Tatarah trumpets premium products up for bid

Singapore - Tatarah, a new local lowest unique bid auction site, has rolled out an outdoor focused branding and marketing campaign costing over $600,000 to promote itself.

Communications will appear on MRT trains, buses, bus-stops, SMRT stations and fringe efforts include DMs, radio ads, road shows and handbills. The site will launch on 26 Oct.

Creatives were conceptualised and designed in-house, with Republic Advertising involved in April this year for media buys. Other than the five buses rolling out today carrying its ads, 200,000 DMs have been delivered to selected recipients, and MRT trains ads will head out tomorrow. Print ads will hit local newspapers as well as magazines soon. Tatarah will be installing people at the heartland malls this weekend and the city next week to give out handbills and flyers.

The platform gives luxury marketers another option to build a buzz around their star products. With over half a million dollars worth in store for its first month, items up for grabs include a Mercedes C 180 Coupe, the Nintendo Wii, the Sony PSP Slim, Aramsa Spa packages and even concert tickets. Although joining the site is free of charge, a processing fee will be charged for each bid based on the value of the bid item and also whether a person bids online or via SMS. The fees range from $1 for smaller ticket items to $36 for the coupe and the minimum bid amount will be set at one cent.

Consumers are able to make as many bids as they like, for whatever amount they please, but only the person with the lowest unique bid will get the item.

Brainchild of Tatarah MD Soh Tzu Wei, the company started last year with Lai Seck Hui as chairman. Lai is the former CEO of Times Publishing Group and he was also ex-deputy secretary of Ministry of Trade and Industry and CEO of Singapore Trade Development Board.