The Empire State Building Partners with WhatsApp and Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team to Produce Dynamic Light Show, Fifth Avenue Demo Run, Exclusive Pop-Ups, and More

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 30, 2024--

The Empire State Building (ESB) today unveiled a street-to-Observatory takeover for fans in New York City, in partnership with WhatsApp, that featured an appearance from Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team driver Lewis Hamilton, to celebrate WhatsApp’s rapid growth in the United States, dynamic light show, and a street-side F1 car demonstration down New York City’s iconic Fifth Avenue. The chance for F1 fans to participate continues this week with an exclusive opportunity to see firsthand iconic Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team cars and an immersive emoji experience.

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“We are thrilled to use the Empire State Building’s authentic, international voice and for our Observatory to play host to the highest gathering of Mercedes-AMG F1 fans as we welcome guests to experience up-close viewings of the team’s cars and interactive WhatsApp emoji displays at the world-famous Empire State Building Observatory,” said Jean-Yves Ghazi, president of the Empire State Building Observatory. “It is great to welcome Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff to this WhatsApp partnership, only at the Empire State Building Observatory Experience,” he continued.

ESB in the Grand Prix
On April 29, ESB debuted a dynamic WhatsApp x Mercedes-AMG F1 race in lights that featured the brand-new emoji race car. The new emoji car zipped through lower Manhattan in a competitive race with other emoji cars and highlighted famous New York City neighborhoods and Emoji-Yorkers decorated around WhatsApp message bubbles. The light display looped on the south side façade from 8:30 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. Lewis Hamilton, driver for the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team along with CEO and Team Principal, Toto Wolff visited the Empire State Building earlier that day to tour the world-famous Observatory Experience and flip the ceremonial switch ahead of the dynamic light show.

Race Through NYC
Earlier this morning, seven-time World Champion Hamilton delighted fans by driving down Fifth Avenue between 35 th and 33 rd Street in a 2021 Mercedes-AMG F1 W12 E PERFORMANCE. The Brit piloted the W12 to eight Grand Prix victories as the team secured that year’s World Constructors’ Championship.

“I’ve always felt a special connection with the United States,” said Hamilton. “I remember going to New York as a kid and dreaming about living in the city and I’ve been fortunate to spend a lot of time here since then. I’ve had many incredible experiences and connected with many amazing people in New York, but to drive an F1 car down Fifth Avenue and light up the Empire State Building is incredibly special. It’s something I never thought would be possible and it’s been even better to do it in partnership with WhatsApp, an app that keeps my connection to the US alive by making it easy to stay in touch with so many people stateside.”

Welcome to the Paddock
The Empire State Building’s iconic Fifth Avenue Lobby windows now feature special 2D and 3D emoji-themed designs that depict scenes of a Formula 1 garage loaded with tools, tech, and stickers. The window exhibit will remain on display until May 7.

Visitors to the Empire State Building Observatory can view a life-size emoji car and pit stop on the building’s 80 th floor. The WhatsApp and Mercedes-AMG F1 branded engineering station will feature versions of the technology that goes into Formula 1 car maintenance. Audio will emulate the noises of a fully functioning F1 car crew. The Empire State Building’s 80 th floor will also be adorned with Mercedes-AMG F1 memorabilia which includes three Formula 1 trophies, driver overalls, boots, gloves, and helmet.

Once guests reach the iconic 86 th Floor Observatory, fans can pose inside a WhatsApp chat with ESB’s unmatched New York City views as a backdrop and can view a Mercedes -AMG F1 W14 E PERFORMANCE show car, until May 7.

The Empire State Building Observatory recently underwent a $165 million reimagination that included the addition of a dedicated visitor entrance, an immersive museum with nine galleries, brand-new, bespoke Observatory Host uniforms, and a new 102 nd Floor Observatory with unmatched view. The reimagined Observatory Experience was recently voted the number one attraction in the U.S. by Tripadvisor travelers for two consecutive years.

Text CONNECT to 274-16 to receive real-time information about the Empire State Building’s tower lights.

Hi-res imagery and video can be found here. More information about the Empire State Building can be found online.

About the Empire State Building
The Empire State Building, the “World's Most Famous Building," owned by Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (ESRT: NYSE), soars 1,454 feet above Midtown Manhattan from base to antenna. The $165 million reimagination of the Empire State Building Observatory Experience creates an all-new experience with a dedicated guest entrance, an interactive museum with nine galleries, and a redesigned 102 nd Floor Observatory with floor-to-ceiling windows. The journey to the world-famous 86 th Floor Observatory, the only 360-degree, open-air observatory with views of New York and beyond, orients visitors for their entire New York City experience and covers everything from the building's iconic history to its current place in pop culture. The Empire State Building Observatory Experience welcomes millions of visitors each year and was declared "America's Favorite Building" by the American Institute of Architects, the world's most popular travel destination by Uber, the #1 attraction in the US for the second year in a row in Tripadvisor’s 2023 Travelers’ Choice Awards: Best of the Best, and the #1 New York City attraction in Lonely Planet’s Ultimate Travel List.

Since 2011, the building has been fully powered by renewable wind electricity, and its many floors house a diverse array of office tenants such as LinkedIn and Shutterstock, as well as retail options like STATE Grill and Bar, Tacombi, and Starbucks. For more information and Observatory Experience tickets visit esbnyc.com or follow the building's Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Weibo, YouTube, or TikTok.

