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Good thread. After 13 years of following racing to the point of obsession, I have spent the last 5 years very much distant from the sport. I have ‘stepped back’ from it for various reasons, but as I keep an infrequent eye on what’s going on, I’ve been sucked back in by Frankel last season and this season – all credit to him for managing that!
One of the things that drove me insane about racing was it’s poor (and poor being an understatement) marketing strategy to the public. OK short term, there were initiatives that worked to pulling crowds onto the racecourse – after-racing music entertainment, fairgrounds for children, ladies’ days etc. All of which I hated, as a racing purist.
The problem is – and they still don’t seem to get it – is that what is the point of trying to market a sport if you don’t market the sport itself? Where’s the long term strategy?
This year I have seen adverts on the tube, billboards across London etc, advertising various big racing meetings – namely the Cheltenham Festival and the Derby. On one Derby meeting advertisement there was not ONE single photo of a racehorse. No, just the Investec zebra (I can appreciate, as the sponsors, they need their brand up there too) and a group of men and women holding champagne glasses. No one would have known who was running in the Derby. This has not changed in years and nothing seems like it will change.
I have only heard about RFC, the Quipco champions series (badly advertised and marketed, again) and the big horses of the moment by logging onto TRF and the RP website. There is NO information filtering through to the public, I can vouch for it. And I read and monitor a whole swathe of newspapers and websites as part of my job – which has a PR element to it in itself!
It’s just the one thing that always frustrates me about racing. The only actual sport publicity we have had this year is a) Grand National deaths b) the use of the whip. No problem them making it onto the news, into newspapers and into office discussions. I get fed up of trying to defend the sport sometimes.
It’s also telling that the only racing personality my non-racing friends, colleagues, acquaintances etc have heard of is Frankie Dettori. Love him or hate him, he still managed to transcend racing. Some horses manage it, like Red Rum, Shergar and Dessie. But they all came within a decade of each other. But unless we can market the horses – the actual sport – itself, then we’re just leaving it to fate and sadly, ill-fortune, to do the job for us.
Racing cannot market itself successfully to the public by marketting a clash between horses because the public still doesn’t understand the significance because they don’t understand the sport.
They don’t know what a Group 1 is, or a listed race or a handicap, or a seller. Unless they are aware of the structure of the sport nothing is going to mean anything to them because they can’t relate to its significance.
Come on – people don’t know to know the sport in detail to understand –
1. That these are the two best horses in the country
2. That they’re taking each on head on for teh first time
3. That it’s very, very exciting.Keep it simple.
But we’ve got to tell people. Otherwise they’ll never find out.
Mesh , nice to see you post again , a real blast from the past , you are spot on , sadly Corm is being a bit naive, but we forgive that as he is a genuine afficionado who wants racing to thrive
sadly one race in Goodwood is a mere speck in the ocean compared to the task in hand , as it stands over 90 per cent of the population cannot be bothered , so lets just accept that 1 race will not change everything , the end game is a long slow slog , so far the changes and efforts have been pathetic imo
Ricky
I think a big problem for racing is the compartmentalisation (
) of TV sport………..In the olden days your general sports fan would have watched Grandstand and ITV Sport on a saturday afternoon because it was the main sports show of the week. OK, they might tune in for Football Focus or Saint and Greavsie but David Coleman or Dickie Davies would be laying out all the delights in store for the afternoon and would be playing up the big race as part of the afternoon’s sport……….
I don’t think the general public would just ‘catch’ racing nowadays because it’s not contained within a general sports programme. You have to specifically tune in to it
sadly one race in Goodwood is a mere speck in the ocean compared to the task in hand , as it stands over 90 per cent of the population cannot be bothered , so lets just accept that 1 race will not change everything , the end game is a long slow slog , so far the changes and efforts have been pathetic imo
Perhaps I’m being a bit naive, presenting the case in a very simplistic fashion to make my point, but the defeatist attitude in your post is CERTAIN to get us nowhere Ricky.
This could be out Seabiscuit Vs War Admiral. Our Flying Dutchman Vs Voltigeur.
1 race won’t change everything, no one is saying it will. But it could help tip a significant number of new fans our way.
+1 Mesh
and the truly absurd thing about that is that horses are so photogenic. It would be almost impossible to take a picture of Frankel in full flight without it looking visually stunning and inspiring. I’d like to bet that plenty of people who saw a full size picture of Frankel on a billboard would then want to go and see him in the flesh.
Owner & Breeder magazine carries images every month that would captivate the non-racing fan just as much as the hardcore enthusiast but they are all contained in a publication almost no member of the public would ever read.
The biggest TV audience figure ever for the Sussex Stakes watched a classic head to head between Kings Lake and To-Agori-Mou.
They had met in the Irish 2000Gns, a race followed by stewards enquiries and appeals, then in the St James Palace, when Starkey scandalised the crowd by giving the finger to Eddery as they passed the winning post, right in front of the Royal Box.
Goodwood was the decider.
But the size of the TV audience had nothing to do with the clash of the stars, and everything to do with the fact that Charles and Diana got married on Sussex Stakes day 1981, so it was a public holiday, and the BBC switched direct from the wedding action to Goodwood races.
Despite that, I’ve never met a single person who claimed to have got interested in racing as a result of watching that race!
