HORSE RACING: DOES HONG KONG APPRECIATE WHAT IT HAS?

We were reading a recent newspaper supplement about the Singapore F1 Grand Prix and the sheer scope of the event and, more importantly, the pride that Singapore and Singaporeans have for what their country can do and has accomplished. What Singapore has with this Grand Prix is a great event to promote tourism and part of the Singapore brand.

Apart from the today’s greatest Formula 1 drivers, the event will also include ‘live’ performances by Katy Perry, Maroon 5, the Pretenders, Taiwan’s Jay Chou and a number of other International bands and artists.

It made us think of Hong Kong and how, apart from the annual Rugby Sevens, the efforts of the Hong Kong Tourism Board and all the other pretty bloody ineffective and uncreative Government organizations like the totally useless CreateHK which “creates” squat, few understand the merits of looking and promoting Hong Kong racing as a brand.

Hell, it’s the most popular game in town, it’s lengths ahead of racing anywhere else in the world, it’s right under the very noses of Hong Kong’s leaders, but it is way too easily taken for granted. The current racing season ends next weekend at Shatin and when it does, what’s there for thousands of people to do- and we don’t mean hard-boiled and hardcore punters who’ll suffer cold turkey? No, those who have not been to the races in Hong Kong and still think it’s “exclusively ” for those who “study form” and throw their money down the drain, well, sorry, but you have been living under a barren rock- like Hong Kong was- for the past decade- at least.

Go to any Happy Wednesday race day at Happy Valley and you’ll think you have walked in on a Disneyland for the “Cool Crowd.” Sure, you might have heard of the Beer Garden at the track and where those who pack it truly show the cosmopolitan face of Hong Kong, but this venue is now only part of the brand.

Remember that word: Brand as horse racing in Hong Kong must be seen and marketed and talked up and talked about as a BRAND. It is a great brand that needs great marketing to make it known outside of Hong Kong and ensure that it’s positioned as the world class racing product that it is. Look at this brand- this product- as anything less and it suffers. Yes, the brand suffers- and which is why the most successful brands ALWAYS strive for the very best in everything they do.

The HKJC has a brand that brings Hong Kong together- young, not-so-young, locals, foreigners, tourists and how and why it does this is through venues and events and initiatives other racing clubs have never even considered. At Happy Valley, apart from the Beer Garden, there is Adrenaline and words don’t do it justice. The recently re-opened club has found its feet- and right consumer group- and it never competes with the very popular Beer Garden. You need to be there to “Be There.”

The restaurant called The Gallery is another new venue to the Happy Wednesday and Happy Valley brand and which caters to another very different consumer group. A restaurant that is open to the public and offers a spectacular view of horse racing under the stars and in one of the most unique locations in the world, the venue offers race-goers a very different experience in appreciating the sport.

Of course, there is the horse racing. Taking a leaf from the term “online gaming” which has a far more “respectable” tone to it than “gambling” or “punting,” the Hong Kong Jockey Club [HKJC] under CEO Winfried Englebrecht-Bresges has brought racing to the 21st Century.

This is unlike racing at Redcar or Leicester in the UK. It’s not even like racing at Ascot where there might be pomp but not much substance and relevance to the 21st century. Dubai and Sheikh Mohammed might have the racecourse at Medan, but, more and more, this is becoming a whiter than white elephant which is used twice a year. And only one of these times really counts.

Racing in Australia lags behind and will always try and play catch up, racing in Singapore does not carry the same buzz as its Singapore F1 Grand Prix and all of the above has to do with the fact that the HKJC is embracing technology.

From a Race Simulator app to the revolutionary IBU touch screen tables- and which will sooner rather than latter be available via i-Pads- this is bringing horse racing to the very race-goers and also “re-learning” how horse racing “can be played” to those who have been following and playing the sport only one way. Old dogs CAN learn new tricks.

What’s now key is to have this new brand moved from “just the racing pages” of newspapers and Hong Kong’s numerous racing magazines to “the front row.” t cannot be seen as a brand that is “exclusive” to a captive market that is rapidly dwindling and “punters” caught up in the past. Like the comedian Rodney Dangerfield used to complain, “I don’t get any respect.” Well, if in the backseat, you get no respect. The perception of being a luxury brand is not there.

Horse racing in Hong Kong has all the pieces. All the pieces in this jigsaw and in this chess game must now fit and this means that EVERYTHING connected to the sport must be of a Group 1 class- every piece of communications, the website, the events, “the tone and manner” of communications and a team who truly understands the vagaries and complications of marketing and creativity.

People are strange, as the Doors once sang. They remember the bad and quickly forget the good.

As a brand leader- and which the HKJC is- this comes with the territory and it should spur those in charge to never ever settle for “Not bad” or “Just Ok” or “creativity by committee.”

We have seen too many good brands bite the dust this way. “Democracy” in producing the creative product- more often than not- results in the expected and the bland- and which can easily be spotted by today’s extremely fickle group of consumers. The HKJC has taken too many giant strides to see this happen and “E.B” realizes that thinking outta the box is part of someone’s DNA. It cannot be learnt or studied. This only results in copyists.

With its new association with sponsor Longines, the HKJC has taken Hong Kong horse racing to this luxury level- this Group 1 level- but without any elitism.

Good brands attract other good brands. It’s that simple. It’s also part of thinking ahead and actually moving ahead.

It has been a very smart branding exercise by the Club with Happy Wednesdays at Happy Valley offering consumers a more laid-back and cool ‘look’ at racing and with what we call “Classy Sundays”- and, sometimes, Saturdays- giving everyone a reason to dress up and head to the racetrack at Shatin. Horses for courses, indeed.

What now needs to be done is to ensure that horse racing is seen to be what it is- part and parcel of the very wide world of entertainment today. This is where and how Singapore has succeeded by hosting its annual Singapore F1 series. That’s an annual event. The HKJC gives Hong Kong racing with all the trimmings twice a week. Do many in the city take it for granted? Sure, they do. But then again, this is, in many ways, Hong Kong: Taking things for granted until they are no longer there.

Horse racing in Hong Kong will be around for a very very long time- and it will keep evolving. The key and the challenge now is to have Hong Kong evolve WITH it and for all those in the government who are busy being busy with things like “illegal structures” to come down from their ivory towers, take the blinkers off and give their backing to one the city’s very few legitimate winners. The “illegal structures” can wait.