JC / Railbird

A part of the NTRA conference call yesterday was about how the NTRA is going to use social media this week; we were asked for suggestions on ways to increase visibility/uses of Twitter.

My #1 suggestion (with which I did not weigh in at the time): stop focusing on the medium and focus on the content. Banal information/commentary is still banal, even if it comes packaged in some cute little new medium. In fact, it’s even worse, because more people can be banal more frequently if they’re only doing it in small bits.

Posted by Teresa on April 28, 2009 @ 8:02 am

I read the “spectacle and synergy” article and, quite frankly, it made me sick. I will be at my local track (with the other hardcore fans) watching the Derby so I won’t be subjected to shots of fake celebrities talking about what they are wearing.

Posted by Kevin on April 28, 2009 @ 8:58 am

The NTRA is off to a flying start on twitter, posting mostly photos w/o much context. I completely agree with Teresa. It shouldn’t take the Derby for the NTRA to want to engage fans on twitter. The truth is, their mostly banal twitter existence thus far has most likely shut off the fans from paying any attention to them – kind of like watching commercials on TV. They’re there but you’re not really watching or paying attention.

Like Kevin, that article made me sick not just because I’m insulted that nowhere in the quotables of that article is anyone talking about horses or how exciting the game is but also because I know what lurks down this road of thought behind promotion and marketing. It’s not just because the event becomes a caricature of itself but the feeling I get is that these people think that the game is so toxic at the moment that anything they can do to get the focus off that can only mean more dollars in their pockets.

Unfortunately, once they start down this road it’s going to be hard to come back around to focusing on the game itself again because they lose credibility with the already existing fan base and the celebrities move on to different party.

The healthy way to do this is for the industry to be happy with what fans it has left, focus on that.

Posted by o_crunk on April 28, 2009 @ 9:33 am

It always come back to the content. Any medium can be used to broadcast trivialities; any form can be made banal. What the NTRA is doing so far with their Twitter feed, unfortunately, proves that point too well. Every opaque link to an uncaptioned photo squanders follower goodwill and interest.

What I wonder about traveling down the “lifestyle” marketing road is whether it plays right into the concerns of those who worry about horses being instrumentalized to provide a primarily *human* experience. How do you argue you’re a sport or a game when your biggest day becomes all about spectacle, the sporting aspects transformed into a rough pageant, an excuse to wear a big hat and drink juleps, not a test of equine ability at all?

Posted by Jessica on April 28, 2009 @ 9:57 am

“The healthy way to do this is for the industry to be happy with what fans it has left, focus on that.”

Agree with this completely. Racing is a marginal sport – so what! Look at what the NFL has become – I think marginality is a good thing. I can avert my eyes to all the BS and look forward to the Derby because it is a great day to be a race fan.

Unfortunately, most of the “big” sporting events have become more about the spectacle then the sport. It’s all about maximizing the audience which leads to catering to the “herd.”

Posted by Kevin on April 28, 2009 @ 11:23 am

Here’s an MSNBC column by Mike Celizic, on this very topic, even if unintentionally so.

Posted by Jessica on April 28, 2009 @ 9:11 pm