Motorsports is one of the highest grossing and fastest growing sports in Asia, generating millions of dollars and attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators. Formula 1 has been present in Asia for decades, with several permanent events on the Formula 1 calendar. However, McLaren is the first Formula 1 team to establish a permanent presence in the region.
McLaren Formula 1 is spearheading its entry into Asia with a number of marketing and partnership initiatives to drive growth and awareness. The company plans to develop a slew of localised content and entertainment, from increasing video content to its World’s Fastest Gamer activation, which allows eGaming fans to become a McLaren Formula 1 simulator driver.
“The most obvious challenge is understanding our Asian fans better and creating programmes to communicate with them better,” says Dharpan Randhawa, McLaren Formula 1’s new Senior Vice President for Partnership Development in Asia. “We understand the cultural complexities of each Asian country and our marketing team are doing a great job to create bespoke programmes that resonate. We are also investing heavily into local language content on geo-specific social platforms like Weibo, so we can better engage with our Chinese fans. This will set the precedent for other key markets like Thailand, India and Japan.”
McLaren Formula 1’s marketing efforts have always been heavily focused on partnerships and will continue to be so in Asia. “We don’t really exist to promote our own brand – even though we do, and it’s a very powerful brand, but really all our marketing spend is centred around promoting the partner collaborations and content campaigns we create. We provide our partners a blank canvas and work extremely hard to help them leverage our brand to realise their business objectives – and we are very good at it,” says Dharpan Randhawa.
The arrival of McLaren Formula 1 is a testament to the popularity of motorsports in Asia. The Singapore and Shanghai Formula 1 Grand Prix’s are highlights not only on the sporting calendar but also on the social calendar and attract tens of thousands of spectators from Asia and beyond. In addition, Formula 1 has announced that it is looking for cities in Asia to host street races, and in terms of sheer fan numbers, Asia is Formula 1’s biggest market. A report by IndustryARC, a leading provider of market research, showed that the global motorsport market was worth US$1.5 billion in 2015, with Asia Pacific contributing about 23 percent of the market (only topped by Europe), facilitated by large fan bases in countries like China, Japan and South Korea. Asia Pacific region is estimated to grow fastest at a compound annual growth rate of 10.9 percent followed by Americas during the forecast period of 2016 to 2022.
Speaking from the recently held 2017 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix, Paul Poole, Founder, Managing Director and Chairman of Paul Poole (South East Asia) Co., Ltd. said: “We wholly welcome the news that McLaren Formula 1 is establishing a permanent position in Asia and support their commercial objectives for Thailand and the region. Motorsports continue to have a massive draw in Asia, and the arrival of a high-profile Formula 1 team like McLaren will only help promote the sport further.”
The Sponsorship Experts, Paul Poole (South East Asia) Co., Ltd.
will be advising on all aspects of commercial sponsorship and partnership marketing for McLaren Formula 1 in Thailand. A number of commercial sponsorship and partnership opportunities will be available for brands and businesses wanting to integrate with this high profile team.
Paul Poole (South East Asia) Co., Ltd. is an independent marketing consultancy based in Bangkok, Thailand specialising in commercial sponsorship and partnership marketing, working with both rights holders and brands - acting as a catalyst by bringing them together and maximising the relationship.
We have packaged, sold and managed sponsorship and partnership opportunities for a wide range of rights holders and worked with many of the world’s leading brands to source and engage the right sponsorships and partnerships for them to maximise.