AP
Corm , we agree to differ , which is always good , I am certain that 1 year from now nothing will have changed , betting and racing will be as intertwined as always , however I predict a further increase in the amount of dross racing , it will become the norm as courses refuse to be bullied by the horsemen, bookies will love it, existing bettors will dissipate in large numbers
Our programme has some outstanding races , its impossible to countenance attracting new customers to those and at the same time bombard them with the quantity of low grade dross that we have
That is where we differ , you had better take off those rose tinted glasses Sir
Ricky
I predict a further increase in the amount of dross racing
Ricky, I don’t see how the horse population going forward can sustain the current level of ‘dross’ never mind increasin numbers of such races.
My prediction is for falling field sizes initially followed by the rationalisation of the fixture list by widespread culling of fixtures. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see at least one course fold in the next two years.
Corm , we agree to differ , which is always good , I am certain that 1 year from now nothing will have changed , betting and racing will be as intertwined as always , however I predict a further increase in the amount of dross racing , it will become the norm as courses refuse to be bullied by the horsemen, bookies will love it, existing bettors will dissipate in large numbers
Our programme has some outstanding races , its impossible to countenance attracting new customers to those and at the same time bombard them with the quantity of low grade dross that we have
That is where we differ , you had better take off those rose tinted glasses Sir
Ricky
By-ek Ricky, good job everyone is not as pessimistic as you. Nobody would get out of bed in the morning.
Red Rum and Troy were responsible for getting me interested in racing. XXX the music and face painting, we should be using the assets of racing to attract Joe Public. Trainers and jockeys, but primarily the HORSE.
Of course we won’t see an immediate reversal to racing’s fortunes. And may be marketing the Sussex won’t change things, but does not mean we shouldn’t try. Advertising our great sport in the correct way could help to change people’s opinion over time.
Value Is EverythingRacing cannot market itself successfully to the public by marketting a clash between horses because the public still doesn’t understand the significance because they don’t understand the sport.
They don’t know what a Group 1 is, or a listed race or a handicap, or a seller. Unless they are aware of the structure of the sport nothing is going to mean anything to them because they can’t relate to its significance.
Ian,
It’s true, Joe doesn’t understand "Group 1", but he /she does understand "Top Class". Which is why I did not mention "Group 1" in my "advert" and included the things they do understand and can relate to. "Never heard of before" and "records" broken and a fight for survival and the human story.Clash of the Titans and running styles. Potentially the race of the century.
Last year’s effortless winner Canford Cliffs, a horse who last time defeated French trained World Champion and winner of an
unheard of 13 top class races
, wonder-horse Goldikova. Defending Goodwood Champion jockey Richard Hughes set a
new record
of 9 Glorious Goodwood winners in 2010 including Canford Cliffs. The "Mauler From Marlborough", is a
Royal Ascot winner three years running
and has a change of speed seldom seen on a racecourse.
Yet he goes in against the relentless, Frankel, a front runner who sustains terrific pace from start to finish. Trained by a man beloved in racing circles, who’s
come back from cancer
, the recently knighted Sir Henry Cecil.
Never has a Classic been won so early
. A mile clear before half the race was completed. A horse rated the best in decades, is he the best of all time?
Frankel is frankly marvelous, but can he top the Cliff?
Value Is EverythingMark / Corm …….some things to point out
I am not at all pessimistic , just a realist , what we are looking at is attracting new customers to a one day event per week , on a Saturday only …
RFC is determined to have all the major races and good stuff on this one day , the remaining six days comprising the worst low grade dross that keeps the bookies tills clanging permanently …if anyone is silly enough
HOW long do you think the new customers will stay around for once its apparent what is on offer…
If Racing was all that good , we would not be where we are now : frankly its a load of rubbish intermingled with some good racing occasionally
Wake up chaps , its not a pretty picture , or dream on , thats your choice , just because someone plays the opposite tune , you cannot just slur with the pessimistic brush ….this smacks of the Blair era , when anyone brave or foolish enough to disagree with their folly was described as being part of little Britain …
Ricky
I don’t see being a pessimist as a "slur" at all. I am
optimistic
that marketing of the Sussex can bring new racing fans. You (imo) are very, very
pessimistic
on
this
subject. We disagree, that’s all.
Sorry if my attempt at a little humour is taken the wrong way.
Anyway, the Sussex marketing is not about trying to get bums on seats on just one day. If new blood goes to see / views this race, they might be so enthused to become new racing fans
forever
.
Value Is EverythingIMHO the only way to attract new long term followers to racing (rather than the sort of short-term followers attracted by the pop concert after racing) is to do so through the ‘human interest’ stories that racing generates.
Team sports rely on tribalism for their support but racing doesn’t have that. What it does have is the power of the story – what Terry Pratchett would term "narrativium".
There have been many such stories over the course of racing’s history. The obvious one that sticks in my mind is the story of Bob Champion and Aldiniti.
But there are stories like that every day. Being a part of racing is about dreams, aspirations and emotions which are all born of the fact that there is something fundamentally uplifting about the beauty and elegance and courage displayed by thoroughbreds racing against each other.
RfC have understood that narrativium is a powerful tool but they’ve misunderstood how to use it. You can’t make a story from scratch as they’ve tried to with the Champions Series and Champions Day. There needs to be an initial spark that creates the narrative (be that the horse returning from injury ridden by the jockey recovering from cancer or any one of a number of other situations that spark genuine human interest).
Those are the stories that RfC should be telling and were they to do so they would capture fans for life.
) of TV sport………..
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