Source: Empire State Realty Trust
Category: Observatory

Festivities included appearances by Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff to the world-famous Empire State Building Observatory and a never-before-seen F1 car demonstration down Fifth Avenue (Photo: Business Wire)

Festivities included appearances by Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff to the world-famous Empire State Building Observatory and a never-before-seen F1 car demonstration down Fifth Avenue (Photo: Business Wire)

Festivities included appearances by Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff to the world-famous Empire State Building Observatory and a never-before-seen F1 car demonstration down Fifth Avenue (Photo: Business Wire)

PHOENIX (AP) — From heartbreak and devastation to outrage, Emily Pike's tragic death is stirring heavy emotions and putting the spotlight to a crisis that has long plagued Native American communities, where a disproportionate number of people have been killed or have gone missing.

In the case of the San Carlos Apache teenager, she disappeared from her group home on the edge of a Phoenix suburb in late January.

Authorities posted her picture on social media, saying she was missing and had possibly run away. Just a couple inches shy of 5 feet tall, she was wearing a pink and gray shirt.

It was nearly a month later that sheriff's deputies in a neighboring county reported finding and identifying Pike's remains. It was more than 80 miles (129 kilometers) from where she was last seen.

Since then, news of her brutal death has reverberated through Indian Country and beyond. A crowd gathered Thursday at an intersection in Mesa, near her group home, to honor her life and to press for changes that might help curb the violence.

Dozens of people of all ages viewed the vigil's program on a large inflatable projector. Clad in red, they embraced, shielded candle flames on the windy night and held posters that read “No more stolen sisters” and “Justice for Emily Pike.”

“These tears that are shed are a part of a healing process,” said Mary Kim Titla, a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe. Titla was wearing pink — Pike's favorite color. She said Pike had dreamed of becoming a veterinarian.

Advocates say the crisis stems from colonization and forced removal, which marginalized Indigenous people by erasing their culture and identity. Limited funding, understaffed police departments and a jurisdictional checkerboard that prevents authorities from working together have only exacerbated the issue.

Pike's case has drawn the attention of hundreds of thousands of people through social media. Some have shared photos of themselves, their mouths covered with a red handprint that has become emblematic of the movement to end the violence. Posts included the hashtags #NoMoreStolenSisters, #SayHerName and #JusticeforEmily.

In Wisconsin, organizers planned for their own candlelight vigil. Fliers in Colorado encouraged people to wear red, and Daisy Bluestar, a Southern Ute tribal member on Colorado's Missing & Murdered Indigenous Relatives Task Force, posted a video about Pike with the hashtag #ColoradoStandsWithYou.

The girl's basketball team at Miami High School in Arizona wore jerseys with “MMIW” and a red handprint on the back.

“We’re all mourning this terrible loss of a precious young girl. Emily really has become everyone’s daughter, granddaughter and niece,” Titla said.

Titla herself has three female relatives who went missing and were killed. She said the community has come together to honor Pike and to demand justice. This shared solidarity comes from a desire for healing from historical and generational trauma, she said.

“It affects so many people," Titla said, “and I think the reason is because we all know someone — it could be a relative, it could be a friend, it could be in our own tribal community.”

Pike's remains were found northeast of Globe, Arizona, the Gila County Sheriffs Office said.

Like many others, her case involves multiple agencies. Gila County is working with Mesa police, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Mesa police typically don't investigate runaway reports, but the agency did list Pike as missing on its Facebook page two days after the group home reported she was gone.

Arizona's Department of Child Safety requires notification of a child's missing status to occur within a day of receiving the information. However, that requirement doesn't extend to tribal social services, according to Anika Robinson, president of the nonprofit foster care advocacy group ASA Now. Pike was in the custody of San Carlos Apache Tribe Social Services, which could not be reached for comment, at the time she went missing from the group home in Mesa.

Mesa police reported Pike as missing to the National Crime Information Center the evening of Jan. 27. Police have said it would have been up to the group home to contact her case manager who then would have contacted Pike's family or tribe.

The girl's mother, Steff Dosela, has said in interviews that she didn't hear about her daughter’s disappearance until a week later.

Robinson questioned why it took so long. “Imagine what probably had already transpired by that week,” she said.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs in 2023 created a task force to identify policies for addressing the high rates of disappearances and killings among the Native American population. A final report is due in 2026.

Washington, New Mexico, Michigan, Wisconsin and Wyoming also have created task forces dedicated to the crisis.

President Donald Trump during his first term created the nation's first task force to begin looking at the problem, dubbing it Operation Lady Liberty. The Biden administration followed with a special unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. attorneys' offices in key areas began taking a closer look at unsolved cases, and top officials held listening sessions across the nation. Just last month, the federal government launched an initiative to help solve missing and unidentified person cases.

Tiffany Jiron, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, said more comprehensive law enforcement training that address jurisdictional challenges, increased funding for tribal programs that provide shelter, mental health resources and legal aid to impacted families and survivors and strengthened alert systems are among the policy solutions that advocates should continue to fight for to address the systemic crisis.

“As an Indigenous people, we are not invisible,” she said. “We deserve just as much attention from law enforcement. Our cases are involving real people, real families, real children.”

People attend a vigil for slain Native American teen Emily Pike in Mesa, Ariz., Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Samantha Chow)

A sign lies on the ground at a vigil for slain Native American teen Emily Pike in Mesa, Ariz., Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Samantha Chow)

People attend a vigil for slain Native American teen Emily Pike in Mesa, Ariz., Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Samantha Chow)

A tribute to slain Native American teen Emily Pike adorns a fence near a vigil in her honor in Mesa, Ariz., Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Samantha Chow)

People attend a vigil for slain Native American teen Emily Pike in Mesa, Ariz., Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Samantha Chow)