Sporting Singapore has 600-plus events lined up for 2009

By Laura Reid

F1 Pit Building, Wednesday, March 18, 2009 – With the upcoming Asian Youth Games and the Youth Olympic Games, the teen market is poised to be the next big thing for sports companies looking to drive home their branding messages.

Despite the ongoing weakness in the overall economy, Singapore has an aggressive sports line-up of more than 600 events for 2009, with a broad mix of local, regional and international appeal. Sports leaders presented a compelling case to about 100 chief executive officers from corporate Singapore on the benefits of investing in sports at the 4th Annual CEO Networking Session, hosted by the Singapore Sports Council.

This year's CEO Networking Session looked at the overall state of the economy, the value chain between sports and business, and the importance of new media in reaching the teen market at the Asian Youth Games, which begin June 29th. Teens and young adults—aka as Generation Y, the Millennials or the Youtube Generation—will be an increasingly prominent source of business for corporate marketers. (Of course, at Red Sports, we call you the Red Sports Generation!)

Singapore's 600-plus events calendar is a good indicator of our country's almost recession-proof relationship with sports. "Even in times like this, we are still on the lookout for opportunities, and we will not slow down," advised Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister of Community Development, Youth and Sports. The Minister added: "We'll just do it more carefully."

The government remains committed to developing major new sports infrastructure. Not only did Minister Vivian reaffirm Singapore's commitment to building the Sports Hub, the SSC will soon call for proposals on building the Changi Motorsports Hub. The megaproject is expected to boost growth in Singapore's motorsports, with spin-off benefits for the leisure and tourism industries.

The recent weakness in the economy has not led the government to change its forecasts for long-term growth in the sports industry. It is still predicting 20,000 value-added jobs by 2015. Moreover, Minister Vivian reported that Singapore's sports industry actually hit $1 billion in 2007, ahead of earlier estimates and well on track to achieving the target of $2 billion by 2015.

Given the recent economic downturn, it has been hard to remember that Singapore had a sterling year in sports in 2008. Sports investments and events enjoyed buoyant support on the back of the excitement generated by the Olympic Games, our rising grassroots sports participation and the efforts of the government to woo new sports business to Singapore.

The outlook for 2009 looks equally strong, thanks to the dynamic sports calendar and new corporate investments.

"In today's economic climate, sports and business are, more than ever, in a position to help each other maximise the return on our investments," said Oon Jin Teik, CEO of SSC. Although he didn't provide details, Mr. Oon said several investment announcements would be made in the coming months.

New sports programming in mainstream media will also generate more interest in sports, with the National School Championships series and a new sports magazine series that will be aired on Channel 5, Mr. Oon said.

However, the Asian Youth Games will be the first games to be telecast solely via new media. Kelven Tan, the SSC's Chief of Sports Marketing, described teenagers as the first generation to grow up with the internet, broadband, mobile phones and new technology. They rely on the internet and their phones to stay connected with their families and friends, he said.

As Mr. Tan rattled off the social network sites frequented by Asian youth—Facebook, Twitter, Yammer, Xiaonei (China), MySpace, CyWorld (Korea), Plurk and Mixi (Japan)—he emphasised: "We need to be in their communities, speaking their language."

For Singaporeans aged between 14-17 years old, the Asian Youth Games will be a key opportunity to test themselves against the best in the region in nine sports over nine days, beginning June 29th.

Red Sports will be there, too.

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