Darren Thang, APAC Marketing Manager, loves F1 and says its only going to get better thanks to embedded finance experiences. Read what he has to say.
The Singapore Grand Prix will continue to be held at the glittering Marina Bay Street Circuit for another seven years, following an extension of the race's contract.
The 2021 F1 season would always be remembered for its exciting finale, which generated a lot of buzz and new fans for the sport, as Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Max Verstappen (Red Bull) approached the final race of the season levelled on points on the F1 drivers’ table.
This meant that whoever finished ahead of the other, would win the world championship. Fast forward to the end of the race, due to the presence of the safety car, it all came down to the final lap with Lewis Hamilton starting it in first position, followed by Max Verstappen in second. As we now know, Max Verstappen lapped Lewis Hamilton and finished the race to be crowned as the new world champion, breaking Lewis Hamilton 4-times winners consecutive streak since 2017. As a motor facing F1 fan, or any sports fan for that matter, we support our favourite teams and soak ourselves in that moment, because of that adrenaline that it brings to us - the experiences that we live for.
As motor racing teams race to provide the optimal fan experiences for their fan base, it is also important to remember that the melting pot of all races, where fans get to live up the full racing experiences, is at the actual racing venues around the world. Prior to the pandemic, the yearly F1 edition is something I look forward to. In fact, here in Singapore, we held the inaugural night race and first street circuit in Asia. The reason why I loved to head down to the racing tracks is because, like any sport, it is extremely different to watch the event from home as compared to soaking it up with your five senses on-the-ground.
While it is true that at the end of the day, we are there to root for our favourite teams and cheering them on to victory, the entirety of the event experience is also very important. Racing events have evolved to be a carnival/festival with racing themed fun, games and food all around, with various new exclusive merchandise that can only be found at race grounds and not to forget, the concerts graced by top music artists all over the world. Holistically, there are not many fan-based events that can beat the experiences one can feel on the ground at race day and it is therefore important that every aspect of the customer journey should be optimised.
Like any form of consumption of services and/or products, making payment is the singular point of commonality and the finance experience of a racing fan starts right at the moment when we have to make payment for the event tickets. Of course, the respective brands of the motor vehicles do take ownership of their respective customer journeys but as described above, the majority of the experiences will come based on customers’ engagement with organisers leading up to race day. Increasingly, fans are expecting richer finance experience and the answer to that is embedded finance.
As an F1 fan myself, it will be absolutely delightful if I am able to seamlessly purchase my F1 event tickets and perhaps even be incentivised for it with a solid loyalty programme. I can imagine that my “stickability” to the sport will be very much enhanced as a richer finance experience will counteract any possible cognitive dissonance I may feel post-event. We also have to be mindful that motor racing events bring about the “coming together” of different brands and merchants and building out an embedded finance solution can provide the perfect platform to integrate all stakeholders seamlessly. At the end of the day, this could spur increased spending by racing fans, fuelled by adrenaline and emotions (positive and/or negative resulting from a win or loss) but more importantly, provide a more wholesome customer experience on racing day.
To get more inspiration on how embedded finance has been implemented in other fan-based businesses, take a race around our website to find out more.