Racing it's a rush

What do these guys do? Seriously?

This morning, 3 days before the Supreme Cup, they tweet that there are 40 entries and make a half hearted attempt to list them. Are they serious? Are they that clueless that the field has been out for almost a week now? When questioned I get told that it was an error and will be taken down. Nonsense, they clearly have somebody employed to run their social media and that person knows nothing about racing, probably hasn't bothered to learn. Fed up with them wanting to make racing approachable when they can't even get simple things right within their organization.

....no rush at all....that ship is now rudderless and even after all that branding moola spent... no one around to steer it.....also with Basel pulled from Marketing.....it's heading for the rocks, and will found in the same place as the Vaal sand...... :dry:

There will be a lot of folk delighted if it fails( racing insiders and operator haters) but imo it`s not over yet this is a long plan that`s still in it`s relatively early stages. Instead of racing people moaning about punters asking for tips ,they should try assisting RIR and not refusing too because in their shallow opions RIR is only interested in promoting the gambling side of racing..

I seen more social media action from South African racing folk when MDk had that horse (can`t remember the name ) running in the states, than i did with the SUMMER CUP,MET AND DURBAN put together...

I actually think some (not all but most ) South African racing folk ( insiders) only give two hoots about their own yards and their own regions, and dont give a shit about racing only their personal bank balances .The only folk that continually support racing (without much respect given) are punters and the mug owners.

......Bob we hear you....but they are in no rush to try and steer it or salvage what is left.....and by the initial posters gripe, a half hearted attempt to try and breathe a bit of life into it.... on the eve of a once big race day......and going about it like it is an after thought.....
so by bagging a big race sponsor while still at the helm of marketing, Basel has suddenly remembered that..... It's a Rush should be on the menu too.....the folk that want to see this fail ....only want to say.....We told you so.... because it was not the best marketing approach for the operators to put their moola behind..... :whistle:..... It is going to take much more time, money and effort for them to carry on with this campaign.... and to do so successfully they really need to find a really dynamic marketer ......a guy that can Varnish a lump of crap and make it look like a golden nugget.... :S

Bob,let me ask you a few questions in relation to your post ............

On the basis that no matter how hard you look there is nothing other than a vague,but not measurable, plan...............
a)How will you/we know if/when it fails? (or if/when it succeeds ,if you prefer)............if you don't have a specific target you can't know if you hit it (but thankfully for the useless,nobody knows if you missing it!)
b)I would say that RIR's biggest failing is that it is NOT promoting the gambling side of racing enough............all the income from the social side goes into the pockets of outsourced caterers.............the one thing racing needs is tote turnover to run the game, and that is the only thing,in the long run, that should determine the success of any industry initiative.
c) One thing is certain "If you can't measure it ,you cant manage it" which is why its doomed........ but they counting on the fact that there is never going to be any measurement to prove it.

I will be first to congratulate the operators when they can PROVE that RIR, specifically, is even having the faintest positive effect on the financials!

Having both an academic and extensive practical background in marketing I agree fully with Rob's assessment.

In my experience something that isn't measured or measurable will never deliver any meaningful results.

Without specific targets to grow the game, measured in player numbers, not just turnover, the pot will never be expanded and funding will continue to be a growing problem.

Only an online project with measurable criteria and with specific objectives to grow the customer base will yield desirable results, where the marketing team can importantly either be held accountable for non-performance or properly rewarded and incentivised for achieving and exceeding targets.

Set a business division up for success by providing every support and reward and the organisation will reap the rewards in the long run.

Our local operator should stop wasting money on half-hearted efforts only introduced to be seen to be doing something rather than funding projects with real potential for longer term capacity building and success.

.....LSU it may only seem as a half hearted attempt at a marketing campaign.....but what I can see is that everything including the changes to their (big P/Tabonline ) website is geared towards this(no so good) brand identity.....just look at the gold varnish they have brushed over everything to disguise what lays underneath.....now they need someone to convince the uninitiated that it is indeed a nugget and not some coated crap.... :ohmy:

Muhti, two things stand out as clear flaws in the current marketing campaign.

