NTRA Marketing Task Force Report

[Indulto]

http://www.ntra.com/creativeservices/content/NTRAOnlineTaskForce_080922.pdf (http://www.ntra.com/creativeservices/content/NTRAOnlineTaskForce_080922.pdf)

There was actually some substantive work here i this 48-page PDF in addition to NTRA’s power trip in suggesting that it be the center around which everything involves.

I enthusiastically support the conclusions in pages 7-9, most of which have already been discussed here.

Pages 10-12 also make sense, but not necessarily using the current definition of “Win and Your’e In.”

I’m not familiar enough with how people use “Facebook” and other on-line comuication vehicles, or what “fantasy” games are all about, so I won’t comment one way or another on those areas. What is obvious , however, is that NTRA wants to be the portal through which all fan communication is channeled. I would think an operation run by fans and not an agent of the industry power structure would be more effective.

The industry could indeed do itself a favor by creating static information packets and daily programs usable by new fans, but diversity of opinion is what drives this game and no single source of information can meet the needs of all.

Is "Bigger" better for the bettor when not betting?

[Cangamble]

Again, they just mentioned track takeout as if it is just a minor hurdle.
It is the greatest hurdle.
In order to market horse racing (and all the gambling that goes with it), you need winning horse players.
That is how online Poker took off. They focused on the guys who slept out of their cars until they started playing Poker successfully.
That is what attracts new players and new fans.

[TEJAS KIDD]

Again, they just mentioned track takeout as if it is just a minor hurdle.

It is the greatest hurdle.
In order to market horse racing (and all the gambling that goes with it), you need winning horse players.
That is how online Poker took off. They focused on the guys who slept out of their cars until they started playing Poker successfully.
That is what attracts new players and new fans.

Couldnt agree more..
Another 48 pages of marketing horseracing as a spectator sport. Hasn't that failed enough. Horseracing is driven by the wagering dollar. Why don't they get it?

[turfnsport]

Yawn,

I guess this Players Panel Report from 2004 is still sitting in the underwear drawer over at the NTRA...this is from four years ago...Another panel, more lip service, nothing gets done.

http://www.ntra.com/content.aspx?type=news&id=11011

[Bruddah]

Yawn,

I guess this Players Panel Report from 2004 is still sitting in the underwear drawer over at the NTRA...this is from four years ago...Another panel, more lip service, nothing gets done.

http://www.ntra.com/content.aspx?type=news&id=11011


It's just more smoke and mirrors and trying to seem busy correcting a major Industry problem. This was more of an expensive retreat (paid vacation) for more of the Industry Buffoons. The whole room couldn't figure how to wipe their @ss with a corn cobb. :D :ThmbDown:

[DeanT]

That was a good task force because of the people involved - Kevin, Jessica et al.

But we do have to remember that this is a different idea and a different market than the takeout argument. What HANA for example does is speak of not getting people into the door, it is what we do with them when they walk (or have walked) through that door.

"New" fans generate about $30 of daily handle (if you look at casual fans on big days and track handles). Maybe they come twice a month. If the NTRA task force gets 1000 new fans with some new ideas (once again, never a bad thing) to walk through the door and do that, it results in what $700k in yearly handle?

Then what do we do with them? If 99% of them lose a fair share will not come back.

I think the NYRA spent something like $25M marketing to these types of fans with the Go Baby Go campaign. It's tough.

Contrast this to HANA's goals, in making the game more winnable, allowing for open access for all ADW and moving the game into the 21st century with both pricing and delivery. We for example have one member that has gone on record saying that he bet $30,000 per year before getting a lower price. After the lower price was given he then bet $1.3M a year. That is a $1,270,000 handle increase by one person. It dwarfs what 1000 new folks spend on racing, while we have to spend mega-bucks to get them into the door.

Australia as we all know have 16% takeouts mandated by government, which is about 25% lower than North Americas takeout. The per capita handle there is quite big. In fact, handle per resident is $430 in Australia. In the USA it is $48. Almost ten times as much.

In Hong Kong, getting new people out was important, but when push came to shove the braintrust there moved to lower prices. Rebates of 10% were given when the HKJC lobbied the government to take their tax off pools. Handle was up precipitously and the bleeding stopped. That one move could result in 100's of billions of handle over the next decade.

I think there is room for both priorities and we should look at both, but placing money into the gambler, rather than spending it on new fans certainly has some merit.

[machine]

Dean, you nailed it. I know my label here is machine, old name but I write at

http://handride.blogspot.com/

I have started posting regularly about the weekend that was (label is NTRA) and have more posts going up today and tomorrow.

I'm commenting here, because so far this thread hasn't been destroyed into calling me a horse killer (like over at the NTRA blog). Thanks for that.

I was the defacto leader of the NTRA group and specifically reasoned with people to cut things out of the report about takeout, adw, horse safety. Why? It's not that I don't care about those things, furthest thing from the truth. We weren't talking to the right people. Marketers can't go back to their tracks and lower takeout, change surfaces, or retire their horses to big farms. So, if the whole report were on those things the report would have been a failure, and then no one would ever want to listen to their fans again.

The report is specific to what can a marketer do, what can the NTRA do w/o lawyers, track owners, accountants. Because of this the report is a success and because it's a success issues like those above will be heard in front of the necessary audiences.

Thanks

[DeanT]

Nice job machine.

One of the weirdest chats you can have is with some in racing who lump both ends of the spectrum into one. There are clearly two types of customers :Those who think takeout is something they get at Pizza Hut and others who live by it.

It was a smart move (imo) for you guys to focus on the ones that you were asked to focus on. That in itself is progress!

With the fractured leadership in the sport it seems it was always someone else's job to do. It is nice to see some sharp fans who live the game try and grab this business by the bootstraps and pull it into the 21st century on much of these ideas.

[DeanT]

I see what you mean about getting called a horse killer. Man that is some wild stuff. Those folks seem to be organized. It is a commercial for moderated commenting.

[machine]

Thanks, i hope you'll continue reading my blog because i need more people who understand the "middle", i think we get pushed out too much rather than being heard from.