MARKETING CONVERSATIONS: 2 interesting pieces

[Gate Dancer]

Absolutely brilliant analysis on the Positioning Racing article. Play up the intelectual challenge and subsequent pride in picking a winner unlike the mindless pulling of a lever or punching of buttons. This was a great piece.

[hockey2315]

Originally Posted by Gate Dancer

Absolutely brilliant analysis on the Positioning Racing article. Play up the intelectual challenge and subsequent pride in picking a winner unlike the mindless pulling of a lever or punching of buttons. This was a great piece.

Ya that was good. . . I made some of the same points on the TDN blog a while ago.

[jms62]

How true is this statement, racing still acts like it is 1965.

"n another piece of fine marketing writing, the authors wrote, "Success often leads to arrogance, and arrogance to failure." Racing was once successful; people flocked to the track by the millions to watch and bet racing. But it was built on a house of cards. Patrons were not there because they loved us or that we were doing everything right, they were there because there was nowhere else to go. We were a monopoly and we lived the high life that often comes with being one, and that did breed arrogance. Because of this, I believe we have erroneously decided that racing's loss of market share is not our problem, but the problem of the general public, for not seeing us like they used to. The reality is that they never saw us like we think they did. And that is our problem, not our customers'."

[asudevil]

The campaigns were controversial and edgy, which, of course meant they were widely criticized in the stodgy world of Thoroughbred racing.

This is good stuff!

[Rootdog1]

Originally Posted by Gate Dancer

Absolutely brilliant analysis on the Positioning Racing article. Play up the intelectual challenge and subsequent pride in picking a winner unlike the mindless pulling of a lever or punching of buttons. This was a great piece.

Exactly. The challenge is to solve the puzzle, specially with multi-race wagers. It needs to communicated as an analytical contest, with financial rewards.

[Dahoss]

Until horse racing accepts what it is, it's not going to change. Gamblers know what drives the sport, but you'd never know that if you watched the NBC telecast of the Preakness this past weekend.

[Rootdog1]

Thats old school.....its not just gamblers. What is the perception of gamblers? Its an analytical game which involves money. And this doesnt include people who could be fans based on the love of amazing animals. You want to be right just as much as you want to win money...at least I do. BTW, I agree with your point about what drives the sport, my comments are regarding the marketing of the sport. Marketing it as a lottery does not work. What I have experienced is new people enter into the sport, dont understand how to analyze a race and lose money, and in turn stop supporting racing. That is what you get when you market gambling to people who have no idea how to solve the puzzle.

[Dahoss]

I agree. Teaching people how to solve the puzzle would be a lot better than giving them fluff pieces about trainers. Showing people how to handicap a race and then in turn showing them the reward for picking the winner would do wonders.

Unfortunately that doesn't happen now and it probably won't ever.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

I agree. Teaching people how to solve the puzzle would be a lot better than giving them fluff pieces about trainers. Showing people how to handicap a race and then in turn showing them the reward for picking the winner would do wonders.

Unfortunately that doesn't happen now and it probably won't ever.

Horse racing doesn't control the content of NBC's show. NBC does the same thing with the Olympics. They sell human interest crap to attract women viewers. It is the reason that things like figure skating which is more reality TV with Russian judges than sport get top billing.

They probably actually think they are catering to gamblers by giving the odds a few times and telling us who Mike Battaglia likes.

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Horse racing doesn't control the content of NBC's show. NBC does the same thing with the Olympics. They sell human interest crap to attract women viewers. It is the reason that things like figure skating which is more reality TV with Russian judges than sport get top billing.

They probably actually think they are catering to gamblers by giving the odds a few times and telling us who Mike Battaglia likes.

I'm aware it doesn't control the content of NBC's show.

If racing could get the people who do control it to cater to gamblers instead of drooling fans holding signs, we'd be on to something.

[dalakhani]

How does Churchill Downs get 38,000 plus people on a saturday night with no significant stake race?

Whatever they did, it worked. Why can't this be mimicked?

[dalakhani]

For the record, I think what the author is proposing in the positioning article is silly.

You aren't going to get people in the door by telling them they have to learn something new and solve puzzles while risking money. Sure, once you get people in the door, you can find some of them that will become players but the problem for the most part is getting people to actually come to track. And we do this by telling them that they will solve puzzles while the track takes 25% of what they bet? Good luck with that one.

Fewer days, more horses in a nicer setting with greater entertainment bang. Going to the track needs to be an event with racing being part of the package.

What did Churchill do differently to draw 38k?

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by dalakhani

For the record, I think what the author is proposing in the positioning article is silly.

You aren't going to get people in the door by telling them they have to learn something new and solve puzzles while risking money. Sure, once you get people in the door, you can find some of them that will become players but the problem for the most part is getting people to actually come to track. And we do this by telling them that they will solve puzzles while the track takes 25% of what they bet? Good luck with that one.

Fewer days, more horses in a nicer setting with greater entertainment bang. Going to the track needs to be an event with racing being part of the package.

What did Churchill do differently to draw 38k?

I still can't understand why people dont understand why this won't work?

The appeal of horse racing should be that you can make money at it. That if you work hard enough at it you can figure out the puzzle and be financially rewarded. All this other stuff is fluff.

Trying to create an atmosphere where every racing day is an event outside of Saratoga or maybe Keeneland or Del Mar is pretty much impossible. Not to mention that most tracks heavily depend on simulcasting which will always be hard to make sexy. Too often when we talk about big picture ideas in racing we forget that the majority of racing is not Saturday at Saratoga.

The game needs to attract people smart enough to appreciate and relish the challenge of handicapping and greedy enough to keep coming back.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by dalakhani

How does Churchill Downs get 38,000 plus people on a saturday night with no significant stake race?

Whatever they did, it worked. Why can't this be mimicked?

It was sold as an unique event in a horse racing friendly town with very little going on at a popular venue that lies right next to a big university. It has a lot more to do with the demographics of the city than horse racing. Hell if they just had a big party there with no racing they would still get 25k people.

[dalakhani]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

It was sold as an unique event in a horse racing friendly town with very little going on at a popular venue that lies right next to a big university. It has a lot more to do with the demographics of the city than horse racing. Hell if they just had a big party there with no racing they would still get 25k people.

Maybe you are on to something here Chuckers. Is Louisville any more "horse racing friendly" than say NYC? And even if it is, the sheer size of the urban venues could easily create the same gate if sold the right way.

Handle was up over 25% year over year not to mention rev from concessions.