathay-cineleisure-orchard-the-cathay/ COMPETITOR Price Comparison According to the price comparison above, Cathay offers a higher price than its competitors. The adjustment of prices on 2014 explains in their FAQ “a marked increase in operational expenses for the past few years. As such, it is challenging to absorb these rising costs which comprise rental, staff costs, utilities and film hires. As a commitment to keep cinema-going affordable for all segments of the community, Cathay continues to provide preferential rates for UOB/American Express/MasterCard credit card holders, senior citizens, students, parent and child (Mom ‘N’ Tots promotion) and groups of four (Party-Of-4 Deal). A free hot beverage will also be extended with the purchase of every Senior Citizen ticket purchased for weekday shows before 6pm.” Yet the adjustment had brought attention to customers and many have came out with summerised spreadsheets to compare the price between the different brands. The question is there’s not much differentiation or uniqueness in Cathay Cineplexes to justify on the price differences. 4
- 7. Chain of Cinemas, Type of Threatres and Location Notes: Gold Class, Platinum Movie Suites and premiere are the premium-priced theatres for Golden Village, Cathay Cineplexes and Shaw Theatres respectively IMAX theatres are at Shaw Theatres Lido and Jem The Grand Cathay and GVmax are large-capacity theatres exclusive to The Cathay cineplex and GV VivoCity respectively Gemini Two-to-View, newly introduced Couple Seat Hall by GV D Box motion seats, another highlight by GV with motion seats equipped with three types of intelligent movement (subtle pitch, roll and heave) Normal Cinemas Golden Village Grand @ Great World City Golden Village Plaza @ Plaza Singapura Golden Village Bishan @ Junction 8 Golden Village City Square @ City Square Mall Golden Village Marina Square Golden Village Suntec City Golden Village Tiong Bahru Golden Village VivoCity @ VivoCity Cathay Cineplexes @ Cineleisure Orchard The Cathay Cineplex @ The Cathay Shaw Theatres Lido @ Shaw House Shaw Theatres Bugis @ Bugis Junction Shaw Theatres Balestier @ Shaw Plaza Golden Village Tampines @ Tampines Mall Golden Village Katong @ 112 Katong Cathay Downtown East @ E!hub Shaw Theatres Century @ Century Square Shaw Theatres nex @ nex Golden Village Yishun Cathay AMK Hub @ AMK Hub Cathay Causeway Point Golden Village Jurong Point Cathay Jem Cathay West Mall Shaw Theatres JCube Shaw Theatres CCK @ Lot 1 Golden Village Cathay Cineplex Shaw Central/South North East West Region By researching on the information above, it is obvious that Golden Village stands out drastically from the rest in terms of location, varieties and the number of cinemas available especially across the Central/South region of Singapore. The latest highlights of Gemini Two-to-View and D Box further differentiates itself as an up-to-date and innovative organisation that focuses on movie-goers viewing experience. Yet the downside for Gemini Two-to-View could be improved by featuring it in all cinemas instead of just having it in 2 locations. We have to agree here that couples are a group of target audience who will visit the cinema on a more frequent basis. Further research found that Cathey Cineplexes has also been making efforts in placing a mixture of Couple seats, Elite Seats and Ultima Seats in its theatres. But these highlights are not introduced or captured in its website clearly until one clicks into the booking page. These different types of seats are captured in the form of inforgraphics and the name of the seats, which clearly didn’t help customers to understand the price they are paying for. 5
- 8. Website plays an important role for cinema exhibitors because it is a platform for movie-goers to do a direct purchase through online booking. Informative webpages and user-friendly navigations must be aligned to customer needs, in order to create a positive pre-purchase experience. Cathay’s website has the essentials for a pre-purchase but the overall layout looks cluttered. As compared with Golden Village's website which is the most user-friendly and boasts the cleanest design of the lot. Instead of making users click on drill-down menus to get the desired screening day and times, it just shows you the entire week's schedule on one page. It provides a quick view on a page of movies with informtions of different ratings for different groups of audiences (i.e. NC16/PG), members’ ratings and running time. It also put many focus on featuring their Gold Class, GV Max, Gemini Two-to-View and D Box. As mentioned, Cathay Cinplex should feature their different types of seats and reveal where are the seats located which is beneficial to movie-goers. For on-site booking wise, the queues on all 3 cinemas moved quickly based on the screen test done by John Lui, Film Correspondent. For online booking, all 3 cinemas have app for IOS and Android for smartphone users to browse and book their tickets. Cathay Cineplexes booking fee is $1.50, same as that charged by Golden Village, whereas Shaw charges $1.00. Plus Golden Village goes one step further by creating an e-ticket in the form of a QR code, which users scan to enter the theatres. Cathay Cineplexes at JEM features gourmet popcorn ($10 for a small bag of caramel flavoured, $8 for cheese). Otherwise, it was $7.90 for the standard small drink and popcorn combo, which is the same as Golden Village. Shaw offers slightly cheaper for the smallest-sized popcorn and drink combo which costs $7. Online Platform and Bookings Food 6
