| Men's Folio
September 2004
Salient Nation
Now in its fourth year, Fridae.com’s astoundingly
successful Nation party is the first and only one of
its kind in Singapore specifically designed for the
gay community to celebrate National Day.
In a conservative Asian society where discussions on
homosexuality are still largely taboo, and those in
the gay community still face discrimination, Fridae.com
has broken phenomenal ground by conceptualising a web
portal bridging GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender)
individuals in Singapore. Officially launched in 2001
“with the vision to create an international company
serving the needs of Asian gays and lesbians,”
the online medium afforded them an avenue for peer acceptance
and opportunities to meet like-minded individuals says
Dr Stuart Koe, CEO and co-founder of Fridae.com. The
website now boasts 150,000 registered members from all
over the world, with Singapore contributing less than
40 per cent of the
database.
That same year, the first Nation party was held at
Fantasy Island, Sentosa, attracting a modest but impressive
turnout of 1,500. It has since become a tradition to
hold the event on the eve of National Day, allowing
the GLBT community an opportunity to celebrate the nation’s
birthday with the rest of the country. And in a lifespan
of four short years, the number of partygoers has swelled
to a whopping 8,000 this year, a quarter of which are
tourists (gay or otherwise) who are likely to boost
Singapore’s economy by nearly $10 million over
the threeday party weekend. That’s a pretty decent
validation of Fridae’s philosophy of seeking to
“effect social change through economics.”
Nation04’s consecutive three-day weekend kick-started
with the Military Ball at Suntec City on 8th August
followed by the main party at Sentosa’s Musical
Fountain, and ended with a closing party at Zouk.
Tell us about the first Nation party and the
public response.
Stuart Koe: Nation was conceptualised as a party for
the Singapore GLBT community to celebrate National Day.
There are scant opportunities for gays in Singapore
to feel part of the ‘system’, so the intent
of Nation was to create an event where this community
could celebrate our country’s independence with
everyone else, in a safe space where they will not be
discriminated against. In time, the popularity of this
event has grown to such a level that we have people
from all walks of life, straight and gay, who come to
celebrate with us. As such, it’s not a strictly
‘gay party’, but really a party that attracts
a diverse crowd that shares a common view of tolerance
and diversity, and a love for a good party. It is a
celebration of differences, and a symbolic recognition
that everyone in Singapore has an important role to
play in nation-building. It is also an event where everyone
can come together to feel a part of a much larger community.
Being in the company of literally thousands of other
like-minded people, it is both inspiring and empowering.
What has the media response to Nation been
like?
SK: The media response to Nation has been overwhelming.
Time magazine hailed Nation a ‘Three day festival
of international proportions’ and DNA magazine
(Australia) named Nation one of the top 12 circuit events
in the world.
What makes Nation so provocative, besides
the ‘gay’ tag?
SK: Two reasons: One, all our events use very unique
venues. They’re
usually venues that nobody has thought of using before
so the setting is very special. And when you use a space
like the Sentosa Musical Fountain, it is spectacular.
It is visually already out-of-this-world. The second
factor that makes Nation very unique is that it is set
in an Asian setting. There are big circuit parties all
over the world and many people who go to parties in
America, Europe and Australia, they’re all Western.
This is the first time a party of this scale is set
in an Asian setting so when all Asians come to this
party, it’s a completely different feeling when
you’re not the minority. When all the people you
see are friends, it feels like one big family.
What makes this year’s Nation so exciting?
SK: We invested a lot of money in state-of-the-art
visual effects, pyrotechnics, sound, lasers and the
quality of our DJs. We brought in six DJs and produced
a dance CD compilation. It was really the whole experience
and providing a good experience as far as possible.
In terms of surprises, it’s the timing of the
whole experience. There were constant surprises throughout
the whole evening, in terms of drama and visuals. We
never rely on shows. As party organisers, we do things
very differently from most event organisers.
We don’t rely on traditional things like a show
or a host. The decor we use is different. We learn a
lot from what we experience from parties overseas. We
don’t recreate what people usually do.
Do you really have to be gay to appreciate
Nation?
SK: Not at all! In fact, we’re seeing more and
more cool, straight people.
Essentially the people who come to our parties can
be from any walk of life but generally, the people who
come are cool about the whole thing. They’re just
there to have fun and sexuality is really the last thing
on their minds.
Arguably, it’s one of the best parties in Singapore
because our focus is
different. It’s not just big-name DJs. We don’t
spend a fortune bringing in big-name DJs and hope that
makes a fun party. We concentrate on the visuals, we
concentrate on the whole experience, the party vibe,
the atmosphere, the energy. People who leave the party
all have this look of amazement and bliss on their faces
because it’s very inspiring, very empowering.
What gave you the confidence to think the
first Nation party would be a success and push ahead
with it?
SK: We had no idea. But people in Singapore are always
up for a good party if it comes their way. The major
achievement was in building our tremendous international
following. This year, we are expecting more than 2,000
tourists to travel to Singapore for Nation, and this
number has grown steadily over the years. Based on audited
statistics generated last year, they are expected to
generate close to S$10 million in tourism revenue, just
from this three-day weekend.
