Drivers' Colours or Not?

[Messenger]

They would have been disappointed that he got beaten on what would appear to be clearly the best horse
Have a look at this finish folks

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fie...19#GPM13071901

[Dot]

An experience they won’t forget in a hurry!!

[Messenger]

You're getting desperate Dot. Those guys would have hundreds of boozy nights out lost in their memory banks - the only thing that will make this one memorable is that somebody thought it was worth twittering it

[Dot]

Sad you think so Kev, let’s turn out the lights on the industry now then shall we. I’m sure more then one will remember more then just a little about it, and some of the 1.6k twitter viewers so far might just take a little more interest. That was RWWAs own twitter feed Kev, which also conducts pre and post race interviews with the drivers and is the leader in the industry in that space.

You don’t want to promote the drivers Kev, something that all the professional promoters tell us we must, the Winxs and Black Caviars or Lenny’s and Lazarus’s can’t run multiple races on multiple days, and are few and far between. ( but obviously promote them when we have them)

Tell us how you would have us connect with the social media driven young people of the day and bring them into our industry?

[Dot]

And should have said best in the Australian space for the WA boys. And Ashley Brennan does outstanding work on social media at Menangle and some of the other carnivals.

Unprecedented access to the action in the US too, drivers in their own colours that fit, not the bedraggled look common here, and the trainers aren’t left out as some seem to fear.

https://mobile.twitter.com/TheMeadowlands/with_replies

[Messenger]

Just stop with the turn out the lights carry on when someone has a differing opinion

I have NEVER said I do not want to promote the drivers just that I do not favour drivers colours and that I think the promotion of the horses is still the way to go

In post 6 I said:

Jocks, drivers and trainers with personality or even mystique are no doubt valuable assets

In post 4 I said:

Trainers and owners are generally available for interviews, if one proves a natural and is interested in a profile - it will/would have happened

I meant to include jockeys and drivers in that

This thread is about driver's colours - keep interviewing everyone that is worth interviewing and highlighting interesting horse races/clips too and promoting 'events'

We miss out on many chances to promote the horses
Using your clip - A horse called Major Martini who finishes like a bullet should be easy to promote
I can remember a couple of years back when a coloured horse (of ordinary ability but that shouldn't have mattered) could have been our 'Spirit' and a great family puller

[Danno]

Joining this debate kinda late Dot, but please show where copying what the septics do has brought our game any benefit, a couple of complete failures that come to mind are,

1) All/mostly mobile racing. BORING and predictable
2) Shorter distance racing. BORING and predictable

Dot you are good on statistics, I'd like to see how adopting drivers colours has increased betting turnover or heaven forbid increased the number of bums on seats in the USA, I know you won't be able to show those stats because they don't exist, the game in the states is shrinking at an even more alarming rate than our own. ( I'm certain you can find stats to support that statement because the facts abound)

What the game needs in my humble opinion, is to reconnect with the "man on the street", this can best be done by increasing participation levels and syndication of very small shares in inexpensive horses that can go to the races next week, will help with that though not the only strategy.

The "man/woman on the street" still connects through "word of mouth" he just does it through his twitter/facebook account these days. I don't think we need to conquer Facebook, we just need to get more people engaged in the trots and talking to their friends about it.

I would very, very happily bet my life, that adopting drivers colours would have ZERO impact on either betting turnover or participation numbers, and I believe quite strongly participation numbers will grow turnover long before ANY marketing/sales gimmick.

Please remember we are the trots and we are unlike any other racing code particularly in Australia or elsewhere we should be leveraging our uniqueness, not throwing it in the can.

Cheers,

Danno.

[Dot]

No Danno not late just rooted in the past. The debate is not about what has been but about the need to change and innovate in order to stem the decline in interest in our sport, which is a worldwide phenomenon. The United States is not the only country to use driver colours, and support for driver colours is not because the United States use them but because the professionals and young people involved in marketing our sport here in Australia say that they can build a much superior brand and promotion for our industry using drivers and driver colours then they are able to do now.

“What the game needs in my humble opinion, is to reconnect with the "man on the street", this can best be done by increasing participation levels”

How do we increase participation levels if we do not first reconnect with the “man on the street” ? And isn’t this the space our young social media professionals operate in, shouldn’t we heed their advice?

The most effective syndication model in the industry in the world for small shares in inexpensive horses connecting the men and women “on the street” through word of mouth via social media is thestable.ca in Canada. Canada is a country that uses driver colours, so clearly driver colours are no barrier to increasing participation levels there.

