Meet the team:

Katie Wells is a second-year graduate student at the University of Louisville pursuing a Master’s of Arts in Communication degree with the intentions of graduating December 2018. Katie served as co-leader of the team and assisted in the execution of the influencer marketing campaign and development of the Executive Summary, Client Background, and Primary Research.

Berry Craig IV is a second-year graduate student at the University of Louisville. He’s pursuing a Master’s of Arts in Communication with the intent to graduate in May of 2020. Berry served as co-leader of the team and assisted with the overview of the market share and competition.

Jessica Sanchez is a second-year graduate student at the University of Louisville pursuing a Master’s of Arts in Communication with the intentions of graduating in May 2019. Jessica assisted in developing the Meltwater Analysis and Promotions analysis.

Molly Marshall is a second-year graduate student at the University of Louisville pursuing a Master’s of Arts in Communication and plans to graduate in December 2018. Molly assisted in the development of the audience and key messages.

Hope Herline is a second-year graduate student at the University of Louisville pursuing a Master’s of Arts in Communication and plans to graduate in December 2018. Hope assisted in the developing the Situational Analysis.

Jennifer Culliford is a senior undergraduate student at the University of Louisville pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in communication and plans to graduate May 2019. Jennifer assisted developing a description of the product/issue/service.

Natalie Uhl is a first-year graduate student at the University of Louisville working toward a Master’s of Arts in communication and intents to graduate in the spring of 2020. Natalie assisted in the development of goals and objectives and helped the group conduct primary research.

Executive Summary

• Breeders' Cup is known as the World Championship of horse racing
• Comprised of 14 races over a two-day period
• Race travels to various tracks each year
• The 2018 Breeders’ Cup events ran at Churchill Downs

In its 34th year, the Breeders’ Cup hoped to target two distinct audience groups: those interested in the Breeders’ Cup races and those interested in attending local Breeders’ Cup Festival events. One way of doing so is by capitalizing on current social media trends.

External Environment

Impacts to Kentucky:

• $4 billion dollar annual economic impact of horse industry
• 100,000 jobs related to equine industry
• $10 billion dollar overall impact when including tourism

Background

Client Overview:

• Started in 1982 from prominent group of thoroughbred leaders
• Prior to the Breeders' Cup, there were no races designed to showcase older horses or different styles of races.
• The first Breeders’ Cup was run in 1984 at Hollywood Park in Los Angeles, moving to a different track annually to capture new audiences.
• For the first time since 2011, the Breeders’ Cup is returning to Louisville, Kentucky to run at Churchill Downs

Breeders' Cup vs. Breeders' Cup Festival

• Breeders' Cup is the 2 day racing event held at Churchill Downs
• The Breeders' Cup Festival is the weeklong celebration leading up to the racing events
• Key events included Equestricon, Topgolf Crush at Cardinal Stadium and the Breeders’ Cup Sports & Racing Excellence Award Presentation

Product/Service/Issue:

• The Breeders’ Cup hosted 105,820 guests in 2011 with a max capacity of 165,000
• Attendance for 2018 events were still being tallied with expectations significantly above 2011 attendance
• Tickets ranged in cost from $60 to upwards of $5,000+
• Breeders’ Cup is in need of content development for social media, most notably for the Breeders' Cup Festival accounts
• Gaining engagement and response from their Facebook pages (which turned into a Facebook group to promote exclusivity for 2018 events)

Promotions:

• Facebook and Twitter are two primary channels for Breeders' Cup
• Sweepstakes and contests such as the “Win with Eddie” sweepstakes or the “Win and You’re In” Giveaways help drive engagement
• Partnerships with Tito’s Vodka, Wild Horse Racing, Kentucky Derby Museum, and Churchill Downs and others help drive Louisville connections.
• Equestricon, an international horse-racing convention and trade show was one of the largest events.
• Horse-racing fans, industry leaders, and stakeholders have the chance to network, discuss and learn at Equestricon

Competition:

• Bourbon and horse racing two phrases that are top of mind in the commonwealth
• Kentucky’s most notable horse racing event is undoubtedly the derby -- the main competition of the Breeders' Cup
• The Breeders’ Cup and Breeders’ Cup Festival fight an uphill battle to increase market share against the Derby
• The Derby's 70+ events of the KDF help to build excitement much like the Breeders' Cup festival -- with events like Equestricon creating experiences unlike Derby events

Research:

• Research indicates that for both the Breeders’ Cup and Breeders’ Cup Festival, general public knowledge and awareness is the greatest hurdle
• More than 3 in 5 surveyed had heard little about the festival or events.
• Brand awareness among informed groups showed strong brand loyalty and appreciation for culture and support for events

Situation / SWOT Analysis:

Goals and Objectives:

Key Audience and Messages

Breeders’ Cup Audience

Owners:

• Baby boomers of the age to afford travel and upkeep required for maintaining health and longevity of horses
• Most have attended the Cup before in other locations
• Educated and knowledgable about equine industry

The Equestrian Fans:

