RACING FOR CHANGE ANNUAL REVIEW 2011 INTRODUCTION

RACING FOR CHANGE ANNUAL REVIEW 2011
PROMOTING THE SPORT
Nick Attenborough, Director of Consumer PR
The sport’s PR activities are delivering a growing volume of positive
publicity, much of it appearing beyond the racing pages. This editorial
endorsement is helping to raise levels of awareness about racing among
new audiences, and to engage them.
JANUARY 2011
The first week of the year saw
national media publicity for
‘The Jockey Diet’, a collection
of low-calorie recipes based on
a PJA nutrition booklet. Other
activities included the launch of
the Cheltenham Festival tipping
competition on Lovetheraces.
com, pre-publicity for the
delayed King George VI Chase
at Kempton Park and a Sun
newspaper promotion to ‘Bring
a Mate Racing for Free’
throughout January.
FEBRUARY
The tabloids and other
mainstream media gave
widespread publicity to RfC
research that listed the rudest
racehorse names ever
registered. TalkSport, which
had dropped Horseracing, was
persuaded to introduce a daily
breakfast bulletin based around
racing guests organised by RfC.
The month also saw the first of
several media training sessions
for Horsemen. While on
Lovetheraces.com, new content
was added in the form of
cartoon strips called ‘Spot
the Winner’.
MARCH
The main focus was the
Cheltenham Festival, with the
placement of national media
interviews, a partnership with
Guinness and a survey in
conjunction with Ladbrokes.
The latter, who proved that the
‘Luck of the Irish’ was a myth,
received widespread publicity.
The promotion of racing
to students was also at its
height with the launch of a
free ownership club involving
subsequent winner, Tae Kwon
Do. The month’s activities also
included the placement of
major features to promote the
‘Start of the Flat’.
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
Ant and Dec at British Champions Day
April saw the launch of the
first-ever Free Racing Month,
involving 26 courses which,
together, attracted 63,000
additional racegoers through
the gates. Publicity work was
also focused on the Grand
National, including a promotion
with Debenhams and the
distribution of sweepstake kits
via Lovetheraces.com. Further
media training sessions were
implemented, publicity was
achieved for Royal Wedding’s
victory on the Royal Wedding
day, and a new guide to the
racehorse was launched called
All About the Horse.
A search to find Britain’s firstever
female commentator
proved very effective at
achieving positive publicity for
racing. The judging of designs
for racing silks by students at
Central Saint Martins gained
the sport further attention in
the wider media. The celebrity
gossip website, popbitch.
com, joined forces with RfC to
promote an ownership club,
leasing Superinjunction. At
the same time, a racehorse
leased to Sky TV’s Soccer AM
show made a special studio
appearance to promote this
ownership venture.
In late May, RfC took over
responsibility for British
Champions Series PR and
quickly ramped up publicity for
the Derby and, in particular, the
Queen’s runner, Carlton House,
with the placement of media
interviews. The focus quickly
switched to Royal Ascot and
further in-depth features were
placed. Short-listed female
commentators were given their
first chance to star in front
of the paying public, and
the world’s first racehorse
for the Twitter community,
Tweet Lady, was introduced
at www.thepeopleshorse.co.uk.
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