An Evaluation of P.S. Cafe Advertising Campaigns in Singapore

This report provides an in-depth analysis of P.S. Cafe's advertising and promotional strategies in Singapore. It begins with an introduction to the cafe and its market presence, followed by a background on its products and services, which include beverages and fast foods. The report then details the various advertising and promotional tools employed by P.S. Cafe, encompassing both traditional methods like television, newspapers, and personal selling, and non-traditional approaches such as events and stealth marketing. A critical evaluation of these tools reveals their limited impact in the evolving digital landscape. The report recommends alternative advertising and promotional tools, particularly focusing on social media platforms, websites, and influential marketing to enhance reach and engagement. Finally, the report includes an evaluation and control methods section, outlining budget allocations and key performance indicators (KPIs) used to assess the success of advertising campaigns, concluding with a summary of findings and recommendations for future strategies.

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Advertising
Name
(Affiliation institutions)

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1. Introduction of P.S Café in Singapore
P.S Café in Singapore was opened in 1999 as a cosy cafe hidden within Project shop
clothing store (P.S Café, 2020). Since its foundation, P.S Café has experienced rapid growth in
the Singaporean market with the Café well known for romantic dates, lazy afternoon teas as well
as legendary brunches. The P.S Café in Singapore has been chosen for this assignment because it
had been involved in the advertising of its products in the Singaporean market through various
advertising and promotional tools. The company has been successful although it needs to
integrate its advertising and promotional tools with consideration the market has also evolved.
Image source (P.S Café, 2020)
2. Background of P.S Café in Singapore
P.S Café in Singapore offers a variety of goods and services which are classified as traditional or
modern and which are based on concepts of retail as well as takeaway. The common products
and services offered by P.S Café in Singapore include beverages (serves alcohol, wine beer and
other forms of drinks) and fast foods like heartily salads, burger, chips which are prepared by
slow food sensitivity (P.S Café, 2020). Besides, the P.S Café in Singapore also offers other
services and products such as outdoor seating, packing as well as reservations to its customers.

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The Café also accepts various payment options such as Cash, master cards, visa and other types
of credit cards to cater needs for various segments of customers. Diversification of products is
the competitive advantage of P.S Café in Singapore. The diversification ensures the café has a
wide geographical area coverage as compared to most of its direct and indirect competitors in
Singapore. For example, the company has diversified its operations in such a way that customers
can pre-order online for takeaway foods and drinks or over the counter at the store. With P.S
Café in Singapore operating with over 20 different suppliers in the market, the Café has been
able to offer a curated selection of bottles giving their customers an experience of accessing to a
new selection of great wines. Furthermore, the company has all types of wines on small glasses
for tasting before customers facilitate a purchase.

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Image source (P.S Café, 2020)
3. Advertising & Promotional Tools of P.S Café Company
Advertising and promotional is a form of paid communication for an idea, service as well
as product. Diverse companies around the world use various advertising and promotional tools
depending on various factors such as nature of the business, size, government policies as well as
budge (Jothi, Neelamalar & Prasad, 2011). Advertising and promotional tools exist in various
forms such as traditional and non-traditional tools.
The traditional advertising and promotional tools include a media which delivers a
message to mass audiences and includes mass media (television, radio), print media (Newspaper,
magazines, billboards), Word of Mouth, Sales promotion, personal selling as well as Direct
mailer (Stefanone, Lackaff & Rosen (2010). Non-Traditional advertising and promotional
involves any form of a tool of advertising outside the print mass media. The Non-traditional
adverting and promotional tools include Guerrilla Marketing, events, Street Marketing,
Seminars, Stunt Marketing, Stealth Marketing, Public Jokes, Events, Membership Organizations,
Museums and Factory Tour, Theme Parks and Product Placement (Mughari, 2011).

