BACKING (INTO) THE…PUNT?
When there was a music industry, it was always summertime, living was easy, we travelled everywhere in primo class and used company ka-ching to try out the latest hotels and clubs and restaurants and were never short of companionship.
Whether with Sony, Universal, EMI etc, we’d swan around wherever in the world that the Les Grande Fromage wanted to go and make an appearance and a presentation and then make plans for a Wolf Of Wall Street night.
Knowing that all expenses were covered, we would go anywhere- and we did- including conferences to “Save The Music” etc where there would be keynote speakers and on some occasions, an actual recording artist.
What did any of these events achieve?
Well, look at what’s left of the music industry today.
I was reminded of those halcyon days when MTV and every major and minor music company had parties for artists which were attended by those who wanted to be seen and not really that different to the LinkedIn and Tatler crowd who are, more often than not, interchangeable.
This was when reading about this year’s “Backing The Punt” talkfest.
What is this exactly? Though a friend who’s in the horse racing caper mentioned how news of this event lost him at Hello, “Backing The Punt” is marketed as a “2-day deep dive into the challenges and opportunities facing Australia’s wagering, racing and sports betting sector” and, basically, rub shoulders with the movers and shakers involved in this business.
The bottom line, one hazards a guess, is for bookmakers and others whose business is ensuring that what’s known as “the punt” continue to survive and even thrive to exchange ideas and see exactly where everyone stands or where they sink or swim.
Focussing on the Australian punting market, and for an entrance fee of around AUS$800, one has the opportunity to listen to, not exactly Les Miserables, but stalwarts and visionaries in horse racing in Australia- people like Mick Sharkie, Aaron Morrison, Matthew Welsh, Andrew Catterall etc- share their insights on how, instead of backing into anything and causing a car crash, it would be all about putting the pedal to the metal and moving fast forward.
How? Other than the AUS$800 for some form of enlightenment, one would think that offered would be the usual flurry of free bets, possibly the dream of winning even when losing, and other oddities that might grab the imagination and nuts of punters and even make believers out of wannabe punters.
Albeit speed reading through this bungle in the punting jungle, the mind somehow wandered off to scenes from “The Sting”, “Godfather 2”, “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory”, “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”, and, at times, “Thelma and Louise”.
So, who else would be at this Australian Punting forum that starts today at the ? Government officials or a relevant official who might offer some insight into where everything stands- or is sinking?
Having been in advertising where I worked on the Marlboro business before cigarette advertising along with promoting alcohol brands were banned from television, is there anyone representing one of the leading ad agencies?
Anyone from the tech sector, especially when technology has made the world smaller, everything speedier and with AI driven changes certain to create things we haven’t even thought about?
“Backing The Punt” is what it says it is. But as with every single consumer driven and consumer focused and consumer needed product and industry, are a group of talking heads from horse racing talking to each other enough?
Don’t forget what happened to the far more powerful and popular music industry and the gawd awful mistake it made by not working with Sean Parker and Shawn Parker and file sharing site Napster?
The most important lesson I learned about consumer behaviour and consumer marketing was from the Chairman of McDonald’s who said that his competition was everything the consumer spends money on for the simple reason that the Golden Arches have lost a sale.
Having been on the outside looking in on the horse racing industry for over two decades, not missed is its rather blinkered way of looking at things and talking to itself instead of listening to experienced professionals from other industries.
Why not take their knowledge for free and make this work for the racing industry- an industry in dire need of change and new business partnerships while trying to survive in a down economy.
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