- This topic has 37 replies, 21 voices, and was last updated 15 years, 6 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
The problem Racing has with marketing itself is that it can’t market itself solely on what it is, horses racing against each other. Very few people are going to turn up just to watch the horses racing every half an hour. Therefore it needs to be marketed as a package that includes the prospect of making money, ie gambling. The perception of many that racing and gambling go hand in hand is in fact the reality too, so it needs to be marketed accordingly. Tie that in with the fact that over an afternoon the action is a tiny percentage of the time spent on a racecourse then the options of things to do during the rest of the afternoon need to be highlighted accordingly, the main one being "having a good time". I would guess the majority of people would classify "having a good time" as including alcoholic beverages. So a three pronged attack, excitement of horses running at speed, the chance to make a few bob and have a good time having a few drinks with friends with the emphasis on the last two. Also target specific outlets such as Pubs, clubs, even restaurants maybe offering complete packages at a reasonable rate or encourage Pubs/Restaurants to put on a complete package , ie Go racing and a meal at your local pub/restaurant for £30 say with the course offering half price admission to the pub, maybe encourage the Tote or the on course Ladbrokes etc to throw in a free bet etc. Collaborate with other local sporting/leisure offerings, eg visit leicester races 5 times and get to watch a Leicester City match for free, or vice versa watch leicester 5 times(God help you!) and get access to a race meeting free. Instead of continually trying to compete against more popular activities try and use them to your advantage. Get the individual in through the gate once and hey you might have a convert, you might not but at least you’ve tried. Finally how about each course putting up an initial amount say £1000 and take a £1 from the entrance fee to add to the pot and then give each on course customer a free ticket with a number against the first 6 races, jackpot style. The winning ticket/s win the pot. If not won carry over to the next meeting at the course and so on. You never know it might not be won for months by which time the pot would be a certain amount allowing extra marketing potential to get people through the gates on the back of a free chance to win £££££.
All this might have been tried before, if so please ignore all of the above.
Finally how about each course putting up an initial amount say £1000 and take a £1 from the entrance fee to add to the pot and then give each on course customer a free ticket with a number against the first 6 races, jackpot style. The winning ticket/s win the pot. If not won carry over to the next meeting at the course and so on. You never know it might not be won for months by which time the pot would be a certain amount allowing extra marketing potential to get people through the gates on the back of a free chance to win £££££.
If this was run along the same lines as the super7 then a fair percentage of meetings would end up being abandoned when the pot grew high and looked like being won!
More could be made of the personalities of the horses themselves. Obviously this would involve a large serving of anthropomorphism, but the advantage is that you could project pretty much any ‘personality’ you wanted onto the horses. I certainly think the public warm to animals more easily than they do to people.
If this was run along the same lines as the super7 then a fair percentage of meetings would end up being abandoned when the pot grew high and looked like being won!
And here’s me thinking you were a cynic Glenn ! The courses should want the money to be won and actively promote the fact in the local rags.
My super6 is just like a lucky dip on the lottery. Your free numbers are chosen for you and the likelihood of a guaranteed win are very slim I admit. If all six races were 5 runner affairs there are still 15625 different permutations and I can’t see that many turning up at Leicester and as you only get 1 "lucky dip" per racegoer there is no chance of a big syndicate winning the cash unless of course they have that many friends
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.