Ahead of jump racing’s crown jewel, the Cheltenham Festival, the Jockey Club is rolling out a campaign called ‘Love The Jumps’ that is built around a set of mini documentaries that go behind the scenes at top training yards.
The initiative, which has been developed in association with production company Friday, runs primarily across the horse racing rights owner’s YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/user/thejockeyclub1750 ) and Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/channels/1213786) channels and is linked digitally and socially via the campaign hashtag #LoveTheJumps.
Filmed at the very start of the 2016/17 National Hunt season, the series takes us inot the heart of the sport through the eyes of the trainers, stable lads and lasses and the wider team as preparations get under way for the season ahead.
Episode One, which launched the campaign on 8 March, visits the yard of Kerry Lee (who took over her father Richard’s stables just last year).
This film sees Kerry take a unique approach with the horses in her yard, explores how she deals with unseasonably dry weather restricting running opportunities and delves into the strong team ethos which lies at the heart of her early success.
Episode Two, which also launched on * March, sees The Jockey Club visit Jackdaws Castle, the home of Jonjo O’Neill Racing, who were experiencing a barren run of 60 days without a winner as The Open meeting at Cheltenham approached.
Further films in the series include Episode Three (which focuses on up and coming amateur jockey Richard Patrick, along with top professional rider Jamie Moore and Champion Jockey Richard Johnson)
Love the Jumps: Episode 3 – Kerry Lee Racing from The Jockey Club on Vimeo.
and Episode Four’s focus on Assistant Head Lad Flo Willis as she takes well fancied horse More of That to Cheltenham for the highlight of The Open Festival – the Betvictor Gold Cup.
Love the Jumps: Episode 4 – Jonjo O'Neill Racing from The Jockey Club on Vimeo.
The films are also being amplified across the racing right holders own digital and social channels (with social support from the trainers and jockeys too) – including Twitter (which initially teased the first episode)
Episode 1 of #lovethejumps airs on here at 8pm tonight. Can't wait? Watch all 4 episodes at https://t.co/AyhyYV1cFS pic.twitter.com/qXLCNdIApo
— The Jockey Club (@TheJockeyClub) March 8, 2017
Episode 1 of #lovethejumps airs on Twitter at 8pm tonight. Can't wait? Head to the Vimeo channel for all 4 episodes https://t.co/AyhyYViNxq pic.twitter.com/JRMglPyZSB
— The Jockey Club (@TheJockeyClub) March 8, 2017
before posting the full length films
PRESS PLAY: In Ep. 1 of #LoveTheJumps we go behind the scenes at Kerry Lee Racing in her second season as a trainer pic.twitter.com/I9Qa9bqqnm
— The Jockey Club (@TheJockeyClub) March 8, 2017
Thank you for all the kind words re #LovetheJumps. Ep 2 featuring the team @JonjoONeill Racing can be seen here tonight at 8pm pic.twitter.com/USOOhvkSLb
— The Jockey Club (@TheJockeyClub) March 9, 2017
and the films air on The Jockey Club’s Facebook page
and its Instagram feed too.
The initiative also links to The Jockey Club’s ongoing ‘Love The Jumps’ podcast series downloadable from iTunes.
Activative Comment:
This documentary led campaign is essentially ‘traditional craft for insiders’.
We love the Cheltenham Festival, but whilst the films themselves genuinely offer insider insight into jump racing culture and lifestyle we wonder whether they will appeal beyond the sport’s existing core fan base.
The release date, coupled with the depth of the content, suggests that whilst the campaign may engage and fascinate the ‘already committed’, they won’t do much to drive festival ticket sales or awareness amongst the uninitiated.
We think that the fact that, thus far, the YouTube views for each film are in the hundreds rather than the tens of thoughts further supports our supposition.
While, to be fair, Gold Cup day at the Cheltenham Festival was completely sold out by 15 February (a month ahead of the festival) and the Jockey Club expects another record Friday crowd like last year’s 70,242 and to break 2015’s 260,000 four-day meeting total attendance record too.
The Jockey Club, which is governed by Royal Charter to reinvest all profits into British Racing and whose Patron is Her Majesty The Queen, owns many of British horseracing’s iconic tracks, race meetings and assets: including the Grand National, the Cheltenham Festival, The Investec Derby and The National Stud.
Links:
The Jockey Club
http://www.thejockeyclub.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/TheJockeyClub1750/
https://www.youtube.com/user/thejockeyclub1750
https://twitter.com/TheJockeyClub
https://www.instagram.com/thejockeyclub/?hl=en
Cheltenham Festival:
http://cheltenham.thejockeyclub.co.uk/
