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With this weeks Scoop 6 jackpot likley to be larger than the jackpot on the National Lottery I think the Tote marketing guys have really missed a chnace to promote themselves to the general public.
With last year’s Gold Cup they seemed on the ball with the double decker bus and the debate at Speakers Corner when they came up with good and fresh ideas to promote the big race they sponsor.
Surely a few adverts in the National Press or on television explaining how eay it is to do (same as the lottery in fact by just marking numbers) they could have used Mrs Haddock to explain how she won it just by choosing names she liked for example.
No doubt the Tote guys will do some extra adverts but only in the Racing Post where they will be preaching to the converted.
They could have explained that it is much more fun cheering on the horse that carries your number than sitting hoping some numbered ball comes out of a drum before others do.
They could have explained how there is also a chance to get the bonus and how many times it has been actually won.
(The Tote were going 50/1 that by this Saturday there would be an extra 4m added to the kitty which stands today at 3m they have limited the amount punters can have on this bet and the odds now are just 5/2 so it seems they dont really know the importance of the bet they actually run.)
I think you are right, Seagull.
What a golden marketing opportunity, especially the idea that anyone can win it, using the example of Mrs Haddock.
I know C4 will be pushing it like mad because it would boost their viewing figures enormously if they can get the public interested in this bet as a regular weekly punt.
The jackpot is the thing that always attracts the cash, but the consolation of the place dividend should also be emphasised. The bet is too complicated to really take off in a big way and can only be placed in a limited number of outlets, so we cannot expect too much.
Seconded without reservation, Seagull. The outlay for a couple of carefully-positioned TV adverts outwith the usual racing broadcasting times (where you’d merely be preaching to the converted) would certainly have counted as the means justifying the ends as far as I’m concerned.
The Scoop6 is worth promoting more vigorously throughout the year in any case, especially in the prevailing economic climate. It won’t matter to a many if a couple of hundred grand on a more usual, mundane week for the competition isn’t as big a prize as this weekend’s – that’s still the sort of sum they’d give their eye teeth for just now.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
The tote’s PR department is the worst in the world. I’ve tried contacting them on numerous occasions and never got the courtesy of a reply. It’s like the Carlsberg complaints office, you have to fish out the personal mobile number of the head PR guy to get any sort of response.
You have to wonder whether their system could cope with £4m in bets. It’s website is the slowest around by some way and has gone missing with smaller rollovers.
Tote betting really is the sleeping giant in this country. Someone, anyone – even No Morals, needs to get hold of it that actually gives a damn about it attracting business. The current managemnet certainly don’t.
The tote’s PR department is the worst in the world. I’ve tried contacting them on numerous occasions and never got the courtesy of a reply
but seeing it from their point of view….
Their PR department got the story splashed across the Times racing page today (I would suggest) but a decent pr job would be to have this flagged up in news features in the Mail, mirror, Sun, etc etc
Yes. it is a missed opportunity and Seagull is spot on. There is a real sluggishness about a lot of racing PR and promotion.
I’ve seen and heard more about Crack Away Jack in the media this week, which says it all imo.
Prime qualification for a role at the Tote is the belief that ‘flair’ is a distress signal.
Having said that, the Scoop6 isn’t an easy sell because of the lack of clarity over which races are included. If you want a non racing journalist to wtite up a bet that involves finding the winner of six races, he’s pretty certain to ask which six they are and the answer ‘don’t know yet’ is likely to end the interview.
Very true, Alan; although like most things I’d hope the problem you raise could be circumvented to an extent, i.e. if there were a telly ad campaign during the course of the week, let the ads include the strapline to check out website X after (for the sake of argument) 10am on Friday for confirmation of the Scoop6 races. All blue-sky thinking, though, I freely admit.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Whatever about the Scoop 6, the marketing of the Jackpot is a complete joke- several times this year I only realised there was a big carryover by stumbling accross it in the Post too late- and it’s far more straightforward and easy to promote in advance!
No doubt they’ll be fantasising about a single ticket ‘scooping’ the entire pot as that will be ultimate redemption for their poor PR – a waste of quality dream time IMO.
All they have to do is rename it the TV6 and maybe allow Shops and Post Offices to have terminals as they wont affect bookmaker trading.
Get some models in skimpy bikinis with a few horses.
Print the 6 races in a special section in the papers round about the sports sections and even have Shops and POs having the 6 dedicated races on a seperate area.
They should put me in charge of the promotion, It would be a doddle and with these tough economic times the odds are far better than winning the lottery
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