A collaboration between industry and education.
Background
Industry
Twenty-five-billion-dollar industry
Struggles to retain mass interest and viewership
Opportunity for betting
“Kentucky strong”
Client
First race in 1984
Became two-day event in 2007
Over thirty million dollars’ worth of horses and prize money
Returns to Louisville for the ninth time
Product / Service / Issue
Breeders' Cup Festival
Series of events leading up to most influential race of the year
Breeders’ Cup consists of fourteen races over the course of two days
The Breeders’ Cup Festival is offering 32 events leading up to the actual Breeders’ Cup event.
Equestricon Fashion at the Races
Equestricon (October 29-30)
Breeders’ Cup Festival Jazz Explosion
Fourth Street Live! Presents Burning Las Vegas!
The 35 Annual Breeders’ Cup Festival is supported by 14 sponsors.
Tito's Vodka
Hendrick's Vodka
Maker's Mark
The Breeders' Cup returning to Louisville is a great opportunity to show off its assets.
Promotions
The $100,000 Capture the Classic Challenge
Participants get to predict the winners of six Classic Division Races- the Belmont Stakes, Stephen Foster Handicap, Suburban Handicap, Haskell Invitational, Travers Stakes and Awesome Again Stakes
In addition to cash prize of $100,000, there is opportunity to win one of six VIP Ownership Experiences
Social media
Goal: turning the Breeders' Cup World Championships into a household name
Hashtags, Meltwater, metrics
Influencer Event
Main findings
Engagement increased during the event
Positive sentiment overall for the Breeders’ Cup
Hashtags were being utilized by different age cohorts
Influencers fulfilled obligations and generated engagement during time at Churchill Downs for Bourbon and Beats event
Analytics provided by Talkwalker and Zoomph during the 9/24 - 10/1 time period.
Equestricon
Equestricon is the first of its kind convention. It is a convention that focuses only on horse-racing and the horse-racing industry.
The convention takes place before the Breeders' Cup races and is part of the Breeders' Cup Festival, a festival of Breeders' Cup sponsored events to invite surrounding communities.
The Breeders' Cup Equestricon helps build word of mouth, and excitement for the Breeders' Cup races that will take place later on.
Multiple organizations set up to share information about thoroughbreds, breeding, racing and anything related to the Breeders' Cup.
Talks from horse-racing industry professionals take place throughout Equestricon. Sharing tips, information and memories of past races with a myriad of industry-loving individuals.
Breeders' Cup
We had several incredible opportunities for content creation at the Breeders' Cup.
The primary objective with Breeders' Cup content was creating a lasting story that could be highlighted throughout the year.
Engaging with audiences to build loyalty and grow conversations.
Provide a live experience so that fans across the globe could feel personally involved.
Stay true to the Breeders' Cup culture and brand.
Recommendation
Create campaigns that are centered around the town that your in and what the Breeders' Cup is all about.
Highlight more of the events happening at the Breeders' Cup other than the races
Highlight more of the experience that people will have when coming to the Breeders' Cup.
Show more of what people are doing while at the races.
Credits:
Candice Champlin, Megan McLeroy