Promoting the game (with a shiny new catchphrase)
 

What we are doing...

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...brand-campaign

What they are doing (they being the HKJC)...

http://www.hkjc.com/english/corporat...050401853.html

Is this really the best we could come up with?

Thoughts?

Ill Have Another....Make it a Milkshake lol. Catchy yeah?

As far as the Breeders Cup goes:

I really can't believe that the BC had the audacity to release this today. Really, "the best is yet to come" focusing on the BC in early November, when we have a horse who is less than 2 weeks away from trying to make history, while trying to break a 34 year old drought.

I can't believe that they couldn't hold off an extra 2 weeks before releasing such a wonderful and creative marketing campaign.......................:rolleyes:

It is so awesome to wonder how much the PR company was paid to come up with that gem.

No disrespect to the songwriter, to Sinatra or anyone else who recorded it but what are they doing? Yeah let's perpetuate the whole out of date / out of time mentality.

Lets go backwards!

Some of us have no one around who is into this and so we are the ones who understand the way the sport is perceived by others.

A crappy little catchphrase and one they phoned in at that and then look at what the HKJC is doing to make it appealing, fun, interesting, a social event.

This is the Breeders Cup for God sake and it's turning into yet another missed opportunity.

The commercial...

http://www.breederscup.com/gallery/b...nita-park-2012

It's fine.

The problem is it shouldn't be FINE. This is Los Angeles. There are literally thousands of film makers, editors, etc. who could have done something so utterly fantastic.....

Ridiculous.

... and as MaTHie there is something else to focus on right now (for a change) that could be so good for the sport but no one seems to take the initiative to allow it to help clean up the post NY Times cesspool.

This

is

un

be

lieve

a

ble. :wf

Personally G, the commercial isn't fine. We don't need any more people from the Sinatra/Tonny Bennett era, the sport needs to develop a newer/younger fanbase. That song probably isn't going to be the hook that lands or even turns the heads of any younger people who happen to see that commercial. I think that they need to go in a drastically different direction music wise.
Also, some shot of a toteboard with ballon payouts might not be a bad thing to include as well.

This was already taken:

Oh I totally agree with all of this and yeah "fine" is not a good thing.

The imagery that the song itself evokes is not the way to go.

The whole thing needs to be scrapped and the powers that be need to be exposed to, acknowledge and understand things that the rest of the world is doing to promote the game in general.

I see:

pretty pictures, old people dressed up like they're going to a social event of some kind, a lot more pretty pictures, a lot more overdressed douchebags, some racing clips, some celebrations clips.


It's basically trying to say 'Come to this beautiful atmosphere and hang out with a bunch of over dressed douchebags. Some of which will be celebrating'


If I didn't know better -- I'd have no idea you could bet on this. It's the kind of commercial I would have expected for a horse race event like they have in the Carolina's where they have some Queen's Cup race or something that no one can bet on.

It's off the charts pretentious. They don't get it.

There is only one marketing campaign- I'll Have Another. He wins the TC and stays in training.

Truth. They should try and capture footage of a Thursday or Friday night at the Canterbury Park grandstand. Loads of 20-somethings causally dressed. People outside, enjoying the weather, casual atmosphere. If you're trying to catch general public interest that's what you need to plant in their heads

The next time the vast majority of people on a message board like racing marketing campaign/ad will be the first. And considering absolutely no one here is in the target audience (already fans, already know whether or not you are going to the BC), does it matter if you like it?

Pat, it's terrible.

Pretty pictures and pictures of well dressed people aren't going to appeal to a target audience of potential useful fans.

It's not the vast majority of people on a message boards fault that the marketing campaign is comically misguided.

:tro:

But at the end of the day, isn't what I said true? That - A - Message boarders complain about almost everything, and any attempt to market the sport that is made...and - B - no one here is a target audience. Those are facts, no?

I had a conversation with a friend's wife the other day, and mentioned I was at the Derby this year, and all she wanted to talk about was how she wanted to go and wear a hat and have a julep, etc, and for the husband to take her sooner rather than later. She saw an episode of that show with Hefner and the bunnies, cause one year not long ago, they went. Who's going for the experience, and who is likely to do the betting? The tracks make plenty of money off the number of juleps/Stellas/hot dogs too. This is the "Real Housewives" approach to marketing the Derby...and it seems to reach some degree of the audience (granted, the non-to-very-light betting kind)

"Terrible" or not, the belief that ANY of these "campaigns" are going to individually increase the number of bettors in the sport seems far-fetched. It takes more than that, and I think everyone realizes that.

It takes a concerted, multi-faceted approach that may or may not be underway. Not saying it is, or that some of this isn't already being done.
It seems relatively unarguable that women in dresses/hats don't inspire someone who hasn't bet races before to come out and do so. Anyone would agree with that assessment.

The greater topic might involve finding a way to glorify watching replays, reading PPs, studying trends, managing spreadsheets, sitting at your computer for hours...or hanging out at your local OTB and plowing it through with the AARPers drinking Sanka, by request. I won't argue that there isn't some glory in smoking out a $10,000 pick four bet that cost you $72, but the steps to get there might make for some challenging television in 30/60 seconds. Should we support it - yes, if it can get done.

It would help if we had bettors to market who had no formal education, and have emerged from button factories to have made hundreds of millions of dollars from betting horses.








As long as the betting public is burdened by draconian takeout rates -- the game has no chance to compete with the NFL, MLB, or even the NBA.

The sooner we stop comparing racing to the NFL, NBA, or MLB, the better.

And compare it with what, Poker maybe?

You think a Poker ad would be that laughable and pretentious?

The people running this sport and the powers that be in horse racing are clueless beyond belief. A lot of them need to find different outlets where they can better put their educations to use that suit them.

The more we continue to market the sport to people who want to wear an expensive hat and walk around with a mint drink one day out of the whole entire year -- the more the sport is going to continue a steady decline.

If you go to the dice table at 4AM on a Thursday here ... the two are full and you usually have to wait to get in. If you go to the simulcasting on Met Mile day when live racing is dark ... you might have 8 people betting.

I bet someone was feeling like a real genius when they matched up the word flown in the song with the flying dismount footage.

i know what works, and have posted it more than once. you take people who haven't been to the track and show them a good time. it works. not cute ads. i haven't had someone go with me yet who went 'ugh, that was awful' or boring...they say they can't wait to go back. and they go back.