What Will They Come Up With? (BHA Consultants report)

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Marketing plan for racing set to be made public


By Paul Eacott5.37PM 10 MAY 2009
RACING'S latest marketing initiative will be made public on Monday when the recommendations of the marketing consultancy charged with changing the public's perception of thesport become known.
London-based Harrison Fraser have spent six month's working on the project, which was commissioned at a six-figure cost, having been appointed to define a brand for horseracing in Britain.
Racing Enterprises Limited chose Harrison Fraser over three other consultancies in order to undertake a strategic review of horseracing, aiming to broaden its appeal and "create a more lucid and dynamic message."
REL and Harrison Fraser have already made presentations to the Racehorse Owners' Association and Racecourse Association and on Monday at BHA headquarters on Shaftesbury Avenue will give their findings to the racing media, who have often been scepticalof such initiatives in the past.
David Fraser, partner at Harrison Fraser, said: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reposition and redefine an entire sport - one with an extraordinary tradition and a provenance that others would die for."
Much speculation has been made as to what Harrison Fraser will present, but at the time they won the contract there was a suggestion recommendations could be made to implement the look and feel of the British 'horseracing brand', which could be achieved through a name, logos, and signage, as well as the on-course and in betting shop experience.
Jonathan Goodridge, client director at Harrison Fraser, who was in charge of the project, said: "There are 50 million people in the UK who don't register the sport, so we need to break down some barriers.
"If you Google British horseracing at the moment you come up with something different every time.
"We want to create a British horseracing brand people can unite behind."
 
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Only something good can come about when you pay a six-figure sum to consultants and ask them to come up with a more lucid and dynamic message. Everyone knows this.
 
oh no..don't mention the consultant culture

one of the cons of the age - a license to print money.

its time people in management learned how to manage instead of throwing money at folk that are even more clueless than themselves
 
I think they should take 1 day out and ask every racing forum on the internet in the UK to come together in a meeting based somewhere accesable for all with free tickets to an event so the journeys worthwhile and ask us what opinions, ideas we have etc, i think we got a pretty diverse bunch here woulkd be great
 
I'd do it for £25 and all food expenses paid! Really, this obsession with 'branding' everything has reached new inanities. It's not a bloody washing powder - it's different things to different people, depending on what they want to do with racing: bet on it, pose and show off, get free hospitality jaunts, own a horse, go for a jolly once in a while, and so on. There are thousands of people who don't need it to be 'branded' for them - they'd like easy to reach, clean lavatories; reasonably-priced food and a fair variety of bars and eateries to suit all pockets; they'd like to get in quickly without having to queue; they'd like to pay a very fair entrance price and not feel ripped off; they'd like to park their car easily, not miles from the course; they'd like somewhere to dump the kids for a couple of hours, if necessary, and they'd like enough places to be able to sit comfortably without having to buy a bottle of mediocre plonk for £500 a go. Brand that!
 
krizon said:
I'd do it for £25 and all food expenses paid! Really, this obsession with 'branding' everything has reached new inanities. It's not a bloody washing powder - it's different things to different people, depending on what they want to do with racing: bet on it, pose and show off, get free hospitality jaunts, own a horse, go for a jolly once in a while, and so on. There are thousands of people who don't need it to be 'branded' for them - they'd like easy to reach, clean lavatories; reasonably-priced food and a fair variety of bars and eateries to suit all pockets; they'd like to get in quickly without having to queue; they'd like to pay a very fair entrance price and not feel ripped off; they'd like to park their car easily, not miles from the course; they'd like somewhere to dump the kids for a couple of hours, if necessary, and they'd like enough places to be able to sit comfortably without having to buy a bottle of mediocre plonk for £500 a go. Brand that!
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Spot on assesment there :)
 
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The solution is simple - Drop entry prices and encourage kids to go.

Towcester have done exactly that and relatively speaking must be by the far the best attended racecourse in the UK. People need to go racing if they are ever to "buy into" the horse racing brand.
 
You think? Carrying far too much condition, gone in the wind, tendency to unsoundness, aged, past breeding, resents being dominated, and dogs it if over-pressed. TimeForm squiggle and 01000-RRPU on recent form...
 
I expect it'll be in tomorrow's RP, Gareth. Let's see how lucid and dynamic it looks to us. Mind you, with the upcoming advent of summer evening meetings, lucidity won't be one of racing's main features!
 