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The traditional and promotional tools that P.S Café Company used to advertise and
promote its products in the Singaporean market includes Television, Newspapers, Personal
Selling, Sales Promotions, Word of Mouth, Outdoor and Direct Mailer. The use of mass media
particularly Television has enabled the company to reach a wide target audience coverage. The
company has been advertising strategically before news are broadcasted. Researches have
revealed that the majority of Singaporeans are usually on the front of their Televisions waiting
for briefings during this time. The Café also advertises through print media particular
newspapers and billboards. The billboards which are strategically situated at major towns and
cities in Singapore have painted a picture in customers minds about the P.M café‘s services and
products. The company advertises in Newspapers especially on weekends as researches have
also revealed that most of the Singaporeans read newspapers on Saturday as they have sufficient
time. In terms of personal selling, P.S Café Company has employed marketing representatives in
major towns and cities who explains in details the products and services offered by the café. The
representative is highly trained on product knowledge and therefore they can persuade customers
as well as addressing minor concerns in the market. In terms of sales promotions, P.S Café
Company has been able to offer discounts and other forms of incentives periodically to
encourage customers to consume the products. The discounts have reduced the profitability
margins although they have attracted a wide pool of customers.
The non-traditional adverting and promotional tools that P.S Café Company have adopted
include Event, street marketing as well as stealth marketing. In terms of Event, P.M café‘s
Company hosts various events in major towns and cities to create effective public relations. The
event incorporates some aspect of Corporate Social Responsibility such as assisting marginalized
communities, funding some minor projects as well as cleaning of towns and cities. P.S Café

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Company also adopts sheath marketing which involves advertising and promoting an
organizational product in the targeted market indirectly without awareness of people (Hanafin &
Clancy, 2015). Through the stealth adverting, P.S Café Company creates a buzz in its social
media platforms where people jump into comments, sharing, tags as well as discussions
concerning the product. Through the discussions and comments, people get aware of the
products and some are convinced to purchase them.
4. Critique use of Advertising and Promotional tools of P.S Café Company
The advertising and promotional tools adopted by P.S Café in Singapore have not made a
significant impact on marketing and promoting the company to the current dynamic markets.
Previous, the strategies had worked effectively in the last decades from 2000 to 2010. However,
with the growth of internet and evolvement of technologies being experienced in the modern
world (Alam, Siddiqui, Ahmad, Ahmad & Shuaib (2020), mass media has significantly lost
popularity and therefore advertisement over Television which is very expensive indeed has been
a form of wastage of resources as it has a narrow coverage. Besides, with the most of news and
advertisements being posted on blogs and social media platforms, Singaporeans spends their
time reading the news over their smartphones and therefore advertising over the Newspaper
which is also expensive has not made a significant impact. The Sheath marketing strategy has
further endangered the reputation of the company. A research conducted by Wang, Fong & Law,
(2020), shows that the reviews that customers leave on websites, as well as social media
platforms, have a significant impact on purchasing behaviours of customers. Therefore, if
customers leave a negative comment and feedback on social media platforms, the company is
likely to lose potential customers. Furthermore, competitors may also use feedbacks as an
advantage for attracting potential customers.

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5. Recommendations for Alternative Advertising and Promotional Tools to improve the
advertising campaign of the P.S Café Company
With the changing consumer behaviour in the hospitality sector, P.S Café Company
should consider using modern advertising and promotional tools such as Social Media platforms,
websites as well as Google platforms to widen its advertisement scope. A research conducted by
Chandra (2019) has evidenced that companies that have invested high on the marketing and
advertisements through modern technologies such as McDonald's have achieved a high Return
on Investment (ROI) as well as achievement of their advertisement campaign. The social media
advertising and promotion tools involve the use of modern technologies such as Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube, Instagram as well as Snapchat to reach the target audience as well as potential
markets. According to a research conducted by Talkwalker Inc (2020), out of 5.83 million
population of Singapore, 4.6 million (equivalent to 79%) of the total population have an
active social media accounts with 99% having visited a messaging service or social media
network last month. Furthermore, the average daily time spent on social media users is 2
hours and 8 minutes indicating (Talkwalker Inc, 2020). The social media penetration rated as
85% third in the world after the United Arabs of Emirates and Korea. The statistics indicate
that advertising and promoting P.S Café Company in Singapore’s products and services through
social media platforms is a suitable strategy of generating traffic as well as capturing the
attention of every demographic and Geographic segment in the country. Therefore, P.S Café
Company in Singapore should consider automating its website further to incorporate the famous
social media platforms commonly used in Singapore apart from the only current ordering
systems that the company have adopted. The ordering systems only deliveries products and
services to the customers after the online booking and therefore without effective advertisement

