Ferrari 60th anniversary: launching a global celebration from the UAE

The challenge

Ferrari’s 60th anniversary called for more than advertising. It called for a participatory, global celebration worthy of the marque’s history and its owner community.

The relay would travel approximately 50 countries across five continents over 148 days, finishing at Ferrari’s home in Maranello. The UAE was selected as the global starting point, which made the launch leg disproportionately important: it had to set the tone, generate momentum and signal the region’s arrival as a serious Ferrari market, all before Ferrari World Abu Dhabi existed.

The approach

I led, managed and delivered the UAE launch of Ferrari’s global 60th anniversary relay. Rather than a single event, it was designed as a ceremonial start with global resonance: a high-profile baton handover involving Piero Ferrari, son of Enzo Ferrari, alongside diplomatic representation and prominent regional Ferrari figures, followed by an owner convoy from Abu Dhabi to Dubai and onward to the Gulf.

At the centre was the relay baton, embossed with 60 symbols from Ferrari’s history, passed from owner to owner to turn the anniversary into a living, travelling narrative. The launch had to work on two levels at once: an intimate moment for the UAE owner community, and the opening scene of a story the world’s media would follow for the next 148 days.

The results

A flawless launch that set a 148-day global celebration in motion and positioned the UAE at the heart of Ferrari’s international owner ecosystem.

By anchoring the start in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the activation connected the region to Ferrari’s Maranello heritage, engaged the UAE owner community as participants rather than spectators, and reinforced the country’s emerging status as a luxury automotive and motorsport destination, years before Ferrari World Abu Dhabi made that status permanent. For the marque, the value was never a single sale. It was loyalty, prestige and the halo of being the place where a global story began.

The market

What looked like a bet in the mid-2000s is now settled fact: the UAE has become one of the world’s leading markets for luxury automotive and motorsport.

The Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix drew record crowds in 2025, more than 200,000 on race day and over 339,000 across the week, and generated an estimated AED 1.25 billion in visitor spending in 2024, with roughly 70 per cent of attendees travelling from abroad. The UAE luxury car market is now worth in the region of USD 9 billion, propelled by the largest inflow of millionaires of any country in the world, some 9,800 forecast to relocate to the UAE in 2025.

The relay that began in Abu Dhabi and Dubai helped signal that arrival years before Ferrari World Abu Dhabi made it permanent. Turning brand heritage and prestige into commercial value is the heart of brand positioning.