- 9. http://forums.gameaxis.com/ - 2006 reviews http://forums.sgclub.com/ - 2009 reviews http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/ - 2013 reviews Poll Results: GV, Cathay, Shaw, Filmgarde or No Preference Golden Village Cathay Shaw Filmgarde No Preference 5 13 10 4 5 Popularity Loyalty Program Below are the poll results over the years. Cathay holds a good reputation over Golden Village. There are consistent good feedbacks on Cathay’s services, screen sound systems and their comfortable seats. Although majority prefers Cathay, it should still work and improve further to differentiating its position from its competitors. Golden Village is a big competitor and they are constantly improving. GV Movie Club vs Cathay REBEL membership GV Movie Club has been in existence for many years, and the best perks that come out of it are the 1 for 1 birthday deals and the cheap $6.50 movie tickets on Tuesday. Now, Cathay has finally decided to come up with a similar programme to provide some competition. The perks are slightly different, but they provide cheap 2D movie tickets on 4 days per week including blockbuster movies. Currently, Cathay has stopped their REBEL loyalty program and looking into improving their loyalty program platform. 7
- 10. MARKETING/ADVERTISING BRAND STRENGTHS Cathay’s marketing trend is usually giving away free movie treats or passes. Taking the recent example in 2013, Cathay Organisation was celebrating its 78th anniversary, give away an array of movie treats, ranging from movie passes to popcorn and beverages. Up to 780 exclusive Cathay Cineplex Jem movie passes will be given out during July 18 to 21. In addition, from July 18 to August 31, customers at The Cathay Restaurant stand a chance to take part in a sure-win Dip & Win promotion with a minimum spending of $78 during dinner hours. Prizes include Platinum Movie Suites and regular movie vouchers, dining discounts, mooncakes and F&B deals. Cathay also said that it would be giving away a year's supply of Cathay Cineplexes' movie passes worth a total of $900 to up to three lucky fans who like the official Cathay Lifestyle Facebook page. Other promotions and freebies will be given via contests and giveaways at The Cathay and Cathay Cineleisure Orchard, as well as E2Max gaming centre. This was advertised on AsiaOne. Cathay has collaborated with NTUC, nEbO, M1, American Express, Passion Card to offer their members promotional prices which can be found on their promotions page. Coming this year, Cathay celebrates it’s 80th anniversary in July 2015. Cathay Asia Films, a subsidiary of Cathay Organisation, will commemorate this important milestone with the feature film, Our Sister Mambo, a romantic comedy that will be both a modern tribute to and reinvention of iconic Cathay classic films Our Sister Hedy (四千金, 1957) and The Greatest Civil War on Earth (南北和, 1961). Our Sister Mambo will be Cathay’s first big-screen production in 15 years and Cathay Organisation intends to donate all profits if any from the film, after the recoupment of production costs, to charity. Although Shaw has a longer history than Cathay which draws away the differentiation from being a heritage brand in the Singapore movie scene, there’s still a potential for Cathay to make use of it’s 80th anniversary this year to reinforce it’s legacy. Cathay has maintain good reputation in terms of service, as well as the 2 major aspects of a movie experience: seat comfort and screen & sound system. Heritage Good Reputation 8
- 11. TOUCHPOINTS Cathay website is obviously cluttered. Therefore, it’s recommendable for them to revamp the website for a more user-friendly platform with nice designs and incorporating it’s brand corporate colours to strengthen the image. Golden Village is a good example for them to take reference from. Now that Golden Village goes one step further by creating an e-ticket in the form of a QR code, which users scan to enter the cineplex. This actually reduces the brand engagement with their customers and the QR code doesn’t work when one’s smartphone is low-batt. Cathay can make use of this chance to differentiate itself by giving out well-designed luminous tickets to csutomers. This will increase the chance of building a positive brand experience by allowing the staffs to carry out good service engagement. People may consider keeping the luminous tickets as its uniqueness can serve as a collection for some. Cathay can create a contest out of it to encourage customer participation. For example, after the customer has collected his/her luminous ticket, he/she will proceed to their seats and they could take photo of the luminous ticket in the dark and post it on the instagram with a hashtag. At the end of the show, a few selected winners who posted on the instagram will be rewarded with perks. In order to build the brand through customer service, Cathay should provide staff training for their counter staffs and give good leadership to motivate them consistently. Good customer services is human-touch to reinforce movie-goers experience. Although Cathay seems to have better services than Golden Village, but there are still complaints about their services which is found on their facebook page. Improve Online Platform and Bookings Improve Staff Service 5J 09 WEDNESDAY JAN 28, 2015 07:20 P.M. CINELEISURE ORCHARD row seat AMERICAN SNIPER (M18) 5J 09 WEDNESDAY JAN 28, 2015 07:20 P.M. CINELEISURE ORCHARD row seat #cathaylumi 9
