🏎️ 🏁 RACING REALITIES 🏎️ 🏁

Last week, F1 made its annual stop in Singapore, turning the city-state into a cultural hotspot for seven straight days. Since debuting in 2008, the event has generated approximately $1.5billion in incremental tourism receipts and attracted 550,000 unique visitors. While the race itself is undoubtedly the centerpiece, the event has evolved into so much more than just a motorsport spectacle. Throughout the week, a palpable energy filled Singapore. The streets and metros were teeming with visitors clearly in town for the race while restaurants and bars closed their doors to host private events for business executives from around the world seizing the opportunity to network and build client relationships during Singapore’s busiest week. Malls echoed with the sound of excited fans as they screamed in delight at spotting their favorite drivers in the wild.

We’ve already talked about F1 stepping up their game to appeal to a wider audience base particularly women and younger fans and while they’ve been making strides globally, the event in Singapore particularly highlights just how successful F1 has been in becoming the conduit for cultural moments and economic benefits. How did F1’s pivot towards fueling the fandom transform a once Euro-centric sport into a full-blown cultural extravagance? 

💡OUR TAKE 

For many, it was the 2019 Netflix series Drive to Survive that broke down this esoteric sport into a somewhat more engaging experience. By shifting the focus from race intricacies into giving viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the teams and drivers, new fans were able to latch onto the more human aspects of the sport. Rivalry, on-track drama and the thrill of competition were all familiar emotions for a generation that grew up with reality TV. The character-driven premise invited fans to be personally invested in the lives of the drivers and teams, creating highly engaged micro-communities within the racing fandom. Ultimately, it was the expanding of F1’s fanbase from the sport itself into micro-communities of teams and drivers that drove 49% of attendance in SGP’s best year in 2022.

Since going under new owners, the brand has also eased social media regulations, allowing teams, drivers and fans more freedom to create and share content. Beyond creating a stronger digital presence for themselves and deepening the bond between drivers and fans, this move also acknowledges the art of co-creation over passive consumption that sits at the heart of modern-day fandom.

You can’t talk about F1 in Singapore without exploring its intersection with music, exquisite culinary and world class luxury experiences. Fans play a crucial role in this dynamic merging of passion points. From traveling to Singapore just to watch their favorite artist perform to food hunting expeditions, concert tourism and experiential travel has proven to be a scalable source of inbound travel for Singapore.

For brands looking to activate within this space, the good news is that while the F1 race might happen just once a year, the opportunities around events related to music, luxury and food can be scaled up or down depending on business objectives. Due to its wide fan base, there is space for continuous engagement throughout the year.

Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone was famously quoted saying he “would rather get to the 70-year-old guy who’s got plenty of cash” than expand to a younger audience. But today, it’s clear that it was through the younger audience that the sport has been able to revitalize itself. The shift towards accessibility, authenticity and personalization clearly struck a chord amongst Southeast Asians and beyond. At the rate of how things are going, another year might just be what Singapore needs to break 2022’s attendance record.

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