Meet The Showcase Finalists: Marketing & Racing Foundation Green Award

With this year’s RCA Showcase less than a month away it’s time to meet the Finalists. The Finalists, carefully selected by an expert, independent judging panel demonstrate best practice from British racecourses and will be in with the chance of being crowned category winners at the RCA Showcase Awards on Thursday 13th November at York Racecourse.

Today’s piece will look at the Marketing and Racing Foundation Green Awards.

Marketing

Aintree – Fearless Style, Unforgettable Stories

Colour, extravagance and fun. Aintree wanted everyone to know that the world’s original Ladies Day wasn’t about fitting in, but standing out!

By developing strategic partnerships with select brands and influencers, Aintree ensured a perfect match of content to audience. A 15% surge in attendance and 59% uplift in 18–24-year-olds year-on-year showed this message cut through and that Ladies Day at Aintree will remain a staple of the Merseyside social calendar for generations to come.

Ascot – Free The Ascot You

One simple goal, the biggest Royal Ascot campaign ever!

Building on the successful ‘The Ascot You’ campaign ‘Free the Ascot You’ aimed to reinforce the message that Royal Ascot is a must-attend cultural event. Bold, simple visual storytelling across the Ascot estate and multiple high-profile events took the message to millions around the world, drove significant media value, and resulted in huge attendances across the week.

Chester – Boodles May Festival, ‘For the Grace. And for the Glory’

The ultimate blend of high-quality racing action and social grandeur, but data from previous attendees suggested that the excitement on the track was lost on some.

For the Grace. And for the Glory looked to address this by showcasing the festival’s status as an unmissable racing fixture and paying homage to the elegance and style of the event. By segmenting the audience, the Chester team drove a near 8% increase in attendances and tapped into key local audiences that had been lost in recent years.

Newmarket – Summer Saturdays 2025

Securing future fans is a challenge for all racecourses, including the Home of Horseracing. To address this, Newmarket used customer insights and learning from previous campaigns to develop a series of Saturdays aimed specifically at families.

With affordable pricing points and immersive experiences, the campaign shifted the dial with significant revenue growth, a 21% increase in new customers and a noteworthy increase in NPS.

Royal Windsor – Berkshire Winter Million

A celebration of jump-racing in the area, the pioneering Berkshire Winter Million meeting across Windsor and Ascot aimed to position the region as a premier destination for top-class national hunt action.

With impactful joint creative, and innovative multi-day ticketing options, the campaign extended beyond both racecourses’ typical audiences and offered them with a variety of affordable options to attend. The inaugural Berkshire Winter Million proved every bit up to the hype, with delighted racegoers and participants aplenty.

Racing Foundation Green Award

Ascot – Racing to Zero, Summer Mile Racing Weekend

As previous winners of this award, the team at Ascot have been at the forefront of venue sustainability in recent years. However, changing customer behaviour is a completely different challenge, and one they tackled head on with the Racing to Zero weekend.

Onsite initiatives and educational activations encouraged racegoers to make greener choices and educated about what Ascot and its partners were doing to affect positive change. Post-racing survey results demonstrated a real cut through with those in attendance.

Haydock Park – The Haydock Park Landscape

With bountiful green space on offer, Haydock Park is a site that can offer genuine environmental and social returns to its locality.

By revitalising the orchard, woodland and other green spaces, the team were able to enhance biodiversity which in turn has aided onsite food production. Thriving bee colonies and beautiful wildflower beds have improved the site aesthetics, showing the Haydock Park landscape as both a provider and enabler of sustainable practice.

Huntingdon – Creating Nature’s Corridor – A Greener, Stronger Huntingdon Racecourse

A greener, stronger Huntingdon isn’t just about improving biodiversity across the racecourse but building connections with the local community and creating a legacy that will last long into the future.

By partnering with Creating Nature’s Corridors the team ensured they took a responsible approach to safeguarding the environment, planting 13,000 trees, 1.5km of hedgerow and creating two new flood bungs. In addition, the establishment of Ollie’s Wood in memory of a local young resident created a lasting legacy and connected the racecourse to the heart of the local community.

Discover more about the RCA Showcase Awards via the Showcase Hub.