- 12. Good Seats Improve Food REBEL Loyalty Program As stated, Cathay has stopped their REBEL loyalty program for improvement. Previously, it is pretty easy to get the REBEL card for free with any purchase of a Cathay movie ticket. Additionally, the loyalty card could help Cathay in their post-purchase strategy by getting member’s information like e-mail address. Now that Cathay has the Premium Movie Suites, Cathay should produce a Premium card for customers and giving them exclusive offers as a premium member. It is a good idea of having different card designs choices, but the designs should be created in relation to Cathay’s image. Other than offering the standards, popcorn and hotdogs. Given the price that the cinemas charged on the food, Cathay can do better by providing higher quality and varieties of chips/crackers/ tibits, popcorns and hotdogs. Cathay can also make use of it’s 80th anniversary, by offering nostalgic old school tibits, as well as local-style snacks at a reasonable price. By putting more focus on the food options at a reasonable price, this can prevent movie-goers from having the thought of bringing outside food into the theatres. Good Sound System and Screen Every cinema claims that their having the best technology in sound system and screen. Nothing proves better than customer feedbacks. There’s not much complaints on Cathay Cineplexes’s systems, in fact, many praises the hearing and viewing experience better than Golden Village. However , this is extraordinary important for Cathay to keep it up and remain the best among it’s competitors. Cathay has done well by providing comfortable Couple seats, Ultima seats and Elite seats. For the normal seats, they are many good reviews by the movie-goers as well. Cathay can improve by introducing more variation of seats in each theatre for customers to choose from. 10
- 13. Introduction of Scenting Cathay Great Multisensory Experiences By introducing signature scent in cinema theatres, Cathay could demonstrate it’s brand value of being innovate and differentiate itself from their competitors. Scenting can assist with the business growth strategy by enhancing the customer experience and creating brand loyalty. Not to mention that can cure some odour encounters. Cathay can even explore further on delivering different scent for different type of movies. With the recommended improvements and introducing of scenting, Cathay can benchmark itself as a “Great Mutlisensory Experience” cinema which differentiates it’s position from competitors. The recommendations will display Cathay’s strong emphasis on maximising customer’s experience by tapping on all different senses of any individuals to give them a remarkable experience. 5 4 3 2 1 sound sight touch taste smell emotion Improve Staff Service Introduce Scent Improve Food Choice of seats. Luminous Tickets Good Sound System & Screen current situation recommendation 5 senses graph 11
- 14. POST PURCHASE STRATEGY Ensuring post-purchase strategy will help maximises the total consumer experience of a brand. Cathay should increase focus on their loyalty program to buildand maintain a close relationship with customers. Cathay should consider gathering their customers’ information like e-mail address whenever they do an online booking. Members will have an account on Cathay’s website for them to login and to enjoy the promotions and perks entitled to their loyalty program. With that, Cathay will be able to keep track of customer’s movie preferences and viewing habits. Gather Customer Information Cathay could send e-mail to non-members to encourage them to sign-up the free loyalty program after their purchase experience with cathay. Promotions and perks should be listed and delivered clearly to customers. There’s no reason why they wouldn’t sign up after a good experience and enjoying free membership. With that, members can buy tickets faster in future as their general informations will be captured on the fill boxes in the booking system. An e-mail will also be sent to members after their show to allow them to rate the movie and leave their reviews with an signed-in link. Based on the customer’s viewing record, Cathay can make use of this opportunity as a peronal touch to recommend customer the upcoming movies that they might be interested with a quick link for them to click on, to link back to Cathay’s website. Send Post Purchase E-mails Cathay can come out with an online forum with a new tab in their website for members to talk about their views and discuss about the movies. Keeping customers engaged in the forum, allows Cathay to build it’s brand as a responsive and trusted brand. This approach deem to attract potential new customers who pops by the website and read the forum discussions. This will help Cathay leverage its brand equity in the long run. Online Forum 12