New season brings four broad areas of marketing initiatives

09/09/2014

The 2014/2015 Hong Kong racing season will kick off on Sunday 14 September with a Triple Trio jackpot totaling an estimated $50 million in the opening week*. During Mr Richard Cheung’s annual press conference at Sha Tin today (9 September), the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Customer & Marketing Executive Director, revealed four areas of new marketing initiatives in the new season.

The four main areas of new marketing initiatives are digital experience enhancement, racing content enrichment, new racing marketing activities targeting young adults as well as Bet-type offering enhancement. 

“Last season’s record turnover and strong attendance figures were affirmation of the Club’s customer and marketing approach.  Our new marketing initiatives are really natural continuation of the racing revitalization strategy the club embarked 5-6 seasons ago,” said Mr Cheung.

Mr. Cheung said that technology adaption is central to the Club marketing initiatives, which are vital to meet customer expectations, defend against illegal gaming operators and maintain Hong Kong’s position as a leader in world racing. 

The Club’s new marketing initiatives for S1415 are as follows:

New digital experience – selected examples:

• A new HKJC Racing WeChat Subscription Platform will enable customers to receive latest racing news, racing updates and even gimmicky marketing propositions.  This will be especially attractive to our younger fans who are social media active
• Aerial Virtual Replay available online – top-down computer-generated view of races showing the horse positions allowing our fans to study races with a different perspective
• The popular Racing Touch iPad App will release a new version with up-to 6 “last run” videos per horse vs. 1 last season video. Racing Touch app will be extended to Android during the season.
• Revamp of The Racing Club website, giving TRC Members a mobile web solution compatible with both desktop PC and a broad range of mobile devices

New racing information for racing fans – selected examples:

• Daily track work footage at www.hkjc.com will now have English and Cantonese commentaries.
• New racing content “last run reminder” available on www.hkjc.com
• Extension of live racing web TV to all Priority Card holder including Priority Red Card holders
• The enhanced 2nd screen App that accompanies our live Chinese TV program (www.hkracinglive.com) will cover more information not available on the linear broadcasting program.

In terms of oncourse marketing activities covering young generation racing fans, HKJC will continue the highly successful Happy Wednesday Program with a new season event calendar highlighting various new themes. 

Besides Happy Valley, with the completion of summer renovation work, the Club will be providing a new “cluster” of innovative venues and programs for young fans among Hay Market, Digital Zone and Roof Deck@2M in Grandstand 2 of the Sha Tin Racecourse. 

“We understand that the expectation of younger generation race-goers in Sha Tin are very different from those in Happy Valley - and we will continue to fine-tune to perfect our Sha Tin offerings as the season goes by,” Cheung said.

Finally, in terms of bet type development – given the strong success of Quartet launched last season, the exotic bet-type will also be extended to one race per Simulcast race day.   The Club will keep studying and reviewing bet type innovation ideas during the season given the strong market demand.

“Horse racing continues to be Hong Kong’s number one sporting entertainment and the Club is committed to positioning our two racecourses as world destinations for racing fans and tourists,” said Mr Cheung. 

Attachment: 14/15 New Marketing and Customer Service Initiatives

*Triple Trio jackpot: Triple Trio dividends for a single $10 winning unit are estimated to reach a respective $30 million on Sunday 14 September and $20 million on Wednesday 17 September.