Paddock magazine December 2014 / January 2015 Issue 70 | Page 12

STARTING GRID

Ensuring financial health
By Kawthar Bin Sulayem | KBS Communications is a UAE-based
marketing and communications firm which specialises in projecting UAE national values onto a global audience. Managed by one of
the most experienced and respected local operators Kawthar Bin
Sulayem, the company guarantees strong market penetration for
any brand. Their key goal is to strengthen relationships between
corporations and their clients in the Arab world. The CEO, Kawthar
Bin Sulayem, opens up about her work.
Growth
Without a doubt, every year our relationship with Formula 1 teams and
their sponsors continues to develop and improve as they realise the potential this region offers in terms of exposure, sponsorship and stakeholder engagement. Everyone is now keen in doing more activities to benefit
their positioning in this region, we’ve also seen great improvements in their
methods of engaging local media — this really helps develop the sport.
As a PR and marketing agency, we measure the overall impact of our
work with Formula 1 by the amount of exposure and engagement we can
secure for our clients, either by making people interested in the sport or its
associated businesses and stakeholders. For sure, we’ve seen a significant
growth in this area as well.

Kawthar Bin Sulayem, CEO of KBS Communications

“I would definitely say that Formula 1
teams themselves could be a bit more
open and supportive to new projects
and opportunities in the region.”

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The field
While motorsport has always been in the UAE, the culture and understanding of high-end single-seater racing is somewhat new. We’re starting
to see signs that prestigious motorsport series are starting to become more
common than not. The UAE and GCC community need a lot of attention and
work from organisers, hosts, media, Formula 1 teams and sponsors for a
“trickle down” effect to take affect. For example, the UAE hosts many international sporting events, but ideally we would like to see more involvement
with th e local community than coverage of just the event itself.
The financial health of some of the Formula 1 teams obviously casts a
bit of a dark shadow over the 2014 season, but we’re very optimistic for the
overall long-term perspectives of the sport and the opportunities it presents in the region.
I would definitely say that Formula 1 teams themselves could be a bit
more open and supportive to new projects and opportunities in the region,
which will help them be represented better in this part of the world. Each
year, we see some teams that just come and go without doing much brand
positioning or engagement.

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