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By invitation only: Launch parties at St Regis

The chief butler of St Regis Hotel in Houston looks like he stepped out of a Hollywood movie set, but he's actually in Singapore right now as one of the main 'attractions' at one of Singapore's most exclusive private parties which took place last night - the launch party of City Developments' St Regis Residences. Together with two St Regis butlers from Shanghai, Mr Bell is part of the brand-awareness strategy to show first hand the kind of service that buyers of St Regis apartments can expect once they move in. And the initial conclusion seems to be: wow.

Forget the fireworks, Elvis retro nights or James Bond theme parties. Luxury property launches, which have always aimed at bringing the creme de la creme of society together in fancy champagne-and-chequebook shindigs, just went up another notch with this no-expense-spared bash with a guest list that mere mortals couldn't even hope to come within sniffing distance of.

It's another example of the high stakes involved in marketing high-end properties. The St Regis Residences' showflat, for example, cost close to $6 million to create, and the result is a show-stopping replica of not just one, but two, four-bedroom condo layouts. Extravagantly furnished, guests could see for themselves how the place would look like upon moving in - and just for the party, the bedrooms were maintained by 'chambermaids' who looked like they'd just stepped out of a man's fantasy.

Just 100 couples were invited to the St Regis party last night, where guests nibbled on Kobe beef, Balik Salmon and Alaskan king crab, and washed them down with Billecart Salmon Brut and Rose champagne. The guest list was so exclusive and so tightly controlled that even some bona fide St Regis buyers couldn't score an invitation. Gerry de Silva, spokesman for the Hong Leong group, the parent of CDL, tells of a high net worth individual who decided to buy one of the smaller St Regis units, but was only offered an invitation to view the showflat, but not to the party. 'By that time, all the invitations had gone out, and they couldn't add any more guests,' he explained.

Is this a sign of more luxurious parties for the well-heeled to look forward to as competition in the high-end condo market heats up?

While SC Global was the only one to tell BT that it relies on private sales rather than fancy launch parties - one of its last such parties was for Lincoln Modern almost five years ago - developers generally agree that it's a challenge to keep coming up with novel ways of drumming up interest in their upscale properties.

Keppel Land, for one, deviated from the norm when it got local personality Ponz Goo to host a private party at its showflat for Ritz Residences.

Says Ms Goo, who heads local spa and beauty chain Haach: 'Keppel wanted to do something different to launch its latest showflat, so they invited three different personalities to co-design the flat. The idea was to take into account our individual lifestyles and personalities, and translate it into the design of the showflat.'

Ms Goo is the first of the personalities to work with the designers to bring her own style to the showflat. The idea, says Albert Foo, Keppel Land's deputy general manager for residential marketing, was to get away from the usual cookie-cutter design that showflats can have.

'We decided to take it one step further and show people how one of their peers in the same social circle would do up their home. So it becomes a talking point. The first personality is Ponz Goo. And after which, we will redress it with the second personality - eye specialist Steve Seah - so each time, the show suite will take on a new look.'

In Ms Goo's case, the yoga-lover converted one bedroom into an exercise studio, another into a reading-cum-music room and a third into a guest room. Her personal touches included Georg Jensen accessories, a Bose sound system and of course, Haach skin products.

Once that was done, Ms Goo hosted a private party at the showflat that was themed 'A Night With Ponz' where the 80 to 100 guests that showed up were high net worth individuals who were either her own friends or business associates, as well as members of the young entrepreneurs' association.

As Mr Foo puts it, although the concept of showflat parties has been around for a while, 'what is happening now is that they are becoming more sophisticated'. He likens it to selling luxury goods, 'where purveyors try to personalise the sales approach and keep it exclusive'. He adds: 'This end of the market doesn't like the 'crowd' thing, so a direct and more personalised approach is necessary. It's got to be very exclusive - our parties are strictly by invitation only. That way, those who are invited will feel very privileged, that the event is not just for any man in the street.'

Mr Foo hinted that the exclusive factor would be ramped up a few more notches once Keppel's other luxury developments get off the ground. In fact, it's one of the more creative developers where ideas are concerned. Another innovative property launch Keppel had was last year with its Park Infinia project in the Newton area.

Tjin Lee of events organiser Mercury Communications says: 'Keppel wanted something more lifestyle-based, so we worked with famous local photographers like Wee Khim and Geoff Ang to donate their favourite photos to make up an exhibition with the theme 'In My Home'.'

As the target market for that project was the younger fashion set, some 200 guests from the local fashion and lifestyle industries showed up for the food and glamour, and presumably, with chequebook in their Hermes bags.

Essentially, what all the parties are about is selling a lifestyle that many aspire too. And it's about 'showcasing the project to prospective buyers, not necessarily a way to close deals', says Miguel Ko, Starwood Hotels' president for Asia-Pacific.

St Regis hotels comes under the Starwood umbrella, and one of the key selling factors of the St Regis Residences is that owners will enjoy the signature butler service made famous by the hotel chain which was first established in 1904 in New York.

As for last night's fancy party, Mr Ko adds: 'One of the brand differentiators of St Regis is to create memorable events. St Regis properties are known as the place to meet and celebrate in their respective markets - eg through weddings, high-end corporate meetings, product launches, etc. Having parties to launch residences fits in perfectly with the brand positioning. Thus it is common to have exclusive parties like they do in the US.'

Thus, the task for party organiser Olga Iserlis was to re-create the St Regis experience for the guests. 'The minute you are greeted by the doormen and the butler, it's all part of the life of St Regis,' she says.

Besides target-specific launch parties, developers like Far East Organisation have been known to let their showflats be used as venues for product launch parties. Its showflat at SOHO Central facing the river, for one, was used for a fashion show and all-night party by retailer FJ Benjamin for its Raoul fashion line. Its fancy showflat for ICON at Tanjong Pagar, too, has been used as an exclusive party venue.

It's about cross-marketing, says Mercury's Ms Lee. 'It's a creative way in which SOHO managed to attract potential buyers that they may not have attracted before. You get a new audience by tapping a different database, in this case, that of FJ Benjamin's.

'In this way, FJB is happy because it doesn't have to pay rent for the venue, and Far East gets a new audience from someone else's database.' And it was a huge one, as about 600 people spilled out of the two-level showflat facing Clarke Quay.

Concurs public relations veteran Monica Alsagoff, who runs her own company Communications Dna: 'Property developers use us (event organisers) for exposure through our database.' This is particularly so when a luxury product is being launched, for example. 'They sponsor the venue and it's a win-win situation because they get brand positioning and a chance to showcase to the right demographic. For the brand concerned, you've fulfilled the client's needs in terms of unusual and exclusive venues. It's like being the first to be invited to a club or a restaurant, or, in this case, a new property.'

But at the end of the day, do such parties or co-branding product launches help to clinch deals?

Yes, says Nicholas Mak, Knight Frank's director of consultancy and research. But not necessarily because the guests are bowled over by the sheer excesses of it all.

'At these parties, they usually give discounts to the guests to encourage them to make their bookings,' he says. 'All these parties are to draw them in and create the right atmosphere, but these rich people who are there are also hard-headed business people. At the end of the day, they still look at the price.'