Speaking this week to an interviewer at Shatin in Hong Kong, Trainer Ciaran Maher compared HKIR week to the Olympics- the camaraderie, the commitment, the passion and the quality of the horse racing product and everything built around it.
It made me think about what if we had Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart in town.
One can dream.
Often, us Hong Kong Belongers take this city (and our home) for granted and, sometimes, with very little pride.
Was there really a celebration of real joie de vivre after the success of Hong Kong athletes at the Paris Olympics or just a little show for the plebs?
Everyone needs a little love and genuine Thanks and not token gestures.
Though understanding how some in the city feel about horse racing- and I have been married and lived with some who want nothing to do with it- I have always thought that the pastime was and is somewhat misunderstood-and how some, who should be, are poor ambassadors for racing, especially when travelling overseas.
Also often wondered is whether horse racing will finally be accepted as a bona fide sport by a mainstream audience and governments if marketed without mandatory warning signs.
It doesn’t take a marketing Einstein to know that words like “Gamble Responsibly” hardly endear the product to, for example, young parents and that new generation wondering if the horse racing product is for them.
Perhaps they see it as something second class and/or dangerous and unnecessary?
It’s like Formula 1 being saddled with the warning to Drive Carefully or football being told to Tackle Gently or cricket outlawing bouncers and “sledging”.
Horse racing also doesn’t need more stories about the usual suspects to the same old and now older audience. This hardly breaks new ground- perhaps breaks wind- and will just continue regardless.
It is what it is…and sometimes isn’t.
What horse racing really needs is a makeover- not like Madge or Cher has had- but just a few nips and tucks for the initial signs of a turkey neck.
Sure, retain that captive audience for as long as they are still here, but what about the ammunition for the future?
Firing blanks and talking to one’s self has not only become boring, it’s missing the targets to bring about change and excitement and which is seen and felt by those not on Twitter.
The horse racing world is still a small one and maybe even shrinking.
It has the potential to be more than the sum of its parts through a strategic makeover through business and communications partnerships that will bring in those popular brands with their own marketing teams who will know how horse racing might work to broaden THEIR customer bases.
Horse racing executives believing they know what popular and media savvy brands need in order to be competitive and win against their opponents is no longer like the Cola Wars.
There’s a need for racing executives to understand that, as in life, things change, you’re always judged by the company you keep- and the need to work together with partners to give customers The New- whatever this might be and how it’s presented.
This is something that falls under Excitement Marketing and should be interactive enough to be exciting, inspiring and aspirational.
It’s also called the future- and planning for it.
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