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Whippet
Racing: Do It Now
The
"Whippet Racing: Do It Now" campaign was a collaborative
effort between myself and Donna Rotman Miner of Domino Whippets.
The
initial idea for the campaign came about from my dabblings
in graphic design and my interest in World War II propaganda.
I had done up a couple of ads, just for racing, on a lark.
When I shared them with Donna, her first thought was "Wouldn't
it be cool to run a campaign promoting whippet racing?"
We
used that comment as a starting point for the campaign and
developed our concept:we would create ads that not only promoted
whippet racing but also the racing whippet. We believed (and
still do believe!) that there is room in the whippet spectrum
for the "dual-purpose whippet", a whippet that is
functional and beautiful by all standards, and that
one way for this whippet to make its reappearance would be
to depict whippet racing as a viable breeding programme test
and the racing whippet as having assets to offer any
breeding programme.
Once
we had defined our concept, we needed to plan the execution
of the campaign. At the time, Whippet Watch magazine seemed
the perfect media. As a publication, it was dedicated to all
aspects of the whippet and had readership support from all
areas of the fancy.
The
ads themselves were based either on World War II propaganda
posters or on popular advertising. The first ad, A Sacred
Place, appeared without much fanfare but, when the second
one (Ready, Kid?) hit the press, the response was immediate.
It was clear we'd made an impact.
We'd
decided to alternate the ads between the "propaganda"
type and the "fun" type. We wanted people to know
that whippet racing was above all a fun thing to do with their
dog and didn't think they needed to be hit over the head with
the hard sell all the time to figure that out.
As
the campaign progressed, it became apparent that people were
waiting to see what we'd do next. Donna arranged to have Mary
Magee, publisher of Whippet Watch, move the ads into a prominent
position in the magazine. They stayed there for almost the
entire run of the campaign, being moved only once.
For
me, one of the highlights of the campaign came about after
receiving a message through Mary from one of her readers,
suggesting an ad concept. That said to me that our message
was getting out there and really sinking in. We used the offered
ad concept in one of our final ads.
Of
course, the real test of any ad campaign is whether or not
it produces the desired results. Did we succeed?
Since
the campaign, there have been more people interested in taking
their whippets out racing. There have also been several "half
and half" breedings that are enjoying success both in
the ring and on the track.
Obviously,
there is no way of knowing whether or not the Whippet Racing:
Do It Now campaign played any role in those events but I like
to think that we might have at least planted the seed of an
idea.
If
you are one of the people who saw this ad campaign, we would
be interested in hearing your thoughts on the material we
presented. Please
contact us at whippet.racing@peavine.com.
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