Bringing the fun to the Miami Grand Prix Paddock Club
For the 2023 Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix offering guests a great Paddock Club was one thing, but surprising and delighting attendees was something equally as important.
The Paddock Club is a Formula 1 staple guest product, but Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix promoter South Florida Motorsport (SFM) had ambitions to make it the best in the industry. Part of that was creating incredible suites where guests could watch the race, but when there wasn’t track action guests needed other ways to be entertained and that is where NKrush came in – creating activations and entertainment that everyone could be involved in. We catch up with NKrush Account Director James Fraser to hear more…
Q: What could attendees of the Miami Paddock Club see and do?
JF: “The Miami Paddock Club is a vast space with lots of different areas, so the entertainment was spread thick and wide across three spaces; The Paddock Club Garden – an outdoor area which people arrived at, the Rooftop which featured DJs and F&B to create that famous Miami day club vibe and then the Lounge that sits within the iconic Hard Rock Stadium.
“The Garden featured an array of live and interactive activations focussed on local culture. Music came from one of Miami's iconic venues from downtown Little Havana - Ball and Chain – featuring Grammy award-winning artists playing authentic Cuban tunes. Art was featured with Wynwood’s Museum of Graffiti who personalised more than 3,000 fedoras and Miami based sneaker firm, Soulfly, that created a limited-edition Miami trainer and offered live sneaker cleaning for guests.
“All this was interspersed with Formula 1 opportunities including a big simulator activation with Fanatec where you could drive the Miami International Autodrome, plus a live art exhibition where artists worked together to create graffiti prints of Formula One and celebrated sports cars.
“There were lots of cool F&B pop ups across Paddock Club but one which particularly stood out was in the Lounge. We offered caviar and tequila tastings with Miami Grand Prix partner and Michael Jordan’s tequila brand Cincoro, paired with the finest Petrossian caviar which was a big hit with guests.”
Q: The Hard Rock Stadium is home to the Miami Dolphins, was this a point of interest for integration?
JF: “A lot of Formula One fans are turning up without having any real insight into the American football culture so we had a Dolphins pop-up activation, bringing to life the team and their achievements over the last 30 years, interspersed with some fun activations.”
Q: How did you go about selecting the theme and acts?
JF: “I think the ethos of the Miami Paddock Club is to be in tune with Miami pop culture so the pillars we focused on were fashion, art, food, and the culture of Miami, which has a real Cuban heritage – so we highlighted those different elements across the Paddock Club.”
Q: Were the varying activations well received by guests?
JF: “Very much so! The Miami clientele is always fun and discerning but I don't think in my many years of attending F1 Grands Prix, I have ever seen 60 people doing a conga!
“For Miami we always try to think bigger, bolder and come up with something that people will find memorable. Miami is a different, upscale, special vibe and I think that came through within the entertainment and the interaction of the patrons.”
Q: What was your favourite activation?
JF: “The pop-up we did with Assouline, the publishing company. We turned one of the suites into an Assouline lounge and library that was beautifully decorated and had around 60 of their amazing and most iconic big books available for guests to come in and interact with.
“My labour of love was curating photography across the Miami Paddock Club. It was the vision of SFM to bring all elements of Formula One to life and to really concentrate on the historic values of why we're here, highlighting the amazing achievements of the likes of Juan Manuel Fangio, Senna, James Hunt, and showcase the rich history that Formula One possesses. We also integrated that history with the most spectacular images and moments from Miami’s inaugural race last year, as well as iconic modern Formula One elements. It provided an amazing showcase, educating guests on the characters and rich heritage of the sport through the power of photography.”
Q: Do American races do entertainment differently compared to some of the other races you’ve worked on?
JF: “Definitely! Miami has come in as a destination race and because of the profile of the city, it needs to do everything slightly bigger and better to uphold its revered status.
“You can’t really compare the US races to some of the European races because it's a whole different ballgame in terms of scale, budget and the expectation of the clientele. They expect to be entertained and surprised, so we always need to be more creative”.
Q: Are you already planning for 2024?
JF: “We’ve got our thinking caps on already and planning is well underway. We understand the elements that worked and want to evolve those, but Miami is not somewhere where we rest on our laurels and repeat. We're always conceptualising new initiatives to raise the bar!”
