WHY MC YEEHAAAA IS IN A BIT OF A FUNK!
Matt Chapman, for my money, like Brother James Brown was the hardest working man in the world of funk, is the hardest working person in British horse racing with no fear to go where even angels fear to tread, had something to get off his chest, and he did just that last week about how horse racing and “music festivals” don’t exactly making sweet music together.
He’s right, of course, though having been to Roskilde and Glastonbury, currently being in Hong Kong, what Matt meant when he mentioned “music festivals” getting in the way of the horse racing might not exactly be what I’m thinking about.
Having said this, I totally agree that attendance figures going up because of “younger people” showing up at the races for music events might be a marketing gimmick, but it’s not going to be the future of the sport no matter what bollocks is said by those who need to say something about GenZ, GenY and the latest findings in some McKinsey report.
This “future” will only happen when younger people are attracted to make the time to actually go horse racing on a regular basis because of the horse racing and to meet like-minded people who they are guaranteed to meet when at the races with a modicum of what’s known as a personality.
It’s not unlike Babs Streisand singing about people needing people…
Another thing: ‘Live’ music in the afternoon is sleepy time for retirees and a rather bigly A&R faux pas and shows that not many in racing clubs understand a thing about music marketing and how music fans think and are clueless about what type of music works.
When still running EMI Music in the region, i was invited to visit the Beer Garden at the very unique location of the Happy Valley racecourse by the CEO of the Hong Kong Jockey Club and asked to let him know what thoughts I might have to make it work better- it being something called “Sassy Wednesday” with advertising that looked like promoting happy endings in a sauna in Macau.
I went and saw the sassiness and also saw this as being an easy move to first see out my contract with an EMI that was being sold to Guy Hands’ private equity company Terra Firma, and then create and manage what became the entertainment-driven Happy Wednesday brand and game changer for the Hong Kong Jockey Club and which I looked after for twelve years that could have been spent doing something meaningful to humanity. Or working with the creative team behind Gorillaz.
Taking on Happy Wednesday was after understanding from the team at the HKJC where and when the ‘live’ music would start and had to end before the racing and paddock parades started.
Everything was extremely well timed and co-ordinated, and with each month there being themed nights with various interactive activities plus, of course, the horse racing and where some of the first timers to the track thought the same horses ran in every race.
This entertainment recipe attracted those very international young people in their twenties and early thirties who were part of a fledgling artists and entrepreneurs community that had come together in the hip new area of the city known as Sheung Wan. There’s not much hipness these days.
Kristine, my girlfriend at the time, who was from Denmark and extremely hip, persuaded me to move from my longtime comfort zone at the upmarket service apartments at Convention Plaza to a funky walk up apartment she had found that was a very short walk away from Sheung Wan.
Other than discovering a completely new lifestyle for myself in Hong Kong, this move also gave me the opportunity to get to know the Sheung Wan community and their interests in fashion, art and music- and perhaps some idea of horse racing.
All this is what formed the basis of making the Happy Wednesday brand a welcome and REGULAR mid-week break for particularly this group of tastemakers- attractive, fashionable entrepreneurial and looking for something different in a city still relatively new to them.
These people were “influencers” long before this term started to be bandied around randomly and online. They were our unofficial street marketing team with word of mouth advertising from them creating an interest amongst others in Hong Kong to check out what was going on every Happy Wednesday. One wouldn’t find this in the corporate safety net of any McKinsey report.
The result was a chain reaction of interest and fun in going racing being ignited and endorsed by Trip Advisor as THE place to go in Hong Kong on a Wednesday night.
Those Happy Wednesday nights with the horse racing neatly sandwiched and packaged between everything else that was happening alongside those themed nights at two very different venues at the racecourse- the Beer Garden and Adrenaline-both with ‘live’ music and for different demographics, was the answer and with everything happening organically.
From my years with Universal Music and then EMI, one knew that ‘live’ music and horse racing would not work in the afternoon because of what could be a “culture clash”.
Our happy meal combo that started at around 6.30pm was, however, the perfect START to a night out. The REAL partying, after all, happened after the last race had been run and outside of the racecourse in places like dragon-i, Dusk Till Dawn, Insomnia, Escape, Drop etc.
Perhaps it all looked too easy, and after a couple of years, variations on the Happy Wednesday theme started to pop up in other countries and hosted by racing clubs. Some might have worked better than others, but as with anything in life, it all comes down to timing and how it’s all about people helping make anything work and give it an edge and brand image.
Give these people the keys to the kingdom and they will do the rest because it’s about having a sense of belonging and pride in ownership.
Now that we have come out of those lockdown years and are starting to find our sea legs again during these post pandemic times, as with any industry, there’s a need for horse racing to attract a new generation of fans who will go the distance.
Is the answer ‘live’ music? That would be the easy and predictable answer, and I don’t believe it is, especially not in Hong Kong with most of those Happy Wednesday regulars having left the city and been replaced by budget tour groups from Shenzhen, a dancing mascot and some caterwauling on the stage of the Beer Garden. But who cares? Times change, tastes change and…
The world is in Crisis mode and in the middle of enormous change. Music is being streamed and has been devalued, and, at least in Hong Kong, good new musical talent is a rarity and why almost every venue with the need for music is settling for Eh- but it’s still better than nothing. Maybe.
Though there are music festivals like Glastonbury and at Ibiza, there’s also a new generation who are NOT lost in space and discovering AI, taking a new interest in culinary adventures, travelling, both astrally and for real, and exploring new locations like Sri Lanka, Cambodia, the Maldives etc.
If still running and managing the Happy Wednesday brand what I would do is make the new entertainment available something that points people towards an escape from the craziness going on around them and instead of formulaic thinking and continuing to try and hold on to what’s no longer here or there, be seen as a guide to good times!
This is where horse racing looks like an also ran while riding off into the sunset looking about as relevant as Bros.
Every couple of months, I fly down with my new partner to where I was born- Ceylon, which is now known as Sri Lanka and is one of a few new magnets for tourism.
After feasting on a brilliant traditional Sri Lankan breakfast of string hoppers, chicken curry and pol sambal, it’s a walk down from where we have a bungalow to take in the boutique horse racing in Newra Elya.
It’s not exactly Royal Ascot and there’s no Aiden or cake by the Oisin, but it always comes down to horses for courses, and how any place makes you feel and wants to burst into song like very probably Ryan Moore does when at home and tucking into his porridge.
Happy to play host to you in Sri Lanka, Sir Yeehaaa!
Comments