Greyhound racing goes to 'The Dogs'
John Drinnan
Greyhound racing has been done up like a dog's dinner in its new marketing push but the industry believes the sport has already grown beyond the old image of Andy Capp and working class culture.
The New Zealand Greyhound Racing Association last night launched its new corporate identity, Greyhound New Zealand.
To make it an entertainment rather than a gambling option, it also established a new brand “The Dogs” leading to the worrying jibe that the industry is going to the dogs. Greyhound racing journalist Peter Fenemore has been covering the sport for 25 years and believes the new marketing push has legs.
“There has been a change in the past couple of years and feeling that it is going ahead. It is hard to estimate numbers. “But there are probably about 20,000 following the sport now and market research shows there is a lot of potential interest.”
The new branding push has followed on from the passing of the new Racing Act and the new makeup of the New Zealand Racing Board 18 months ago. Subsequently the greyhound racing body was overhauled. Once the preserve of Greyhound enthusiasts, the body overseeing the sport now has three independent directors. The chairman of Greyhound New Zealand is Trevor Deed, a member of the New Zealand Racing Board and a partner at Deloitte Wellington. The other independents are Auckland business and franchise consultant Selwyn Bradley and Wellington-based QC Helen Cull. This time last year the sport also got a new chief executive Lance Bickford, who had been chief executive of Tourism Auckland for five years. Mr Bickford was a newcomer to a sport that had been run by enthusiasts but 12 months later he is optimistic about its future.
“We have never actually had a racing brand to take up to the public. We've always raced very quietly but nobody has known we existed. He said The Dogs had developed a trendy marketing image in other countries especially the UK. It may come as a surprise to some but Mr Bickford said market research indicated a lot of potential demand among females aged under 35. But greyhound racing was viewed as having an older demographic. But he said the new branding, being fast-paced, exciting and down to earth, was aimed wider than demographics. He wanted it to become an option for the entertainment dollar rather than gambling.
Betting lies at the heart of the campaign because the sport, including the fee for participants, is funded almost solely by the take from the bettor's dollar. Under a complicated formula, from a $1 bet about 80c is paid back in dividends and most of the remainder is paid in tax to the government. Greyhound New Zealand gets about two or three cents. The industry is understood to be worth about $40 million, a tenth the size of horse racing and harness racing combined. For participants it is much cheaper and easier to take part than horse racing and they can race their dogs at one of 19 tracks throughout New Zealand.
The better income gives The Dogs an advantage over other sports because the Trackside channel of free-to-air TV televises every greyhound race in the country.
Source:
The National Business Review