There is no doubt Danno that known drivers are a benefit to increasing turnover, I had this conversation in Sydney with Sam Nati on more then one occasion. And one of the most marked venues that turnover increased when known Sydney drivers attended was your home track of Newcastle. Making drivers more known and identifiable can only be of further benefit to turnover. I’ve little doubt increased participation levels would be beneficial for turnover, but as we know they have been in steady decline for about three decades, all the while whilst the trainer/owner colours you are advocating for have been in use, and yet you steadfastly resist the notion that we should try change?

We currently use the standardised “greyhound” numbers and variable “thoroughbred” owner/trainer colours, wouldn’t we be leveraging our uniqueness if we went to drivers using their own uniquely identifiable colours? And there is of course currently nothing preventing an owner or trainer decking out their horse in their own colours.

Don’t you feel just a little bit hypocritical Danno? Or has the indigenous driver series changed? Don’t the trainers and owners who provide the horses for these races give up their colours in order for you to wear your unique driver colours?

[Messenger]

No Danno not late just rooted in the past. The debate is not about what has been but about the need to change and innovate in order to stem the decline in interest in our sport, which is a worldwide phenomenon. The United States is not the only country to use driver colours, and support for driver colours is not because the United States use them but because the professionals and young people involved in marketing our sport here in Australia say that they can build a much superior brand and promotion for our industry using drivers and driver colours then they are able to do now.

“What the game needs in my humble opinion, is to reconnect with the "man on the street", this can best be done by increasing participation levels”

How do we increase participation levels if we do not first reconnect with the “man on the street” ? And isn’t this the space our young social media professionals operate in, shouldn’t we heed their advice?

The most effective syndication model in the industry in the world for small shares in inexpensive horses connecting the men and women “on the street” through word of mouth via social media is thestable.ca in Canada. Canada is a country that uses driver colours, so clearly driver colours are no barrier to increasing participation levels there.

There is no doubt Danno that known drivers are a benefit to increasing turnover, I had this conversation in Sydney with Sam Nati on more then one occasion. And one of the most marked venues that turnover increased when known Sydney drivers attended was your home track of Newcastle. Making drivers more known and identifiable can only be of further benefit to turnover. I’ve little doubt increased participation levels would be beneficial for turnover, but as we know they have been in steady decline for about three decades, all the while whilst the trainer/owner colours you are advocating for have been in use, and yet you steadfastly resist the notion that we should try change?

We currently use the standardised “greyhound” numbers and variable “thoroughbred” owner/trainer colours, wouldn’t we be leveraging our uniqueness if we went to drivers using their own uniquely identifiable colours? And there is of course currently nothing preventing an owner or trainer decking out their horse in their own colours.

Don’t you feel just a little bit hypocritical Danno? Or has the indigenous driver series changed? Don’t the trainers and owners who provide the horses for these races give up their colours in order for you to wear your unique driver colours?

You/they have not shown how the drivers colours is important, workable, recognizable

Trial it if they like - they will have to find some primary type colours that are not already trainer owned.

You didn't answer my post 18:

So we the regulars don't need them!

If we are doing it for the occasional punter in the TAB (post 12) we would be keeping the colours simple (don't ask me how) so that he would remember 'that driver's colours' next time he feels the urge

We also seem to be assuming that there is sufficient pre-race coverage for him to spot his favourite colours or they are going to jump out at him when the odds are displayed (the graphics would greatly simplify them as they do now and often bear no resemblance to the actual colours)
It would seem to me that he is more likely to remember the horse or drivers name from a past experience and he is going to look up/spot that
Then if we are talking about him following his bet in the race, now that he knows its number, wouldn't the set doggies colours be of more assistance - another can of worms

It is my opinion if you are about non regulars recognizing their horse/driver easier then you cannot go past something like the greyhound colours for starting position

When trainers or owners give up their colours it is to promote a cause or event (and sometimes to be in a penalty free race?)
Dan has his own colours - green and black with some orange
Dot you have to stop trying so hard to win and simply be satisfied at circulating an opinion
If instead of firing off the indigenous colours shot you had done some research you would have seen that Dan wore the green TAB colours at Albury and when he won at Menangle in their series he wore the following. (Maitland last year had some fantastic indigenous colours)

[Messenger]

I would hope that any trial/proposal would first gauge the feelings of our biggest owners - we cannot afford to lose any as apart from syndications we still need some 'big end of town' money (they may be the syndicators)

I trust they will not be promoting drivers like Glenn Douglas whom they have labelled a mentor in the past