Where's the Marketing in Horse Racing?

[onefast99]

Originally Posted by thespaah

WCBS News Radio 880( NYC) at each quarter hour during the race days and evenings would give race results as well as stretch calls from NYRA and Yonkers/Roosevelt( which ever was open).
There were commercials on TV for all of the NY Metro area tracks.
In Upstate NY, The Albany Times Union would publish full charts with the photo finish images for every race at Saratoga.
Plus, the local TV Stations in Albany would have reporters on site every race day.
The TU had two or three reporters covering the day's races, doing stories on racing personalities, horses and races.
On Travers Day, media from all over the Northeast and New England were in attendance.

Wins 1010 did it for quite sometime they even had the harness and thoroughbreds update from the Meadowlands.

[Robert Fischer]

Originally Posted by ReplayRandall

Where's the Marketing in Horse Racing?

Horse race marketing is somewhat like horse race investing(betting).

If you are able to turn a profit in this system, then what the hell are you doing in this system?

I say that half in jest, as this is a great sport and a great game, and there are some great people involved.

[jballscalls]

one thing to remember with marketing, just because YOU don't see it, doesn't mean others aren't.

You guys talking about marketing from yesteryear IMO aren't adding anything to the conversation because racing was in a different place societally and marketing was massively different. There was the newspaper and the basic tv channels and mailers/giveaways. There's 50 million ways to advertise now.

i hear people suggest marketing ideas all the time and I'm sure some of them would work. but you can't do everything. you have to pick what is most effective within your marketing budget.

[Bullet Plane]

Marketing isn't getting to the target audience.

There may be some out there. But, I haven't seen any...

There is a target audience for horse racing, there always has been...

hint: they have never been young... never, ever.

At least since I've been watching it... for over twenty years...

(and I'm a kid in the horse racing fan realm... and an old man in most others)

[whodoyoulike]

Maybe they should be targeting the boomer demographics. Isn't the boomer generation the largest in comparison to the others? And, most of use the old math in problem solving. Some, I've heard can do it their heads.

[Grits]

Originally Posted by rastajenk

The narrative concerning racing has been totally won by those who believe it's animal cruelty, a cesspool of drugs and cheating, cheered on by degenerate losers, run by a blind, greedy, corrupted and soulless class of individuals, whose most successful participants are the targets of scorn ...and that's from some of its most passionate supporters (see: Paulick Report, DRF commenters, PaceAdvantage threads, etc.) The well of integrity has been permanently poisoned. Even if every ethical chasm eventually gets bridged, there will be new challenges raised about the need to use these beautiful sentient beings in this way. What non-racing entity wants to associate itself with that? I'm somewhat amazed that even the Breeders Cup races get sponsorship deals to have CEOs or their publicity lackeys participate in post-race trophy presentations.

Even the casino corporations that have bought up tracks refuse to make the connection. Once the linkage was established in the halls of government in order to win approval for expanded gaming, that buck stopped there. One thing I heard consistently from horsemen this summer at Belterra (nee: River Downs) was the lack of advertising for the racing going on there. A two- or three-second snippet of racing action in a 30-second promotion was about the extent of it. Same thing with the other new racinos here owned by different corporations.

Face it, race fans, you're a living link to a past that will never return. Do you really think that if the feds took control and standardized regulation; that if we could somehow go back to water, hay, and oats (when was that time, anyway?); that if breeders began producing sturdier animals, that people would flock back to the track and dump their entertainment resources into the pools? I don't. So, where is the upside for a non-racing entity to associate itself with this sport? Is the goal to get Longines wearers to become race fans, or to get race fans to purchase Longines watches?

Originally posted by Just Ralph
Every time I hear this I laugh. This is not going to happen. The younger fans have way too many choices. No way they come over to the dark side. They first of all don't have the basic skills to analyze a racing form. It's over. These kids today don't do math in their heads. It's simple. They can't do the math. You think you can interest a kid today in a game that uses fifths of a second as one of the most notable things an announcer says during a race? Even if you changed the way we time and explain the timing, the only timing that would matter to them is "why the hell am I waiting 20 minutes between races?" Bottom line, there are no "new fans" to drive to the game.

Do you see any young people sitting around doing the NY Times crossword puzzle anymore? Find me a great crossword guy and I will find you a good handicapper. We are the last of the breed ladies and gents. Get used to it.
I was standing outside Lone Star park a few weeks back waiting for the doors to open. They were having a tournament that day. I was fifteen minutes early. In the fifteen minutes I was there, the tournament guys starting showing up. In fifteen minutes the crowd grew to about 35 guys. I was the youngest guy. I'm closing in on 55. The average age I am going to guess was 62-63. We are playing a game that is done. The Dinosaurs eventually have to die off.

There's so much written at this website that makes one pause. Nothing more recent, nothing more honest and well stated than these two posts. The industry swells could learn much here.

Having read both of these threads in their entirety now, while writing this morning about the price of coffee--I had not fully read all comments. I believe, with little doubt, that discussion of food/drink prices at racetracks is pretty insignificant.

