Are there enough reasons to go racing?
“I recently floated the idea of conducting a “public forum” to establish a blueprint for the future of racing that has sparked some robust debate. One of the questions raised was, are we giving prospective race goers enough reasons to go to the races?” writes Simon Burgess.
A common thread from the broad cross section of public opinion seemed to suggest that the governing body of wagering Phumelela have scant regard for the future of racing and are only interested in how much they can extract from the Punter as opposed to securing the longevity of the industry.
Putting aside the current spat between them and the bookies for a moment, let’s look at this from a neutral point of view. Phumelela currently operate the tote and fixed betting retail shops. They’re a publicly listed company on the South African stock exchange and subsequently answerable to shareholders. They also own and operate Tellytrack that is their media arm that broadcasts the racing that they are reliant on to drive wagering and turnover and in turn, deliver profitability and dividends to their shareholders.
Accountability
It’s absolutely critical to the future and longevity of the racing and breeding industry in South Africa that Phumelela survive and ultimately thrive. The reason I say that is that with such an uncertain future for the economically weak rand coupled with the demise in race track attendances and seeming inability to attract sponsors, Phumelea and in essence the South African racing and breeding industry could easily become a very vulnerable acquisition target to a European based corporate bookmaker or exchange.
The upshot to this sort of catastrophe could ultimately be the final nail in the coffin! We’ve all recently witnessed the change in the landscape in Australia with European corporate bookmakers swallowing up the local corporates and the baffling sale of the UK tote to a corporate considered by many to be the beginning of the end.
We must take ownership of our industry now and review every aspect of the operations. The incumbents must be totally accountable, have a vision and deliver tangible results. Failure to do so in any other business sector would in no way be tolerated, so why should we as the stakeholders of the industry, settle for anything less?
One Trick Pony?
OK then, so apart from getting bums on seats at the racecourse by providing plenty of reasons to attend, we also need to attract sponsors in what is an extremely competitive sector where a multitude of sports are all fighting for a piece of the corporate sponsors pie. So the question beckons, are we doing enough with our overall marketing, or are we just a one trick pony?
Long gone are the days of sponsors turning up with wheelbarrows of cash to sponsor events just for the warm fuzzy feeling! Nowadays its all about the ROI or return on investment and the standard naming rights and table at a boozy corporate lunch, isn’t going to cut the mustard. They want to be able to translate their sponsorship into tangible business returns that are measurable in the form of sales and or qualified leads depending on their type of business.
Longines
On the surface, there certainly appears to be plenty of brands and corporate companies that have a perfect synergy with our racing demographics. For example lets identify the obvious FMCG’s. What about a watch company? Longines are a major sponsor in almost every racing jurisdiction in the world by sponsoring their respective major meeting or international meeting except for South Africa? Is this an opportunity to develop a bespoke event for South Africa that could be sponsored by Longines in turn offering them a unique point of difference? One would have thought that one of our premier prestigious races like say the Guineas or the Derby would be perfectly associated with a prestige product like a luxury car? Enter the likes of say a BMW? Ok what other products have synergies and are synonymous with South Africa and racing. What about diamonds? They’d be a good fit with either a feature fillies and mares race or even a two year old race series? There’s plenty of products and services that have synergies and align with thoroughbred racing from fashion to tourism.
Crowds at Melbourne Spring Carnival
The Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival generates an economic impact for the city of Melbourne and its commerce that exceeds a staggering A$1 billion per year before factoring in any wagering and turnover figures. With the likes of Cape town having such a brilliant canvas to work with as a stunning tourist destination couldn’t the carnival be more broadly marketed to attract an international demographic? A beautiful destination, sensational weather and attractive exchange rates would make it very enticing to seasonal visitors. Enter an airline sponsor. What about Emirates Airlines, they fly directly to the Cape and have already brought into racing with an existing brand presence in the industry in several countries.
Some savvy marketing would provide another unique revenue stream on what on the surface appears to be a very reliant balance sheet. But all these elements form pieces of what is a complex jigsaw reliant of all the other components like media coverage to be maximized and working in unison with each other.
Make no mistake, there is fierce competition for the sporting sponsorship dollar, so identifying fits and creativity is paramount. There is no denying there’s a lot of hard work to be done here, but the returns could prove to be the catalyst to seeing this industry thrive into the next century.The opportunities are definitely there, we just need to have the resources to farm and maximize them.
