Sponsorship - Good or Bad

What do you think of sponsorship in racing? I personally think getting sponsors in has benefits but I'd like to see Phumelela sponsoring events rather than outside groups getting involved in taking away punters by teaching them how to play poker. It's almost like owning a bar and inviting a cocaine dealer to set up a stall in the corner showing the patrons how to make a crack pipe.

If I were the head of Marketing at Phumelela I would have approached the lady that has started the Soweto Wine festival and offered to sponsor that event (barely 20kms from Turfs with a clientele that already have a common interest in racing - Wine) I would set up an stall at the festival manned by people educated in racing with old footage of great horses - Foveros, Mark Anthony, Roland's Song Horse Chestnut, Empress Club etc - Horses that people will know from 20 years ago when their dads(or themseleves ) may have been racing - Go back to a time when racing was the only form of legalised gambling and capitalize on the nostalgia - Then host a meeting inviting all the people that attended the festival to attend -

Get the Cape Breeders that have wine farms to bring down bottles of their product and provide a Wine Tasting experience on course in the Turffontein roon - the event could start at about 3pm and run to 8pm so that you get a good crowd watching the races. If you are battling to sell your goods you Advertise but to get other people to advertise a competitive product in your almost empty shop seems disastrous.

Played loads of poker over the years,and 10 years ago i would have said great well done,but then all poker players were gamblers and all liked to bet the horses.Now the new generation of poker players take the game more seriously and most have never seen a horse.

Try dangle a carrot and see what happens,play poker and a chance to win R1m or go racing,who`s going to win?

I've never really played cards barring "rummy" and a weird kind of boozy "strip poker" at varsity. I do know however that there are various types of gamblers - some only play machines, some only cards some only horses etc (the real dangerous ones play anything) I like to see myself as a "Stop loss" punter - The running of the last race ends my loss on the day!! I've always stopped myself from Casino playing for this reason but I have always thought that you could have some synergy between the two codes but to invite the boys in to teach poker is crazy(maybe have a tournament on course yes but to actually offer to teach horse players how to play cards is very crazy - why not do an ad campaign offering to teach Joe public how to bet on the horses rather than tell your existing punters about the "New Opium" that is available online?)

Mr H.

I agree with you 100%. Inviting an opposition industry in (just to get a sponsor) does not seem right. We are all fighting for the same Rand and by allowing this, we are exposing our fraternity to a new way of gambling. I do salute Piggs Peak on their Marketing strategy, but wonder if we have one of our own. There needs to be a change in our Marketing approach- Wish I could do more!!!

Smacks of desperation, proves once again that P. still thinks their main opposition is Gold Circle and not the other gambling enterprises.

What does this say about racings long term strategic marketing plan?

Jason I think there is great room for synergy Emerald Cup is a perfect example but they never asked to move "entertainment style slots" on course for the day. I think that Racing can benifit from sponsorship - especially when RACING is the sponsor in a non-racing activity. Let's face it online poker is a phenom - I'm sure I could learn the basics of playing by doing a quick google search and be up and running in an hour(the target market- under 30's- can and have done this hence the growth in the sport) - Racing is far more involved and you are relying on other people(and the horse) to get your selections home. No bluffing etc once you have made a bet that's it - different type of player(Ask Gamblers Anon if you don't believe me ). If you are trying to attract people from the "Poker Pack" rather stage a tournamet at Turffs (if this is allowed by law) with the first prize of a buy in to a top tournament. Never teach your customers about something that can take them away from spending with you - My exposure to poker was via Teletrack when they showed Poker after races prior to that I thought it was a game played mainly behind closed doors(I thought Black Jack was the major Casino Card game!!!) I also come from the old Hillbrow crew and spent many a late night in places like Cafe Vienne etc where a bunch of old men played cards at tables etc so it's not foreign to me to see gambling - I'm a horse player full stop(sport every so often but dwindled to once a year now maybe) - With the PC so close to me and with the almost daily invites on FACEBOOK to redeem my Poker Points - all sent to me by well-meaning friends - I might soon try my hand at poker which could see the end to my already fragile marriage to Racing - Would you take this chance if it were your business?

Party Line Wrote:

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> Smacks of desperation, proves once again that P.
> still thinks their main opposition is Gold Circle
> and not the other gambling enterprises.
>
> What does this say about racings long term
> strategic marketing plan?

It`s a joint venture between Phum and Gold Circle

That's not my point. For years the diff. racing provinces saw each other as opposition. This was probably true when racing was the only legal form of betting.

i.m.o racing has been to slow to accept the threat that new forms of gambling represent. Indicative of this sentiment is racing now courting online poker dens.

To me it makes no sense but I hope I'm wrong. Personally I see alot more potential upside for the poker dens than I do for racing. For sure, a short term sponsor sounds and looks good but long term.....

I see a similarity here to when American raiways were threatened by air travel.They were stubborn and the airways recognised that that they were in the broad business of transport and eventually were running railways too.
I believe that all gambling will become more and more intergrated and consolidated....This involvement by Piggs,for example who provide casino and poker,could be looking to add an involvement in racing and so provide broad based gambling.This could be the first steps.Casinos would not be propping up racing if they saw it as a danger to their business!

I dont think they could ever manage it worse than it is now,so it may be a long term improvement for racing!

Rob this might sound foolish but whatever cash PPeak is bringing to the party - I'd rather have GIVEN all the naming rights to Pick n Pay or Checkers for R1 a race as they would have used the promotion to get South Africans involved in racing(they would have got racing re-exposed to millions of local people) - Piggs Peak obviously are not in anyway concerned about winning over local horseplayers - they will be counting on OVERSEAS gamblers watching SA night racing and hoping these guys start punting on their site (that's what I'd be looking at if I was in charge of Piggs Peak)- I wonder if they would be intrested in sponsoring Day racing with as much fervor?

MrH,my point is that Casinos would probably like to control as much of the gambling as possible,so why not take over racing,if possible.
The ultimate goal might be to become controlling shareholders.

I cant help but laugh at the irony of this. Lets invite direct competition to teach our punters to spend elsewhere while we ban certain bookmakers from the courses in SA and label them thieves!

Again I question why I even spend a cent on this. It is making less and less sence to spend money on racing each day.