see this article – Parade July 2010, page 77 and 79
www.parademag.co.za/2010/201007.pdf
An article written by Darley Flying Start graduate Will Mayer highlighted much of what was discussed at the conference and he is quoted liberally below. One of the most pertinent points to come out of the conference is that it has become increasing evident that our core fan base is stagnant and reaching an advanced level of maturity. If we look at population statistics, a significant portion of the 46 or so million people in South Africa is under the age of 30. So successfully marketing of the sport to this demographic of young people is paramount to the continued vitality of horse racing. This generation is characterised as being technologically savvy, urban, mobile and having a wide variety of tastes. They also have a wide variety of entertainment options including other sporting codes like rugby, cricket and soccer, not to mention movies, theatre, clubs and restaurants. We need to effectively target this generation as they represent the segment of the population that is most willing to try new things and are at an age at which consumers develop brand loyalties for life. But to effectively market to this generation we must identify the different sub categories. The first of these is the 18-30 year-olds, generation Y. This age group comprises of university students and young professionals. Both of these groups provide growth potential for our sport. Students have an abundance of time and are looking for entertainment and young professionals, especially those without families, will likely have disposable income. Also in this group we will have part of a youth demographic that is attracted to the analytical aspect of handicapping. Potential for growth The second sub category is the 7-17 year-olds. Although this market can be easily overlooked, it also contains potential for growth. Studies have shown that children play an increasingly large role in family purchase decisions. Aside from the primary market, children also act as the future market and if we can encourage early participation in the industry then we can secure racing’s future. Although we would not sell them the betting product, one we can capitalise on is merchandising. The only merchandising in racing is the odd nick-knack or racecourse souvenir and baseball caps advertising stallions which are not readily available to the general public. Other sports have benefited tremendously from merchandising and one only has to look at The Sharks, The Bulls and the surfing market to see the benefit here. We need to focus on creating heroes within our sport, both the horses and the people involved, most notably trainers and jockeys and get them off the dedicated racing pages of the newspapers and onto news and feature pages. In this way we can generate interest amongst readers who would generally skip the racing pages. This applies to both sporting and human interest magazines. First prize would be to feature regularly on mainstream television to raise awareness of the sport. Horse racing is a good, sound sporting product and a great television product. It has a long history and tradition and just needs to be packaged properly to make it more alluring to the general public and palatable to televi-sion channel directors. Great races and racing festivals around the world like Royal Ascot, the Melbourne Cup, the Breeders’ Cup and the World Cup are all major international features that attract millions of viewers worldwide. We have made a small start in this country with races such as the L’Omarins Queen’s Plate day but we need much more. The creation of heroes will further the demand for merchandised products and these two elements are very complimentary to each other. We need to understand how to market to this next generation. It can be said that racing is inherently the bedfellow of betting. Some would say that to move away from this base would be turning our backs on our biggest supporters. But a study by Horse Racing Ireland showed that the largest demographic on the course was the socialiser (44%), followed by punters and horse followers (24%) each. Effective marketing What this model suggests is that increases in revenue will not of necessity come from betting but also hospitality. It is therefore imperative that we get people back to the course. If the people come back, the spin-off would surely be an increase in betting turnover and the knock-on would ultimately be an increase in both on-course and off-course betting turnover. So the updating and effective marketing of facilities, which older fans appreciate but younger fans expect, is a must. A major obstacle that we need to address is the inherent learning curve associated with racing. Ours is a sport with a very specific vocabulary and a plethora of statistics and information. Although we often take it for granted, this mountain of information can seem insurmountable to the novice and ultimately proves so daunting that they look elsewhere for their entertainment. A persistent hurdle is public opinion. Racing is charged with everything from corruption to animal cruelty and elitism and it is critical that racing is not seen in this light by the next generation. There is a fine balance between being elitist and totally over the top and it has been written that racing suffers from CAMRI: Condescending, Arrogant, Myopic, Racing Insiders. We need to avoid projecting that image. Racing is an elitist sport by definition but a friendly face and a willing ear can go some way to dispelling this image. An American marketing study showed that if senior management with prominent name tags, and not some bottomof- the-corporate-rung customer service attendant, took the trouble to mingle with the on-course patrons and asked for personal feedback at the exits, future crowd attendance showed significant increases. In other words, patrons felt important and were keen to return. The technological revolution has provided a platform for unlimited potential as far as betting and the like is concerned. But we first have to get people interested in the sport before these innovations can be exploited to their full potential. The effective use of resources such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are essential in putting our message over to the younger demographic. It has been suggested that young people do not have the patience or desire to spend hours analysing information for having an informed bet at the races. However, this seems to be a fallacy if seen in the light of the huge popularity of fantasy leagues in football and rugby. The conundrum here is that we do not have a big enough fan base to build on. Feedback A final improvement is that the racing operators need to pay attention to feedback. They will often be required to seek it out, as the feedback will not come through traditional channels. Some of the best suggestions from the next generation consumer can be found on on-line blogs and websites. These suggestions are often simple things but even if the changes are not implemented, it is imperative that we acknowledge that we are listening and that will go a long way to encouraging the next generation to go racing. Horse racing needs to reflect on where the sport has gone wrong in losing its general public appeal. Unlimited money The symbiosis between humans and horses goes back centuries. But in relatively recent times in this country it was sustained by being the only “gambling” game in town and in this period of almost unlimited money, managements seemed to lose focus on the primary participant - the horse. Author Les Carlyon wrote in the preface to his book True Grit: “Racing is good sport – a great sport if you see a Northerly or Kingston Town. It is seldom good business. Racing is a way of living and a way of thinking. It has its own language and its own humour. It is loaded with danger, physical and financial and comes with a hint of conspiracy. It does not necessary build character but it throws up a lot of characters.” This is what we need to sell to the public.
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these vibrating metal horses running up the track with good tension on the track pulled tight at the other end of mums good dinner table
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