My two cents for what its worth.

1. Drop admission prices substantially. I don't mind paying a fair bit in on the big days, but on average meetings, it simply isn't worth it. What you save in admission, you are simply going to spend it in another way by betting or having a nicer meal / an extra drink. You are going there to spend plenty of money but have to pay to get in.

2. For Ireland, I'd love to see some sort of "Champions' Day" or equivalent. Something like having the Irish Champion Stakes, Irish St Leger, National Stakes and Matron all on the same card. That would be a fantastic days racing. I appreciate the fact that the Curragh moved the National Stakes and Irish St Leger to the same day which is a step in the right direction.

3. The owners of our top flat horses need to take some responsibility in this. We need our top class horses racing against each other more during the season so us racing fans and casual followers have something to follow. Sure why not have a few match races if they can't find a suitable race. That would attract plenty of attention and hype. I remember a few years back thinking a Dubai Millennium Montjeu match would be the best race ever. and it wouldnt do any harm to race them at 4.
 
God streuth that's awful (can you get us an emoticon that bursts into tears please G?)

BMW's sales of the mini have done so well in the past 6 months incidentally that they've just made 20% of their workforce at Cowley redundant.

So they've identified young people as the future......urm...... and females too......urm again ( I could have told them that).

Describing the current situation is easy. That's not a development strategy that's nothing more than a status report. As for 'Brian and Ben the flowerpot men' - I think you can try too hard in marketing sometimes.

Looks like a classic case of all fur coat and no knickers, high on sentiment and short on action.

What are they actually going to do? who's going to do it? and when are they going to do it?

I know Greg Wood looks in on these pages from time to time, can you ask the questions please Greg?
 
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maythehorsebewithyou said:
My two cents for what its worth.

1. Drop admission prices substantially. I don't mind paying a fair bit in on the big days, but on average meetings, it simply isn't worth it. What you save in admission, you are simply going to spend it in another way by betting or having a nicer meal / an extra drink. You are going there to spend plenty of money but have to pay to get in.

QUOTE]

Admission prices to some meetings are frankly obscene and so out of touch with the economic climate. Forty pounds for a day member's badge for Newmarket for each day of the Guineas' meeting was ridiculous. Although there was an offer to buy a badge for the Saturday and get one half price for Sunday's meeting, and to my knowledge, that is the first time Newmarket have offered anything like that in the ten years or so I have been going, it is still a lot of money for two days' racing. I don't know what the official attendance figures were, but we thought it was noticeably quieter than previous Guineas meetings we had attended. The pre parade ring was very sparsely attended other than for the main two races.
Click to expand...
 
Crikey, €250k and they don't even suggest a sex change for Brian. What sort of clowns are these!!

I was in Killarney on Sunday to see our horse and was shocked to pay €20 in and €3 for a racecard. It puts you off racing when you can get ATR for a month for less than that!! I think Leopardstown are beginning to cop on with their family offering. Kids even end up with a set of silks!! But they still get somethings wrong, like €4 for a kids menu (great) but €10 for the adults (they've already paid in and are buying food now which all in will cost them €60 before a bet!!).
 
Cantoris, you should be getting ATR for FREE! It's RUK you pay for - £9.99 with Virgin cable.

Food and drink at courses can be disgracefully overpriced and not even of the quality or quantity you might expect for the money. Sheena West found that her fondness for a voddie & orange at Great Leighs set her back £8.20! One drink! Tea is regularly £1.20 a cup, either off a chuck wagon or in a bar. Quite mad.

Plumpton throws in a race card with the price of admission, and Annual Members at Brighton and Lingfield get one free, too. Personally, I'd do away with all this enclosures bulldust and go hotel class, as it were, with people paying more, or less, for what they ate and where, not charging second mortgages on the gate. One-price courses, but with a wide range of eateries to suit all pockets. More facilities for youngsters, including proper staffed creches, and a playground area away from the horsey parts. There are still only nods in the direction of the less able-bodied, too: yes, there are big disabled access lavatories, because courses must have them, but they're ridiculously always behind a complex of heavy doors!

Doesn't this advertising firm realise that for a lot of people, Ben goes with Bill, and Weeeeeed? Christ, racing as the new Flowerpot Men... oh, well, could be worse, I suppose. Imagine if they'd thought of Del...
 
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