A LOT of hard work goes into the launch and marketing of mooncakes every year to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

It is not just how they taste. Good looks for the packaging matter too.

Raffles the Plaza's senior manager in marketing communications Belladonnah Lim says it took her team six months to plan for the hotel's mooncake project.

First is the brainstorming for an attractive packaging. Then the taste tests of the various flavours. There are many operational issues such as logistics, negotiations with third-party vendors such as shopping malls to secure booths for selling the mooncakes, and planning marketing campaigns.

"We have to generate awareness and create lasting impressions and entice customers to buy our mooncakes," she says.

Raffles the Plaza's aggressive marketing strategy is a response to the competition as more hotels have gone into the lucrative business of selling mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Goodwood Park Hotel banks on its signature recipe with durian fillings. Its Golden mooncake comes with D24 durian paste, a first for the hotel this year. It expects the new flavour to be well-received by the fans of its popular D24 durian puffs and durian pastries. The Golden mooncake comes with a crispy crust in a gold-themed packaging, which symbolises luck, harmony and great abundance.

The Tung Lok Group is going for a bigger slice of the market with a new concoction: bean 'yolk' for three varieties of its mooncakes. The bean 'yolk' replaces the traditional egg yolk and it is made from beans.

Why the bean 'yolk'? Mr Andrew Tjioe, executive chairman of Tung Lok Group, says: "One of the reasons is the supply shortage of salted egg yolk. Another reason is, as with every year, Tung Lok introduces new creations for the Mid-Autumn season and there has been an increasing demand for healthy varieties.

Tung Lok hopes that the bean 'yolk' mooncakes can provide the health-conscious with an alternative to enjoying the taste of egg yolk without worrying about high cholesterol levels.

Hilton Singapore has relied on pretty packaging and its signature cheesecake to produce a creative mooncake product. The cheese snow skin mooncakes come in four flavours, including peanut caramel with walnuts and mocha coffee and chocolate. Its general manager, Mr Alain Mahillon, says: "Hilton's cheesecakes are legendary in Singapore and for years, we have been experimenting with different methods to extend this distinctive taste to other food items."

Customers who order at least four mooncakes from the cheese snow skin varieties, the classic baked or snow skin mooncakes will get them packed in a half-moon box with two boxes of premium tea and a personalised greeting card.

Sheraton Towers has, since 2005, been packaging its mooncakes with distinctive designs. This year, they come in a beautifully crafted Imperial Treasure Box with a touch of royalty and class (inset).

To go the extra mile, Marina Mandarin has launched an Art Series mooncake pack with a limited edition of 2,000 boxes. The box is designed exclusively for the hotel by local pop artist Justin Lee.

» Tried and tasted
» Not your grandparents' mooncakes
» The mooncake masquerade
» Mooncakes are even nicer with right drink
» Get a bite of sugarless mooncakes
» Warning: 1,000 calories a mooncake

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