How do we market racing ?

I am aware we have many threads in regards to how to get people involved in racing and the SA challenge is bigger than most countries.

If you have been watching Ascot, York etc it would appear that UK racing is thriving but check this article in Racing Post.

Maybe we can consider some of the suggestions to get people involved.


www.racingpost.com/news/latest/we-must-w...-rallying-cry/507431

I am sure the initial reaction is all the negatives.

Bad economy
Poor prize money
Racing currently poorly managed
Tote image
Etc etc

What are the positives if any

Syndication
Race day experience

Your inputs appreciated.....

Unfortunately there is not a racing culture in the RSA.
Other parts in the world wants to grow a culture. We need to start a culture firstly.

Growing up in a conservative Afrikaans community, my dad introduced me to racing, and would probably have not if his dad didn’t enjoy a punt.

My mom, brother and sister is not interested in racing. I have been married for 13 years and my wife has no interest in racing (Definitely a blessing). She likes it when she can get a share of some winnings now and then.

While studying at the Vaal Technikon, took many a friend to the Vaal race course. Not one of them got hooked on racing in the long run.

Jealous, when I see the racing culture that the Aussies have.

Khumalo, Yeni etc. should have been household names and sporting heroes in South Africa.

I want to see the positive side, but don’t see it happening.

Love this game!

Bookmakers in South Africa are thriving because they welcomed the very people racing chased away "The Riff Raff"

The bookmakers realised that banking issues and technology is the future before racing. But they also realised that footfall to their branches is here to stay for the foreseeable future.

I often wonder when i read the computaform (everyday) and see their slogo
" Tab contributes most of the cash that powers horse racing, no tab no racing"

If it should be reworded? " The Punter contributes most of the cash that powers horse racing, no punters no racing!"

The punter needs to be on level footing with the stakeholders!

People must be enticed to firstly have a punt - if one could sway just a small percentage of the 'sport book' to racing, it would be a good start - and then of course the Tote needs to come to the party - make use of the big days to show that one can be a winner - maybe use 'celebrities'

If we have better pools, all the rest follows - stakes will increase, more people will get involved - unfortunately volumes have been written on this subject, but somehow we can't get it right

Just like Rave Cultre (I tried going a few times in the 90's but it did not take) racing is in your blood or it is not(my brother and sister, 5 yrs older and younger NEVER had a bet but my father and I did so only a few exposed to Racing actually get hooked ) _ The biggest thing that MOD should do is to make live racing free to watch on the net with a STABLE professional platform - I believe when mainstream Media killed racing on proper broadcast platforms Racing started to die - Out of sight out of mind - Newspapers are dying so easy free access to live Racing should be the standard - With both Gauteng courses having geographic challenges(Turffontein is too rough and the Vaal is too far) you need to give punters a mobile home to view - I don't use the tote but the correct way would be to sell vouchers like bookmakers do - I spend zero time in Hollywood but I use their platform every day because I drive to Pick N Pay or Shell etc and buy my vouchers with zero stress - I get paid to my ewallet mostly and can draw from an ATM at leisure -

My thought is there should be an app with free data that you can stream live commentary ( audio only ) and should come standard with certain cell phones , i know listening to racing commentary on the radio hooked me.

U cant market something that is unmarketable!!
SA Racing needs to get its house in order 1st.
Re Jig the management and executives get new blood in key positions
Re work basic rules of racing

Craig Pienaar wrote:

My thought is there should be an app with free data that you can stream live commentary ( audio only ) and should come standard with certain cell phones , i know listening to racing commentary on the radio hooked me.

look at the TAB Home Page news.tabonline.co.za/Live-Payouts-Results/TAB-Today - They have live studio audio BUT the link is right at the bottom of the page(shows you how much they care) - The banner should be next to the payouts flashing "Listen Live" and at the top of the page as big as possible - So simple if you care about your job or have even 1% love for punters!! They have neither

Sylvester wrote:

U cant market something that is unmarketable!!
SA Racing needs to get its house in order 1st.
Re Jig the management and executives get new blood in key positions
Re work basic rules of racing

true but really how many people would actually drive to turffs or the vaal just to see some horses run? I remember going to athletic meets as a youngster watching the best sprinters in the country - Have not done that for years - Even cricket - tried not to miss boxing day at the Wanderers ... Now you can still enjoy that but in HD at home and in peace and still have a bet on that - Racing needs to do the same and find a home outside of DSTV to showcase their product daily

mr hawaii wrote:

Sylvester wrote:

U cant market something that is unmarketable!!
SA Racing needs to get its house in order 1st.
Re Jig the management and executives get new blood in key positions
Re work basic rules of racing

true but really how many people would actually drive to turffs or the vaal just to see some horses run? I remember going to athletic meets as a youngster watching the best sprinters in the country - Have not done that for years - Even cricket - tried not to miss boxing day at the Wanderers ... Now you can still enjoy that but in HD at home and in peace and still have a bet on that - Racing needs to do the same and find a home outside of DSTV to showcase their product daily

Remember that race a few years ago at Kenilworth when the five champions crossed the line together in the Green Point? I think there was 50 people on course that day... And that was with digital marketing and mainstream media advertising.. I`m actually sure there was rugby or cricket on at the same time and well known racing people preferred to attend that.

It was the same when Champions Day was on at Turffontein and the annual jolly to Dubai clashed (Champions day never got a sniff)

UK racing is always being held up as the standard when in reality if you search the uk racing peoples social media you will see the same complaints as we do in SA, probably even more.

You see our guys lauding what ITV Racing does(rightly so) .... But remember they are a private company with a slot on mainstream TV with a huge budget through add breaks and sponsorships.. The rest of the time it`s AT THE RACES or Racing UK which offer the same kind of production of Tellytrack (probably slightly bigger because of staff and budget size)

We don’t have the ethos. It might also be a demographic thing. The majority of the demographics is seemingly not interested and the passionate minority is shrinking but, hey, we all have choices. Furthermore, some of the areas in which we race are are just too dreadful. How do you we get people into these areas? How do we get people all the way to the Vaal?
We market ourselves as a casino not as a racing experience. How do we compete with the casinos when horseracing by far is the most expensive form of gambling? I understand that the takeouts, incl of taxes, for the exotics are 25%. How do we compete with roulette at 3%and a bit? I agree with Frodo, there could be a bigger increase to revenue with a lower margin of the takeout. Read Clem Sumter’s The Casino Game.
How do we get racing into a community thing? I observe racing in the UK to be very community based and it is expensive to go racing there. We can’t even get people here with free admission.
Is there any way we can de-corporatise and return to the club system? How do Ngong and Champ de Mars do it? How do we get the Govt far more involved like they do there? Ngong seems to have a racing experience.
I live in Gauteng not near Kenilworth nor Scottsville. Can we scrap Turffontein and build another racecourse somewhere else so that 100 people looks like 1,000 people? Close to the course, small, modern and state of the art? But all this comes at a cost when SA racing has much bigger fish to fry?
Why are racing’s employees trying to control the business? Reinstate the owners as kings and the punters princes. Make them feel important like royalty. Where are the many big punter owners we used to have?
If we don’t get back the racing ethos then our game will die a miserable death much sooner than the clubs to the north and on the island.


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