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Why is the success of Carnival of Cups (COC) so important to our future?
There appears to be a lack of understanding through the industry of how important COC is to our future.
The strategy was developed with clear goals to address the three key weaknesses our industry must address. Our goal was to:
- grow the profile of harness racing in the broader community
- grow wagering on harness racing
- grow the customer base of harness racing - whether it be betting, owning or sponsoring our sport
COC continues to deliver on its purpose based on the following KPI's:
- Over 100,000 people have attended COC meetings in the last three years - 70% of these were not regular harness racing attendees
- We have achieved extensive social media and other media coverage that we wouldn't have normally received
- Wagering turnover on COC meetings increased by 14% despite overall wagering turnover declining by 11%, representing a 25 percentage points outperformance of the broader wagering market and demonstrating the growing appeal of COC meetings to punters.
- The COC has allowed HRNSW to build a database to measure and better understand our customer base. We have 27,300 email addresses and phone numbers of COC attendees and are using these to strategically promote our sport in areas such as ownership and promotional activity.
It is important to understand that COC was delivered using existing resources and by redirecting media and marketing budgets from other areas.
Now that the product is well established, we will move to the next phase of the strategy where we will embed COC as the primary mechanism to drive the previously mentioned KPI’s but also add more support to other established events aimed at expanding the benefits already achieved.
As an example, we are determined to ensure that every club has events, similar to Cup meetings, that attract new audiences and excite the local community in the same way that COC has done.
HRNSW continues to invest in services that support the industry
Based on financial benchmarking HRNSW is the most cost efficient of the state harness racing governing bodies in Australia. Despite running a very lean team, HRNSW offers a broad range of services aimed at benefiting industry participants. These services include:
- Maternity leave program
- University and Trade School scholarship program
- Comprehensive animal welfare and rehoming program(s)
- Benevolent fund access
- Harness Industry leading Personal injury and Workers Compensation insurance
- EAP services
I'm concerned that many in the industry are not aware of these services, or do not take full advantage of them. If you are interested in any of these services, please reach out to the team.
A new Strategic Plan will be developed
The majority of the current Strategic Plan has now been actioned and as a result it's time to reassess where we are at.
It's important that the industry has input into the new Strategic Plan that will now be developed in the next few months. HRNSW will reach out to all kindred bodies in the coming weeks and invite them to attend and present to the full Board.
Harness racing is at a challenging stage of its evolution. We must grow again and that relies on new people entering, or re-entering, our sport.
Any ideas you have to assist with this would be very much appreciated.
What is clear is that we all have a role to play in marketing our sport better and what worked in the past in unlikely to work in the future.
Your innovative ideas would be appreciated.
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