Where's the Marketing in Horse Racing?

[ReplayRandall]

I want you to think back and see if you remember something like this: In the late 60's and early 70's, Safeway used to have a continuous promotion giving a shopper who purchased at least $10 in groceries, a ticket with a horse's name and number to be televised at noon every Saturday. The amounts on the tickets varied, but if you won the replayed telecast at noon, you won that amount towards free groceries at Safeway. My best memory is of my mother, jumping up and down screaming for the 5 horse and watching it win for $50 free groceries........She had never made a bet in her life, but soon enough, there she was at Cal Expo with a group of lady friends, who were newbies themselves, just having a great afternoon of fun..........Just makes you wonder what happened to creative marketing in the horse racing industry.

[badcompany]

The creative efforts revolve around the siphoning of profits from other industries and funneling them into the pockets of horsemen.

[Overlay]

When I was a kid in Cincinnati, there was a weekly evening show (just before prime time) called "Let's Go to the Races" sponsored by a local grocery chain (Albers)(the same one that gave out S&H green stamps), featuring Jack Drees calling races from Sunshine Park in Florida. Each half-hour show presented five or six pre-recorded races for gradually increasing prize amounts. Every time you shopped at the chain during the week, you got an entry form giving you the number of one horse in each of that week's races. If any of your horses won any of the races, you collected the corresponding cash prize. Of course, the producers tried to select races (especially for the high-dollar events) where there was a blanket photo finish, or where a horse got up to win in the last stride, in order to create maximum suspense and excitement. I don't know if the show made a long-term racing fan out of anyone who didn't already follow the horses, but I'd say that it was definitely reaching a target audience that was not composed of typical horseplayers. I don't recall seeing anything like that since.

[ReplayRandall]

Originally Posted by Overlay

When I was a kid in Cincinnati, there was a weekly evening show (just before prime time) called "Let's Go to the Races" sponsored by a local grocery chain (Albers)(the same one that gave out S&H green stamps), featuring Jack Drees calling races from Sunshine Park in Florida. Each half-hour show presented five or six pre-recorded races for gradually increasing prize amounts. Every time you shopped at the chain during the week, you got an entry form giving you the number of one horse in each of that week's races. If any of your horses won any of the races, you collected the corresponding cash prize. Of course, the producers tried to select races (especially for the high-dollar events) where there was a blanket photo finish, or where a horse got up to win in the last stride, in order to create maximum suspense and excitement. I don't know if the show made a long-term racing fan out of anyone who didn't already follow the horses, but I'd say that it was definitely reaching a target audience that was not composed of typical horseplayers. I don't recall seeing anything like that since.

Overlay, look at the two of us bringing up the memories from 40 years ago. Looks like the marketing plan of horse racing back then was indeed quite effective..........

[Overlay]

Originally Posted by ReplayRandall

Overlay, look at the two of us bringing up the memories from 40 years ago. Looks like the marketing plan of horse racing back then was indeed quite effective..........

I also still remember the regularly televised Race of the Week every Saturday, with Win Elliot and Fred "It Is Now Post Time" Capossela. I think it dropped off the radar about the same time that they also stopped showing the Fight of the Week, sponsored by Gillette, and called by "Don Dunphy, your ringside commentator".

[DJofSD]

Given the fact that most advertising and marketing is data driven, and, in turn, base on things internet, I posit the racing industry's collective disdain of things related to the computer has put them way, way behind.

[ReplayRandall]

Originally Posted by Overlay

I also still remember the regularly televised Race of the Week every Saturday, with Win Elliot and Fred "It Is Now Post Time" Capossela. I think it dropped off the radar about the same time that they also stopped showing the Fight of the Week, sponsored by Gillette, and called by "Don Dunphy, your ringside commentator".

Looks like your Ginkgo Biloba really kicked in this morning, Tim.........

[Overlay]

Originally Posted by ReplayRandall

Looks like your Ginkgo Biloba really kicked in this morning, Tim.........

Just as long as you don't ask me what I had for lunch yesterday.

[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?

[DJofSD]

Rasta-man, you've made some good points.

Part of what I believe the industry should be doing is educating people about horses and racing. I say this in part because horses and racing are no longer a staple of the every-man's experience to any degree.

I believe the industry should include some aspect of the so called green movement -- sustainability, recycling and nature. What is more natural than horses: breeding them, raising them and, yes, improving the breed through racing. At this point, the issues of cheating, drugs and what have you, can be addressed and should be.

OK, I'll stop here. Back at ya.

[Robert Goren]

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?

The goal of Longines was to get rich horse owners to buy Longines watches. It was not to promote the BC. You won't see a Longines ad tied to racing.
The day of the kind of marketing like the "supermarket race game" is long over. The marketing of racing is going to have be paid for in full by racing.

[Tape Reader]

It was hijacked by kids. My friends’ mother worked as one of those clerks giving out tickets. After just a casual look at the numbers we kids could figure out who was going to win: The horse with the fewest tickets. Those tickets never got to the consumer!

Same thing when we were hired to give out movie circulars. The “lucky color” that would be posted at the box office on Saturday got in for free. Same deal: Fewest of that color always won. Us!

Now these kids have all grown up and work for the government. Same deal: They tax the sh*t out of everyone before they can get to the windows to collect.

“We” was not me, of course.

[ReplayRandall]

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?

Quick question Rasta, have you ever practiced law?

[GatetoWire]

Originally Posted by Robert Goren

The goal of Longines was to get rich horse owners to buy Longines watches. It was not to promote the BC. You won't see a Longines ad tied to racing.
The day of the kind of marketing like the "supermarket race game" is long over. The marketing of racing is going to have be paid for in full by racing.

You won't see a Longines ad tied to racing.

Wrong again. Here are 3 ads that they have been running for the last 2 years.

http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7oXw/longines-horse-racing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5TFNwr6Yxg

http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7Kpv/longines-horses

[rastajenk]

No, not in the sense I assume that you mean. I did stay in Holiday Inn Express once.