I try not to be negative, to wear the problems of this game like a shroud, but these posts can't be ignored. For so many reasons, the game will continue in decline...we now live in a totally different time and age with a population's mindset to match. No amount of marketing will change time or reclaim it. Nor will social media prove an enhancement for a disinterested population. One can wonder, if even contraction will be able to rejuvenate it, leaving only the best meets, the leading racetracks. For years, thinking it was the answer, I'm not sure anymore. This grows more apparent, more disappointing for those who love it, those who wager on it, and for those who work, making their living in it. ... Maybe, if only a handful with the ability to make change had listened? We might be in a different place today.

[Tom]

Buggy whips went on sale at one time.
Didn't help.

When something is over, it's over. No one will ever do what is needed to revitalize racing in America. The only models that will work are not acceptable to the elites who think they are all that matter.

Racing here never figured out who the customers were.

[EMD4ME]

Great thread started by Replay Randall 2 years ago.

PA Nation, you are in 50 states or maybe 31 states or at least a majority of states.


What marketing have you seen in your state for horse racing?

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by EMD4ME

Great thread started by Replay Randall 2 years ago.

PA Nation, you are in 50 states or maybe 31 states or at least a majority of states.


What marketing have you seen in your state for horse racing?

Soon after the U.S. Government crackdown on online poker...a horseracing ad found itself on the back cover of Cardplayer magazine. Over the trademark photo of the driving horse with its neck reaching out for the wire, the heading read:

"Remember...OUR game is legal."

[EMD4ME]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Soon after the U.S. Government crackdown on online poker...a horseracing ad found itself on the back cover of Cardplayer magazine. Over the trademark photo of the driving horse with its neck reaching out for the wire, the heading read:

"Remember...OUR game is legal."

Thank you Thaskalos. Do you remember who paid for that article?

Have to give them credit, that was a start. (The legality). Did they market anything else?

[Lemon Drop Husker]

Originally Posted by EMD4ME

Great thread started by Replay Randall 2 years ago.

PA Nation, you are in 50 states or maybe 31 states or at least a majority of states.


What marketing have you seen in your state for horse racing?

OK EMD4ME. I'll give you a good chuckle for your day.

A week ago Thursday in Lincoln, NE our lone simulcast venue, held a 2 race event so that we can keep our simulcast venue alive.

Those 2 races were 1F races with 3 horses each. (Hey, the Double at least paid $9.60 for a 3/5 over an 8/5.)

[EMD4ME]

Originally Posted by Lemon Drop Husker

OK EMD4ME. I'll give you a good chuckle for your day.

A week ago Thursday in Lincoln, NE our lone simulcast venue, held a 2 race event so that we can keep our simulcast venue alive.

Those 2 races were 1F races with 3 horses each. (Hey, the Double at least paid $9.60 for a 3/5 over an 8/5.)

Oh My Lord.....

That annoys me. I don't care if it's Nebraska or New York. It burns me to hear the game not being marketed correctly....

I will laugh at the situation though....at least you beat the parlay odds

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by EMD4ME

Thank you Thaskalos. Do you remember who paid for that article?

Have to give them credit, that was a start. (The legality). Did they market anything else?

No...they didn't market anything else. My guess is that they would have marketed some of the game's "big winners"...but they probably had problems locating them.

[MonmouthParkJoe]

I have thought about this for some time. Over the last 15 years marketing has changed significantly.

Years ago the Hambletonian and Haskell were run on the same weekend. The star ledger would run a section that described both events in depth, with analysis as well as pictures of each track. Back then there were several dedicated racing writers in each paper. The reason I bring up the paper is because many people who purchased it wouldnt necessarily buy it for the racing coverage, but would be exposed to the events simply by having it. There was always that chance that someone would see it and perhaps go to the events. Over the years circulation has dwindled and the people that covered racing disappeared.

Two things in my opinion have changed. Most people, specifically the younger demographic, get their news through social media. The thing with social media is that you have to have interest in something already to know the promotion is taking place. So for instance facebook, you would have to "like" or "follow" a tracks page, same thing with twitter, in order to see what is going on. The takeaway from this is that the promotions are reaching people that already have an interest and is an established fan base. Yes, it is effective in getting these customers to come back to the track, but it isnt reaching "new" customers in the same way that news papers may have. Air time has become increasingly expensive so very few tracks can have their show tv.

The other thing is the alarming number of racinos and the decline of the profitability of tracks in general. We already know that some places are willing to have horse racing run at a loss just to have the profitable casino, so where do you think they will spend their marketing dollars?

With the exception of the salary of the person dedicated to social media as the lone cost, most social media is free. Why do you think it is free? It certainly helps and I do think some tracks do a fantastic job with it , but in reality it isnt reaching new potential customers and you can bet most racinos will be marketing towards the casino.

[EMD4ME]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

No...they didn't market anything else. My guess is that they would have marketed some of the game's "big winners"...but they probably had problems locating them.

But, they could've went to:


Chicago, NY (many), Florida and wherever coach lives !!!