RACING LEFT BEHIND AGAIN?
(Source: Sean Foley Hall)
Horse racing has a history of being left in the barriers when it comes to being ahead of the game and proactive in planning for and securing its future.
(Source: Vunzooke)
It did it with sports betting and the rise and rise of corporate bookmakers. It has managed to successfully lose track of its IP. And now it appears to have been left at the altar like a jilted groom with wagering through social media sites like Facebook.
(Source: Fantastic Fiction)
Racing has again been ambushed, this time by its familiar nemesis- the corporate bookmaking fraternity. In this instance, it’s the announcement by one of the UK and Europe’s corporate bookmaking powerhouses in Paddy Power, who gleefully announced last week that it had successfully negotiated a deal with Facebook to offer punters the opportunity to wager on racing and sports through their Paddy Power in-play app.
(Source: App World)
Describing it as “pioneering work”, Paddy Power’s online Managing Director Peter O’Donovan was understandably upbeat when quoted in the Daily Mail about the corporate bookmaker’s gazumping of his rivals and, pointedly,the racing industry.
(Source: Jotopr)
O’Donovan is right: The Paddy Power/Facebook partnership is “pioneering work” and whether this will work, time will tell, but it begs the most obvious question: Why is it that the racing industry- worldwide- exactly as what contributed to the demise of the music industry- so incapable of not just “pioneering work” but simply being in touch with today’s consumers and LEARNING from them?
(Source: Cartoon Stock)
The reality is that racing worldwide is devoid of men and women of vision, who can stay ahead of the game and articulate a strategy to guide the industry through to a sustainable future.
(Source: Hawaii Reporter)
Clearly, the racing industry has struggled to understand the impact of social media on its own outdated business model. Or for that matter how the customer base for just about every industry and business has changed so dramatically and continues to evolve.
(Source: I Byte Digital)
A tweet here, a YouTube video there, is not good enough nor is outsourcing this work to the glut of new “social media houses” that have sprung up like zits just to con racing clubs and their full-time so-called “marketers” incapable of thinking for themselves and so hire a crutch- and waste more money and are left without a budget for things that really matter.
(Source: New Media Rock Stars)
It is no consolation that other sports and industries have found themselves in the same position- like, as mentioned, the music industry which stupidly did not see the Trojan horse called Napster and the genie that leapt out of that bottle.
(Source: Sonic Scoop)
If anything these experiences should have provided the racing industry- and the equally inept and out of touch racing media with a clear blueprint of what is required if it to be relevant and sustainable in such a challenging environment. And no, some racing blog squirreled away somewhere is not social media.
(Source: We Blog Cartoon)
Horse racing has always operated under the premise that it has an inherent appeal that transcends any social and economic divide or age demographic. Wrong, munchkins. Very fucking wrong.
(Source: Meredithleighknight)
It’s relationship in Oz with wagering operators and corporate bookmakers is yet another example of its arrogance.
It has failed miserably unlike Hong Kong to be predictive or proactive in dealing with the elephant in the room that is sports betting.
(Source: Publishers Weekly)
It sat back and gave the wagering operators and corporate bookmakers a “free kick” with sports betting. It will probably never recover from the ambush by corporate bookmakers and wagering operators on its once held monopoly on wagering on its own product.
(Source: Toon Pool)
And now, there is, not Flower Power, but Paddy Power and with its fellow operators very capable of reaping billions through their partnerships with social media sites.
Again, it’s not unlike music and the file-sharing site that is Spotify and how YouTube is working directly with artist- and taking steps to be an online sports broadcaster.
(Suorce: Inside)
Partnership is the key word, deliberately, appropriately and accurately used to describe the Paddy Power/Facebook alliance.
Partnerships just don’t appear in the vocabulary of the Racing Industry. It’s just not in its DNA as the working “universe” and roller-decks of so many in racing clubs are so damn small and old habits die hard.
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Put these people in front of fairly intelligent and well-traveled people and one gets boring intellectual midgets. And imagine what potential sponsors and business partners must think: “We need to work with THEM???”
(Source: Scient Ficiliteracy)
Also, how can one communicate with consumers when you don’t venture out of your safety zone?
It shows a lack of passion for one’s job and an It’s Okay-la la lack of pride in the work produced- or, actually not knowing good work from bad and so settling for Okay-la-la.
(Source: HD Wallpaper)
Little wonder that so many in racing clubs cannot find jobs elsewhere. They are simply not good enough. And so they sit there on their arses for years on end making flatulent noises as they have nowhere else to go.
(Source: Herald Sun)
(Source: The Australian)
It also explains the conga line of lost opportunities for horse racing, which has left successive generations struggling to understand its relevance or what it stands for.
(Source: HD Wallpapers)
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