• Horse fans and those who have travelled from across the country
• Gen X or Gen Y
• Involved in betting and interested in the outcome of the race.
• Fashionable and trend focused, other half are bet and finance focused

Locals:

• From Kentucky and Indiana
• Gen X or Gen Y age groups
• Often familiar with horse racing because of the Kentucky Derby but may not have heard of or attended the Breeders’ Cup before
• First Breeders’ Cup for many members of this audience segment
• Group is focused on the social aspects of the Breeders' Cup

Breeders’ Cup Festival Audience

Locals:

• Young adults from the Gen X or Gen Y age group
• Working individuals and groups looking for fun events to do after work -- events like TopGolf and the Off to the Races concert will interest them.
• May not be able to attend event itself, but positive experiences and water-cooler work discussions help spread knowledge of other festival events and races

Local Businesses:

• Businesses and television stations are contacted in hopes of placing stories and getting news coverage
• Working with the Breeders’ Cup to not only increase attendance to the events but to market themselves
• From the Baby boomer or Gen X age groups.

Local Families:

• Local families help drive engagement and attendance from the metro-Louisville area
• Gen X or Gen Y
• Family friendly events like Trick or Treat on the Track and Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular are interests of this audience
• Events created in hopes of including this audience since they may not have disposable income required or the desire

Strategies and Tactics

Strategy #1: To increase online engagement with Breeders’ Cup Festival accounts to drive attendance and sales

Strategy #2: Create awareness of difference between Breeders’ Cup and festival to highlight benefits of each and increase attendance and ticket sales

Strategy #3: Increase the use of user generated content to spark community support and engagement to spread brand and event awareness

Influencer Event:

• Local audiences for Breeders’ Cup and Breeders’ Cup Festival were engaged via an an influencer marketing campaign
• Our team conducted research to identify who had digital influence that would resonate with intended audiences
• Social media analytics tools identified influencers with a strong presence
• Three influencers participated in our evening event -- Bourbon and the Beats, at Churchill Downs. A night of swooning under the stars created the social media buzz the Breeders’ Cup and Breeders’ Cup Festival desired.

Equestricon:

• Breeders’ Cup made itself top-of-mind to convention attendees with sponsorship
• Promotion of their their post-position draw encouraged fans to watch the draw live
• Facebook and Twitter posts and tags were their primary method of promotion, along with paid advertising on social media

Breeders' Cup

• The event itself was the culminating portion of the festival and our work with the Breeders' Cup
• During the course of each day, we searched for content for the Breeders' Cup account to retweet and share -- most specifically looking for content shared by visitors with unique perspectives and experiences

Three Takeaways:

1. Social media is dominating the conversation when it comes to reach, exposure, sentiment, and share of voice with Twitter and Facebook the main two with the most activity
2. Global conversations are not as strong as they could be -- more outside discussions are needed to create global discussions
3. Content with the most reach were news articles or tweets from news sources across various channels

Calendar

Find our calendar here.

Evaluation

Evaluation and measurement are two key components to ensuring goals and objectives are met. Internal tools used included Sprout Social, Zoomph, Meltwater and Talkwalker.

In addition to mentions of the Breeders’ Cup and Equestricon themselves, some of the most common themes were racing, track, Churchill Downs, draw and tickets. These are all centered around the race itself but ties in well with Equestricon as they drew post positions, talked about racing, and talked about betting at Churchill Downs.

Summary

Reccomendations:

• Maximize local engagement
• Increase global reach
• Continue to use social media

Future Ideas:

Use the specific Breeder’s Cup Festival hashtag to allow users to post and reshare pictures for the opportunity to be reposted on Breeder’s Cup Festival Channels.

Increase the use of user generated content to spark community support and engagement.

Ideas not implemented:

#BCFBingo on social media to give away two tickets to the Breeders’ Cup

1. Post a bingo graphic on social media with various festival events as bingo spaces.
2. Fans that fill out a row (include pictures from each event) are entered to win Breeders’ Cup tickets.
3. Fans will use #BCFest18 and #BCFBingo and tag the Breeders’ Cup to be entered to win.

Increase promotion of local businesses who participate in the Breeders' Cup Festival to inspire more locals to be involved and attend

1. Feature different local business owners who are involved in the Breeders' Cup Festival on Facebook, specifically those who are event sponsors.
2. Tweet out promo code and link to the release about local businesses on the Breeders’ Cup Festival accounts.
3. Add promotion codes that can be used when audience member goes in to the store or participates in a Breeders’ Cup Festival event

References

• https://breederscupfestival.com/about-breeders-cup-festival/
• http://www.breederscup.com/history-tradition
• http://www.breederscup.com/year/1984
• http://www.breederscup.com/year/2011
• http://www.breederscup.com/article/breeders-cup-unveils-best-yet-come-campaign
• http://www.breederscup.com/tickets
• https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/160352/avioli-named-president-ceo-of-breeders-cup
• https://www.horseracingnation.com/news/Breeders_Cup_2017_at_Del_Mar_posts_handle_increases_123
• http://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/louisville-breeders-cup-festival-announces-lineup-of-events/