One - The industry will only be successful if it can sell racing as an activity rather than the current efforts to sell it almost exclusively as an attraction.

Two - As per Rob's comment without a specific and measurable objective regarding new clients, it will never happen by itself.

Selling racing as an activity will require new products created specifically to attract and retain interest through the skills learning curve. Current products are actually very good but not designed for this purpose and as such should not be relied upon to deliver on this objective.

The operator should be spending money in this area in conjunction with a social campaign, but with something new to physically offer a new generation of players.

can't agree more with Bob = let's get out there and tweet and get our tweeps to retweet!! relevant info! get on it peeps!! the more the merrier

We as regular daily punters are asked to help bring in new clients etc (and I agree, the game needs it for various resons previously stated)... How are we supposed to do this when we are asked, yet when we as regular daily punters have positive/constructive criticism make a suggestion, deaf ears are found.... Bite the hand that feeds the mouth...

I'm all for anything that promotes racing and I'd love to get behind the concept, but it's hard to judge, let alone support, something one does not understand. Having chatted to the architect of the concept (which required a marketing textbook to translate the majority of the conversation), Michael Varney, Maps Maponyane and several other people involved in the concept over a fairly extended period of time, I'm still none the wiser as to what their actual purpose is, who they are marketing to and what exactly they do.

As I don't know what it is that they are supposed to be doing in the first place, it's difficult to make an honest assessment as to whether they are doing a good job or not.

But as I mentioned earlier, it's hard to support something one does not understand.

It's even harder to support something that is not prepared to engage with you. When a punter was brave enough to question them directly, it was a swift 'no comment' from Racing, it's a Rush.

I would have thought that a body created to promote racing would be interested in engaging with the media. I have tried to engage with It's A Rush staff ahead of events. At one point they were apparently managing S'manga Khumalo, so I requested their assistance in arranging an interview with their client. I'm still waiting for them to get back to me. Press releases are sent out incorrectly, names (of big name horses / jockeys / racing personalities) spelt incorrectly, etc. Perhaps most tellingly, I was issued an invite to the Cleaver Awards by one of the 'It's A Rush' marketing folk and had to embarrassingly explain that I'm a racing scribe, not a meat or food writer. It all just feels a little unfocussed and, I'm sorry to say, lacking in professionalism.

If they a) don't know their subject and their community and b) aren't prepared to engage with punters and media, given the rumoured cost of the project and the fact that it is being paid for by racing, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask why not? And who exactly is it that they are prepared to talk to? Again, perhaps I'm being unreasonable and perhaps engaging with punters and media does not fall in their remit, I don't know.

I support the concept - whatever that might be - but until there is some sort of clarity as to what the concept is, I'm afraid it's difficult to assess the quality of the execution.

I sadly have to agree that it does feel as though whoever is doing the social media has little working knowledge of racing. The original website was a dogs breakfast with incorrect photos posted for promoting big days. Look, we're all human and all make mistakes, but muddling Queen's Plate blue and white for the Met (yellow and red) or July (red and white) is poor, listing closed racecourses as racing venues, is just shoddy research / poor knowledge of your subject. The list goes on. And I'm not blaming the grass roots folks who gathered the information - but surely someone, somewhere, checked this stuff before it was supposed to go final? It's not rocket science and getting it wrong makes it look amateur.

If this is a joint effort from all the role players, then surely they have the correct resources / support available to them (or at the very least, someone they can ask for help?) Some of the above-mentioned stuff was fixed, but eventually the website was taken down and seems to have remained down ever since, so one is left trying to make sense out of the mish-mash of information being pushed through on Twitter and Facebook.

As I said, I'm all for anything that helps promote racing. But as a racing person, my honest assessment is that about the only thing I do understand about the concept is that Racing, It's A Rush is not trying to speak to me - or if so, it's not doing so in a language that I understand.

?........with Varney jumping ship......gotta feel for the oke that has to take over to try breath some life into this enigma ...... :dry: