Cycling – The New Golf

0CBC Cycle Singapore – a fully integrated lifestyle experience

The Singapore Business Review speaks with Zimbabwean sports and experiential marketing guru, Chris Robb about his company - Spectrum Worldwide - and his dream of seeing OCBC Cycle Singapore becoming a week long lifestyle festival. Spectrum Worldwide is a leading event management and experiential marketing company operating in the Asia Pacific. For more than 18 years, Spectrum Worldwide has created and managed tailored experiences that not only bring to life its clients’ brand positioning but also create opportunities to showcase values in a memorable and compelling way. Through long-standing partnerships with blue-chip companies throughout the region, Spectrum Worldwide consistently delivers iconic events in Asia including the annual OCBC Cycle Singapore, JPMorgan Corporate Challenge, and City Chase (Hong Kong and Singapore). In 2009, Spectrum Worldwide delivered all operational aspects of the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, an event that involved over 50,000 participants. Underneath the iconic Singapore Flyer, at the launch of 2011 OCBC Cycle Singapore, SBR’s Simon Hyett steals a few moments for a Q&A with Spectrum Worldwide MD Chris Robb.

Q:Please provide some background on Spectrum Worldwide and its relationship with OCBC Cycle Singapore.

Spectrum Worldwide was founded almost two decades ago and we have been in Singapore for seven of those years. We first came to Singapore due to our involvement in the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge. Spectrum Worldwide was asked to deliverthe Challenge. And since then we have also delivered the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, which involves training 7,000 volunteers. We have also been delivered the Orchard Mile Run.

We handle all operational and logistical elements of these events. In terms of our involvement, we can be either paid management fees for an existing event or we can actually create events from scratch. OCBC Cycle Singapore was my brain child and two years ago it became a reality. For events such as OCBC Cycle Singapore retain the full intellectual property rights as it was our conception.

Q:What made you focus on creating on cycling event?

I recognised that interest in cycling was, and is, growing globally - the mass market was becoming saturated with cycling. I saw this as an opportunity. I saw an end-to-end model, but had to ask myself the question, how do you generate the marketing exposure? Well, cycling covers the whole gambit of the population. And with this event we are including the lifestyle and the music elements as well. Ultimately, we want to develop OCBC Cycle Singapore into a week-long festival, including all genres of cycling, road racing, BMX, kids (tricycle), stunts, etc. We see this vision of a week-long lifestyle festival becoming a reality I perhaps two to three years.

Q:Why are mass sporting events taking off in such a major way in Asia and why do you think OCBC Cycle Singapore has become such a success?

I think that people are looking for something different in their community activities. It’s no secret that the Singapore Sports Council has driven sport to be central to the community in this country. Perhaps this is a manifestation of that changing view of sports and recreational activities. I believe the other factor is that the success of OCBC Cycle Singapore comes partly on the back of global growth. There are a number of reasons for this.

Two major factors include the trend that cycling is starting to be regarded as an environmentally friendly activity. Then there is the Lance Armstrong factor. Love him or hate him, he has attracted enormous attention to the sport. Furthermore, as people get older, they realize that they can’t run marathons anymore, whereas cycling provides a healthy, fitness alternative because it is a low impact sport. And I also think that previous participants have had a good experience and they the event from every aspect, promotions, participants, advertising, etc, to bring its customers to the heart of the event. From a charity perspective: OCBC is targeting 1000 staff to participate and is also assisting unprivileged members of the charity to become involved. In the case of the Singapore National Cancer Council, the opportunity is there for cancer survivors to be involved too. I must add though, we like to look at our development of all our events as involving partnerships and not merely sponsorship deals. We are in the business of linking up all the partners involved and are always looking toward building connections and tie-ups. Furthermore, there is a regional impact through the Singapore Tourism Board – a my industry grows, there is of course a knock-on effect with respect to tourism. We bring in a lot of people and that creates op Spectrum Worldwide was founded almost two decades ago and we have been in Singapore for seven of those years. We first came to Singapore due to our involvement in the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge. Spectrum Worldwide was asked to deliver the Challenge. And since then we have also delivered the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, which involves training 7,000 volunteers. We have also been delivered the Orchard Mile Run. We handle all want to come back and repeat it perhaps spreading the word to their families and friends.

Q:Now that OCBC Cycle Singapore has traction, it is clearly a success but what made the inaugural race so successful?

The first race, why was it a success? We had five thousand participants, a strong marketing campaign, and participants who are cycling enthusiasts always found riding challenging on Singaporean roads and so people wanted to race on closed roads. Also we marketed the event to show that people of any sporting ability, and pretty much any age, can be involved. On the spectators’ side, the lifestyle components were a hit - a night race with music and food options, all combining to make the first race a success. We view all involved as forming two audiences – a cycling audience, and a potential cycling audience. We have placed a lot of effort in the programme design too.

Q:Mass sporting events are so much more than simply about the sports in issue. Can you please provide some comments on that? In particular, please focus on how mass sporting events benefit charity – in this case the Singapore National Cance Council. Please comment on the importance of sponsorship, tie-ups and business partnerships through such events?

Sponsorship is the fastest growing marketing sector globally. The integrated marketing campaign that goes with every sponsorship deal is a booming area of business. Singapore is getting better at understanding the importance of the integrated marketing campaign in terms of sporting sponsorship. Sports events should give a full “sponsor’s’” experience to participants and the community. Supporters of OCBC Cycle Singapore are able to enjoy a full OCBC experience an by this I mean that OCBC is involved in the event from every aspect, promotions, participants, advertising, etc, to bring its customers to the heart of the event.

From a charity perspective: OCBC is targeting 1000 staff to participate and is also assisting unprivileged members of the charity to become involved. In the case of the Singapore National Cancer Council, the opportunity is there for cancer survivors to be involved too. I must add though, we like to look at our development of all our events as involving partnerships and not merely sponsorship deals. We are in the business of linking up all the partners involved and are always looking toward building connections and tie-ups.

Furthermore, there is a regional impact through the Singapore Tourism Board - as my industry grows, there is of course a knock-on effect with respect to tourism. We bring in a lot of people and that creates opportunities for big global corporations that are working at generating business in Singapore to pursue their goals. Then there is the exposure to consider from the television coverage.

Q:If there you had one take home message for our business readers regarding OCBC Cycle Singapore, what would it be? Why should we all be excited about this great event?

The key point is that OCBC Cycle Singapore is an all encompassing lifestyle event social to competitive. It showcases Singapore, highlights some of the best riders in the world, and involvement as participants covers the field from adults to young kids. Cycling is the new golf! Competitors are often high-net worth individuals. Th amount of money spent on cycles and cycling equipment is huge. So involvement from a sponsor’s point of view with OCBC Cycle Singapore presents exposure to a demographic with disposable income. We showed 72% growth from year one to year two.The continued success of this event is piggybacking on the global phenomenon that is cycling and offering the opportunities for strategic partnerships. We like to see all this as creating a network/web of growth.
And we always look at ways of cross pollination! OCBC Cycle Singapore has been cleverly developed and marketed to appeal to all members of the community. There is truly something for everyone the competitive cycling club racer, the recreational cyclist and the novice. On the side, family, friends, children, supporters and members of the general public can all be involved in this healthy, environmentally-friendly and most of all fun, event. Come and get involved, enjoy the closed roads and the scenic route encompassing beautiful stretches of the Island Republic’s waterways. OCBC Cycle Singapore held March 4 to 6, 2011. For more information and registration
visit: www.ocbc.