Crazy Horse to Close
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Right from the start, I don't have a good feeling about Crazy Horse opening its door in Singapore. And man, Crazy Horse Paris is closing its door faster than I expected. In a short 13 months, the cabaret show will be drawing its curtain permanently (will they set foot on Singapore again?) in Clarke Quay. According to press release, Eng Wah Organization, the company that brought in the provocative entertainment, admitted that it was a strategic wrong move; they should have waited at least till the opening of the integrated resorts (IR).
Perhaps, it doesn't take a marketing genius to see that the Singapore market is just not ready for Crazy Horse. Would you pay a minimum of SGD85.00 to watch the arty nude show? I know I wouldn't. $85.00 is a lot of money. The pricing is right for the performance standard but it just doesn't fit the income margin of most Singaporeans. Ya, I know the performance is world-class, but I wouldn't watch something I don't understand. Now this leads me to the second point, do most Singaporeans appreciate the performance? Well, I think not; so the market is niche. Would one watch the show again and again? Did I hear "no"? Yup, no renewable income.
Initially, Eng Wah was saying that the local market would be supplemented by the tourist market. I just don't think it make sense. Is Crazy Horse a Singapore thing? Or well, it might be the first in Asia but would I want to pay at least SGD85.00 and spend one of my holiday nights watching a cabaret show? From my observation, tour groups spend a short 3-4 days in Singapore and backpackers wouldn't have the budget/interest to watch the show. I wouldn't even think tour groups will organize trips to the show since the profit margin for them wouldn't be high. Compared to the Thai-girl shows, Crazy Horse is way too arty for most lay people. It's no wonder Crazy Horse was doomed from the start.
Let us look at reverse-bungee jump, a hype that is slowly loosing steam and I expect it to close eventually too. Way-overpriced: is it something like $35 for 3 min? Crazy, the rate is higher than $85.00 for the 1h+ Crazy Horse show.
posted byWilliam at 10:05 PM