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and promotions customers may lack awareness. Therefore, social media platform will be the only
way that P.S Café Company can use to pull high traffic to the website, create product and service
awareness as well as increasing its sales in the Singaporean market.
P.S Café Company should also try out influential marketing as an advertisement and
promotion strategy of its products. The influential marketing technique will involve the use of
key influential people in society such as artists and politicians. The influencers have a large
number of followers in their social media platforms as well as good reputations in Singapore and
therefore advertising the P.S Café Company through them will assist to pull large traffic to the
company.
6. Evaluation and Control Methods Used by the P.S Café Company
Description of the Activity/technique Evaluation Control Methods budget
Developing an advertisement and
promotional marketing plan (decisions on
the appropriate advertisement and
promotions decided by strategic
management). Both traditional and
nontraditional tools can be used to make
sure every market segment and target
audience is covered)
-the strategies of advertisement
and promotion well formulated
as well as their alternatives.
Setting SMART objectives,
goals as well as a clear
vision. This will control the
entire advisement and
promotion campaign as
markers are guided with
what they should achieve
$500
Advertisement over the various
advertisement channels (the activity
includes the company advertising the
brand in the decided social media
Evaluation of customer response
rates in the social media
platforms, as well as purchasing
of products, determines the
Market share captured
Sales revenue generated as
well as Profit earned
controls the rate of
$3000

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platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram, traditional channels like mass
media, non- traditional media like Stealth
marketing as well as personal selling and
sales promotion.
manner at which the
advertisement and promotion has
penetrated to horizons of
targeted audiences
advertisements.
Evaluation of advertisement and
promotional tools success in the market
Key advertisement metrics and
key performance indicators
(KPI) to determine if the
advertisement has been
successful. If the rate of response
and sales are high, the campaign
has been effective. However, if
the conditions remain the same,
the company needs to do a lot.
Return on Investment (If
there is high ROI, the
campaign is effective.
However, if ROI is low,
improvements are highly
needed.
$500
7. Conclusion
Advertising and promotion of P.S Café brand are essential for the company as it assists to
create awareness in the new and existing markets. P.S Café offers various food and beverage
products to Singaporeans. The company advertises through both tradition and non-tradition
communication tools such as Direct Mail, World of Mouth, sales promotions personal selling,
mass media as well as print media. The company also advertises through non-traditional
advertising and promotion tools such as stealth marketing and events. With the internet and
technology evolving as well as customers purchasing patterns changing, the company should
focus on advertising on the social media platform.

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References
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Chandra, M. (2019). Impact of E-Marketing in the Hospitality Industry. NOLEGEIN-Journal of
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Hanafin, J., & Clancy, L. (2015). History of tobacco production and use. The Tobacco
Epidemic (Vol. 42, pp. 1-18). Karger Publishers.
Jothi, P. S., Neelamalar, M., & Prasad, R. S. (2011). Analysis of social networking sites: A study
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Mughari, A. M. (2011). Analysis of guerrilla and traditional marketing integration in improving
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P.S Café (2020). About us. Retrieved from P.S Cafe: https://www.pscafe.com/home
Stefanone, M. A., Lackaff, D., & Rosen, D. (2010). The relationship between traditional mass
media and “social media”: Reality television as a model for social network site
behavior. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 54(3), 508-525.
Talkwalker Inc (2020). Social media statistics in Singapore. Retrieved from Talkwalker:
https://www.talkwalker.com/blog/social-media-statistics-singapore#
Wang, E. Y., Fong, L. H. N., & Law, R. (2020). Review Helpfulness: The Influences of Price
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