Your 2023 Showcase Finalists: Marketing

The Marketing Award celebrates excellence in the sphere of campaign execution, increasing the appeal of racing to new audiences and improving the frequency of visits amongst racegoers.

Ascot—Royal Ascot 2023

Ascot’s Royal Ascot campaign has become synonymous with excellence and innovation over the years, with 2023 again breaking new ground.

Taking the ingenious “There’s you, then there’s the Ascot you” tagline across television, out of home media and a myriad of other outlets, the campaign reached millions of prospective racegoers which resulted in a significant uptake from younger audiences and a best-in-class retention rate across British racing. 

Royal Ascot 2023 at Ascot Racecourse

Chester—Family Day: Social Media Influencers

Acknowledging the family market was incredibly crowded, Chester leaned on the support of influencers with authenticity in this field to stand out from the crowd on social media.

Highly cost-effective and taking the message directly to the coveted group of parents, Chester’s decision to work alongside notable influencers resulted in 20% attendance increase for Family Day, 75% of which were first-time visitors to Chester Racecourse. 

Family Day: Social Media Influencers at Chester Racecourse

Goodwood—Three Friday Nights

Long established as one Goodwood’s must-attend events, Three Friday Nights continues to evolve as does its accompanying marketing campaign.

Taking the theme of Reflection, Goodwood’s marketing aligned the racecourse to legendary nightclub Pacha and the connotations that come with it. A combination of innovative above the line initiatives and carefully selected influencers brought an new audience to Goodwood and Three Friday Nights, without diluting the prestige of these events.

Three Friday Nights at Goodwood Racecourse

Musselburgh—The Corgi Derby

Musselburgh’s Easter Saturday is consistently a hit with racegoers and was deemed the perfect stage for the Corgi Derby. The team hoped that this additional entertainment would provide the catalyst to entice a new demographic of racegoer to further increase attendances.

An ambitious, multi-layered campaign built up to the big day which resulted in huge awareness of the event. Ticket sales, net promotor score and one of the BBC’s more memorable headlines of 2023 demonstrate its success.   

The Corgi Derby at Musselburgh Racecourse

Ripon—Back to Basics

Doing exactly what it says on the tin, Ripon’s Back to Basics campaign set about reconnecting the racecourse with large group bookings, a cornerstone of business prior to the pandemic.

Working with local pubs and clubs following some data-led insight, the racecourse provided fixture lists and incentives to group organisers to once again bring the crowds back. The results showed a 13% increase group bookings and 10% in advance sales overall.

Back to Basics at Ripon Racecourse PIC Louise Pollard/Racingfotos.com