Racing Victoria refreshes brand
Racing Victoria has created a new unified brand for Victorian thoroughbred racing.
The announcement:
As part of its push to modernise and simplify the presentation of the sport, Racing Victoria and the state’s key racing clubs have come together to create a new unified brand for Victorian thoroughbred racing.
Represented by a redeveloped visual identity, the new brand – which is simply called Racing – will fill the role currently played by Racing Victoria, which will cease to be a consumer- facing brand and play a regulatory role only.
The bold and modern new visual identity, developed by Canyon in conjunction with Naked Communications, incorporates an image of a horse and a rider raising his left arm in a winning salute, framed by a commanding shield and incorporating dynamic blue and magenta colouring.
It pays tribute to the deeds of racing’s champion mare Black Caviar, unbeaten in her 25 starts, and her jockey Luke Nolen.
The brand will feature on Racing Victoria’s newly developed digital platform, racing.com, as well as across a new Spring Racing Carnival marketing campaign and on collateral developed as part of the racehorse owners’ program in Victoria.
Racing Victoria Chief Commercial & Strategy Officer, Andrew Catterall, said the new brand had been established as part of a wider strategy which aimed to make it easier for consumers to navigate the sport.
“Our strategy is to create stronger links across the sport for consumers, whilst respecting the commercial value and equity of the existing racing club brands in this state. We are confident that in time this powerful brand will sit alongside other leading sporting brands such as those created by the AFL and NRL,” Catterall said.
“Our objectives are to increase year round engagement and relevance to boost horse ownership, attendance at race days, club membership and wagering on Victorian thoroughbred racing. We are putting in place the building blocks to enable both domestic and international ambitions for growth.”
Racing Victoria has also made several key hires to facilitate the development of both the new brand and the digital network, bringing in Dale Stratford (former CMO, Village Roadshow Theme Parks) as General Manager, Marketing and Andrew Burke (former CEO, Next Digital) as General Manager, Joint Digital.
According to Stratford, the new brand and visual identity has been developed to convey the thrill, excitement and exhilaration of racing.
“There has never been more competition for people’s entertainment spend – and we believe this bold new brand, coupled with a strategic customer focus, will help the sport of racing have a greater presence in this crowded, demanding marketplace,” Stratford said.
Racing industry participants were given a first look at the new identity overnight at a prestigious industry awards ceremony and roll-out will commence with the Spring Racing Carnival campaign which is in market from Monday, 1 September.
Source: Naked Communications media release