How difficult was it getting sponsors at the
beginning, considering the alternative nature of the
event?
SK: Initially, many corporate sponsors we approached
had reservations about sponsoring an event of this nature.
We have been fortunate that we have the support of several
companies that had the foresight and commitment to the
GLBT community early on, such as Subaru, Anchor Beer
and Qantas/British Airways. Now that the reputation
of Fridae events has grown, this is no longer the case
and many more companies now realise the tremendous potential
of having a presence at an event such as Nation, where
they can cost-effectively reach a very valuable demographic
group. This year, joining our esteemed list of sponsors
are blue-chip brands such as Heineken, e33, Moet &
Chandon, Motorola, Cathay Pacific and Visit Britain.
Since we do not rely on traditional media and marketing
strategies, the lack
of media channels has never been an obstacle to us.
In fact, we market our events very cost-effectively
through our own channels, as well as rely heavily on
the strong word of mouth of our thousands of loyal ‘ambassadors’
who go out and nag all their friends who are not going
to the next party, To these loyal Fridae members, we
are indebted.
Subaru was a main sponsor of Nation this year
and last. Do you think having the support of such a
major corporate brand sponsor ‘legitimises’
the event in any way?
SK: We’re not seeking legitimacy but having
support from a company like Subaru shows that this market
demographic is very important to companies and they
cannot ignore this group of people. And now there’s
a very effective way to reach these people. And that
is what having companies like Subaru, Cathay Pacific
and Motorola mean. It means they realise the importance
of this group of people. The major obstacle is really
in the mindsets of the decision makers. Some are simply
not ready to take what they see as a major step in niche
marketing, not realising that this community has the
potential to become very loyal and important customers
for any brand.
Are there any limitations to publicising Nation?
SK: Considering how big this party is and how much
we spend on marketing, you’ll be very shocked.
We spend next to nothing marketing this event. We don’t
run any ads. We print a few flyers but we don’t
even need to print flyers honestly. We just have to
announce when the next party is and everybody will know
about it.
Do you consider the promotion of Nation to
be ‘underground’?
SK: We’re always very open about who we are and
what we do, so it’s not underground in that we
keep it a secret and very few people know about it.
Literally tens of thousands of people know about it
and they come to our event from all parts of the world.
And we’ve been featured in Time magazine and on
the national news. It’s far from being underground.
How do you feel about all this worldwide recognition
and publicity Nation has received?
SK: Oh, we’re very excited about it. We’re
very happy that Singapore is able to play host to all
these people coming in from all over the world and that
Singapore can be seen as a progressive nation. We’re
very grateful to be able to host something like this.
We don’t see it as underground. If we’re
underground, we’d be very secretive about it.
There’s a perception that Nation is
targeted more towards gay men rather than gay women.
SK: If you look at all our publicity, we’ve
actually taken very strong care to keep it neutral and
open to everybody. There are a number of women who come
because they enjoy a good party but I think we do find
internationally, women don’t enjoy big circuit
parties as much. I think it’s just that they choose
not to come. Other than that, we don’t say ‘This
is for men’. There’s one dancefloor, whoever
wants to come, comes. Gay, straight, lesbian, whatever.
Women tend to like more private, cosy events like a
bar or a small club. But we do hope more women will
come.
How ‘daring’ has Nation or Fridae
gotten over the years?
SK: We don’t seek to be daring but the very
fact that we are visible and we are who we are, some
people might consider that being very daring. But we
really just see ourselves as being very honest and open,
which is important to the companies we work with. It’s
important to stakeholders, our members, and the people
who come to the party as well as any other agencies
and people we work with. It’s really about being
transparent and visible. Other than that, the parties
themselves are never really daring. We don’t go
out there trying to shock or provoke people. If you
look at all our flyers through the years, we’ve
never done anything provocative. In fact, it’s
good, classy design and we never use sex to sell.
Now that Nation has gotten so hyped-up as
a gay circuit party attracting throngs of tourists,
is it important for you to maintain the niche cachet
that a gay event represents or do you champion the idea
of Nation becoming more mainstream?
SK: Nation is an event for those who buy into the
ideology of diversity, tolerance and love. Anyone who
is on the same wavelength is welcome, no fears of ‘dilution’.
We ARE mainstream in many ways. We are your brothers
and sisters, your sons and daughters, your uncles and
aunts. We will not plan for Nation to grow too big.
We intend to keep the ‘cosiness’ of the
event, paying close attention to the elements that make
Nation special. Many large events suffer when they grow
too big and impersonal, which is a trap we are very
careful to avoid. It is very important to us that Nation
remains true to its roots, and keeps on being a fun
party, a celebration for all. But most importantly,
our vision for Nation is to be the best party in Asia,
and one that symbolises a celebration of COMMUNITY and
LOVE. We want everyone who comes to Nation to leave
inspired and empowered.
See pdf file. |
