Sport SG Appoints PHAR for Sponsorship Evaluation of Kallang Alive Project

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Following a tender process, Sport Singapore (SportSG) has appointed PHAR to work on the commercial viability of the Kallang Alive Project.

Slated to transform into a vibrant precinct by 2025, the Kallang Alive Project is located across approximately 90 hectares of real estate. It aims to celebrate, regenerate and innovate sporting lifestyles in Singapore, and to further enhance the city-state as a destination for sport and world-class entertainment.

PHAR’s role will be to assess the sponsorship potential of the Kallang Alive Project by identifying, evaluating and packaging long-term commercial and sponsorship opportunities.

Prem Bhatia, MD of PHAR commented, “Having worked with various public entities in Singapore over the last few years, we are looking forward to working with SportSG to help build the next sports metropolis, and help SportSG identify partners who share the same ethos in terms of community building and enhancing participation in a healthy and active Singapore.”

About Sport Singapore

As the national sports agency, Sport Singapore’s core purpose is to inspire the Singapore spirit and transform Singapore through sport. Through innovative, fun and meaningful sporting experiences, our mission is to reach out and serve communities across Singapore with passion and pride. With Vision 2030 – Singapore’s sports master plan, our mandate goes beyond winning medals. Sport Singapore uses sport to create greater sporting opportunities and access, more inclusivity and integration as well as broader development of capabilities. At Sport Singapore, we work with a vast network of public-private-people sector partners for individuals to live better through sport.

To find out more, visit our websites www.sportsingapore.gov.sg and www.myactivesg.com. Follow us at www.facebook.com/myActiveSG and www.youtube.com/SingaporeSports.

Transport for Wales Appoints PHAR to Advise on the new South Wales Metro

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The new South Wales Metro is an ambitious project linking people and jobs across South East Wales in a fast, efficient and environmentally positive way. Transport for Wales are investing £738m to transform the valley lines to the north of Cardiff, electrifying 172 km of track and upgrading infrastructure to enable improved journey times and more trains every hour. A further investment of over £800m will also ensure that 95% of journeys across Wales and the Borders will be on new trains by 2023.

Transport for Wales, the Welsh government-owned transport authority, has engaged PHAR to undertake a comprehensive review of potential that this offers for creating sponsorship opportunities, to help contribute towards funding future enhancements to the passenger experience.

Including a comprehensive study into transport sponsorships from around the world, PHAR’s report provides Transport for Wales with a thorough, wide-ranging and evidence-based assessment of where the strongest opportunities exist for creating attractive sponsorship opportunities, how packages may best be structured, the brands for which these opportunities may be most relevant and what the opportunities are worth – alongside a roadmap for how the strongest opportunities may now be developed to take to the marketplace.

“PHAR has great experience both in the UK and overseas of assessing and developing sponsorship opportunities for public transport authorities, “ commented David O’Leary, Transport for Wales Commercial and Customer Experience Director. “Their knowledge of this sector, alongside the hard evidence they have pulled together from the marketplace, has given us thorough understanding of where the potential lies for sponsorship with the South Wales Metro project, and the steps we can take to enable that potential to be realised. Truly valuable advice and expertise to help us shape our plans in this extremely important area.”


Retail, Advertising Rights on Thomson-East Coast Line Outsourced

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The rights for retail and advertising on the upcoming Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) have been outsourced, as part of efforts to improve the line's financial sustainability, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said.

This marks the first time non-fare businesses, which are currently run by MRT operators, have been outsourced. The move is expected to bring more than $164 million in concession fees for the LTA over the 16-year concession term.

This will begin when the 43km-long TEL, which SMRT won a $1.7 billion contract in 2017 to operate for nine years, begins revenue service by the end of this year with the opening of the first three stations.

"This will generate significantly more non-fare revenue per rider as compared with today, which will substantially improve the long-term financial sustainability of the TEL," said the LTA on Tuesday.

In February, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan noted that both SMRT and SBS Transit chalked up operating costs significantly higher than their fare income in recent years, as a result of an enhanced operating and maintenance regime.

Singapore University of Social Sciences transport economist Walter Theseira had previously said that outsourcing non-fare businesses could eliminate "potential distractions" for transport operators.

The advertising tender was awarded to Asiaray Connect, which put in a "competitive bid" with more than $140 million in concession fees over the concession term, the LTA noted.

Asiaray Connect is a subsidiary of Chinese firm Asiaray Media Group, which focuses on airport and metro line advertising.

The retail operator tender was awarded to a consortium of three firms - SMRT Experience, JR East Business Development SEA and Alphaplus Investments - with a bid of $24 million in concession fees over the concession term.

SMRT Experience is SMRT's retail and advertising arm, while Alphaplus Investments is an investment firm under FairPrice.

JR East Business Development SEA is a subsidiary of Japanese rail giant East Japan Railway Company.

The consortium's proposal included "well-designed retail spaces with a thoughtfully curated tenant mix", said the LTA, noting that this would maximise the revenue potential of retail spaces on the TEL.

The two were selected out of seven proposals from both local and foreign firms, submitted between January and April.

"Tenderers were evaluated on the quality of their proposal, as well as their ability to grow the local non-fare business and generate more non-fare revenue from TEL advertising and retail spaces."

The authority added that given the promising outcome of this tender, it is now exploring how it can expand the outsourcing framework to other transport assets, so as to increase non-fare revenues further.

"This may include other rail lines, buses, bus interchanges, or road and pedestrian infrastructure," it added.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on August 29, 2019, with the headline 'Retail, advertising rights on TEL outsourced'.

PHAR Partnerships published article here: https://www.pharpartnerships.com/pharnews/2018/05/07/2018-5-6-lta-singapore-appoints-phar

PHAR and ABS-CBN seal deal to power TUBE content

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PHAR and ABS-CBN Corporation, have agreed a strategic partnership where ABS-CBN content will power TUBE, Manila's first in-train TV network, reaching 1.3 million commuters per day.

ABS-CBN will bring their informational and entertainment content such as news, weather reminders, traffic updates and will be available to commuters via 1,000 TUBE screens installed inside LRT and MRT trains. Household programs like TV Patrol, MYX, Cinema One, Showtime, Sports+Action make up the programming mix. 

"It’s a new medium for them to enjoy content and a new medium for us to provide news content. It is another distribution channel for ABS-CBN," shared Mr. Paolo Pineda, Head of ABS-CBN's Creative Program Inc.

“What we do know is that the technology is in place, and the eyeballs are there, we just need to make the content as engaging as possible, and thats why ABS-CBN is the ideal partner” PHAR Managing Director - Asia, Prem Bhatia, said.

(Left to right) Cat Lopez, ABS-CBN Corp Head of Finance Operations, Paolo Pineda, ABS-CBN Corp Head, Prem Bhatia, PHAR Inc Managing Director, Maria Thessa Verano, Phar Inc General Manager (commercial), Christian Alfonso, Phar Inc Financial Controlle…

(Left to right) Cat Lopez, ABS-CBN Corp Head of Finance Operations, Paolo Pineda, ABS-CBN Corp Head, Prem Bhatia, PHAR Inc Managing Director, Maria Thessa Verano, Phar Inc General Manager (commercial), Christian Alfonso, Phar Inc Financial Controller. Aug. 15, 2019.