Ahead of the world’s richest day of horse racing, the £24m/$30m Dubai World Cup, rights holder and course owner Meydan Racing is running an integrated promotional campaign aimed at building anticipation, boosting excitement and driving ticket sales.
The initiative promoting the 25 March race launched a month before the big day with a central Dubai World Cup 2017 TV commercial initially posted on rights holder Meydan Racing’s YouTube channel on 26 February.
Themed around ‘Anticipation, Preparation and Dedication’ and promoting the role of UAE PM and Dubai ruler Sheikh Al Maktoum in the race’s creation, it positions the Dubai World Cup as the global stage for the world’s best horses and the biggest sporting and social occasion in the Dubai calendar.
Held annually at Meydan Racecourse on the last Saturday in March, it marks the conclusion of the UAE racing season and features nine races (including six Group 1 and three Group 2 contests).
The flagship event is the £8m/$10m Dubai World Cup (won in 2016 by California Chrome) and it is also supported by other entertainment activities such as the spectacular Dubai World Cup show and live music concert headlined by Sia.
The hero ad is a joint awareness generation and ticket sales campaign and its aims to drives viewers online to find out more details about ticket options at https://store.meydan.ae
This TVC is further supported by an initial, shorter online promotional spot posted earlier in February,
as well as by a digital and social media campaign running primarily across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – linked via the #DubaiWorldCup hashtag – thatspans video, imagery, interviews and other content pieces.
These include additional vanilla ticket sales focused executions
and several ticket-incentivised promo phases including a ‘Like, Share & Win’ social media follower list building contest incentivised by race tickets,
a fashion-led ‘Share What You Will Wear’ sweepstakes,
It's #Competition time!
Share what you will be wearing for #DubaiWorldCup for a chance to win two The Gallery tickets! pic.twitter.com/QGDwaIEY3F— MeydanStyle (@MeydanStyle) March 22, 2017
and a follow-up Mother’s Day ticket competition strand that asks race fans to ‘tell us why your mom is the best in the world using the hashtag #DubaiWorldCup for a chance to win’,
to direct race-related news and views like the Post Position Draw,
pre-race events such as ‘Breakfast With The Stars’ (a ticketed event staged on Meydan Racecourse’s Apron during morning track-work that features live commentary, entertainment, interviews and a lavish breakfast buffet as well as the chance to watch the Dubai World Cup contenders work out on the track ahead of the big day),
A fun morning at #meydan with Breakfast with the Stars. #dubaiworldcup pic.twitter.com/lLH1sMuPlB
— Meydan Racing (@DRC_Meydan) March 23, 2017
Good morning from Meydan Grandstand and Breakfast with the Stars.#DubaiWorldCup #BWTS pic.twitter.com/Nyqdj1tTaU
— Meydan Racing (@DRC_Meydan) March 23, 2017
plus the post-race concert headlined by Sia,
Not long left now until the 2017 #DubaiWorldCup and #Sia live in concert. pic.twitter.com/F6ddBinBnO
— Meydan Racing (@DRC_Meydan) March 22, 2017
(with plenty of social amplification from the singer herself),
UAE, only one more week until Sia performs at the #DubaiWorldCup on 3/25 at @DRC_Meydan https://t.co/UOxSlCz8NO– Team Sia pic.twitter.com/1AKVKpcXnW
— sia (@Sia) March 16, 2017
Dubai, don't miss Sia live at the @DWC_Meydan at Meydan Racecourse on 3/25! https://t.co/pNDFPHcQUV – Team Sia pic.twitter.com/K56UUUm0hO
— sia (@Sia) March 1, 2017
and a day-by-day countdown to the big meeting.
Activative Comment:
While the TV commercial is airing primarily in the Middle East, with almost one million YouTube views in its first three weeks (plus a further 500,000 views of the promo clip too), it looks as if the spot is getting plenty of global engagement too.
These social engagement metrics are well ahead of those for the previous Dubai World Cup spots in 2016 (177,000 YouTube views),
and in 2015 (600,000 YouTube views).
and the 2014 campaign (see case study).
Links:
Meydan Racing
https://www.youtube.com/user/DubaiRacingMeydan
https://twitter.com/drc_meydan
https://www.facebook.com/Dubai-Racing-Club-112006418869679/?fref=ts
https://www.instagram.com/meydanracing/
