The Hong Kong Jockey Club leads the way to top racing entertainment and a new generation racecourse

05/04/2012

  Revolutionary, seamless customer engagement, from browsing information to final transactions in a digital way  

The Hong Kong Jockey Club (the Club) has launched a whole new way for customers to enjoy the excitement of horse racing at Happy Valley racecourse’s rejuvenated adrenaline bar and lounge with the establishment of an IBU Zone.  The IBU Zone integrates technology and social entertainment, propelling the industry into a new era of racing entertainment.

Horse racing is Hong Kong's most popular spectator sport.  Its major appeal to customers is the skill involved in the mental challenge of picking winners. However, in today's dynamic entertainment business environment, with rising demand for social entertainment, the Club has seen significant changes in customer needs and expectations. These include the study and exchange of sport-related information through digital channels in a social and interactive manner.

“Hong Kong horse racing already sets world-class standards both in sporting achievement and racecourse social entertainment," said Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Chief Executive Officer of The Hong Kong Jockey Club. "We have taken the challenge of horse racing being wrongly perceived as only for mature customers. We listened closely to our customers, and researched extensively into their needs and wants. We found that younger customers face significant hurdles when taking the first steps into the analysis needed to play this intriguing mind game. They prefer something intuitive and interactive which suits their technology-savvy lifestyle. They also enjoy more sociable environments in which to connect with each other.”

The IBU Zone at adrenaline is the crystallisation of concepts gleaned from in-depth customer studies conducted by the Club, which confirm that customers increasingly expect social, interactive entertainment in a trendy, relaxed venue. The IBU Zone mixes social interaction, the racecourse’s unique energy and the meeting of mental challenges, all in the casual and relaxed adrenaline. The Club now delivers a revolutionary experience of horse racing that is digitally interactive, intuitively simple, graphically attractive and matches the lifestyle of the younger generation. Furthermore, racing information has been redesigned into a simplified and more accessible format to facilitate customer familiarization, and to enhance customers' abilities to capture racing knowledge for a more enjoyable mind game experience.

Mr Engelbrecht-Bresges said he was proud of the many breakthrough elements that IBU represented, enabling customers to enjoy the sport in a whole new way. "IBU seamlessly integrates multi-touch technology to create more customer engagement, from browsing information to making transactions with the cashless smart card," he explained. “It offers a completely new social experience at the racecourse that fulfils the Club’s vision in many ways.”

The Club’s concepts for IBU were realised through a disciplined strategy and innovation implementation process in the proprietary enterprise platform, together with the advanced technology and digital man-machine interface design experience brought by Possible Worldwide, a global interactive marketing agency.

To further enhance this new racing entertainment experience, the Club is putting strong emphasis on customer experience and tailor-made services. Friendly horse racing ambassadors are available at adrenaline, providing customised racing guidance and analysis. All these essential components are integrated into this new IBU – an adrenaline experience that enables leisure and novice customers to enjoy the sport of racing in a digitally immersive and social entertaining environment.

Scarlette Leung, the Club’s Director of Corporate Business Planning and Programme Management, described it as “a highly disciplined strategy, innovation and solution development process delivered by many different teams towards realising this vision of an integrated IBU - adrenaline racing entertainment experience."

The Club's IT team has played an important role in the development of IBU. "Our IT team has managed the delivery of all technical aspects of this initiative. This comprises integrating multiple back-end and front-end systems, connecting real-time racing information and transactions from the Club's back-end system with the IBU table and the video displays at the venue, and integrating them with business operations,” said Sunny Lee, the Club’s Executive Director of Information Technology.  “Through this project, we have successfully developed an advanced SOA (Service Orientation Architecture) platform that is reusable, robust, secure and high performance, so that the Club can continue to leverage it to enable development of its future digital channels to enhance customer experiences. We have also developed the innovative Contactless Smart Card system to enable secure cashless transactions to be conducted on the IBU".

The Hong Kong Jockey Club

Founded in 1884, the Hong Kong Jockey Club is not only one of the world's leading horse racing organisations but also a world top 15 charitable organisation and Hong Kong’s largest community contributor, donating HK$1.6 billion in 2011. It is also a major taxpayer, Hong Kong's single largest by far, generating over HK$15 billion a year for public funds. The Club pioneers technology applications for sporting and betting entertainment, striving for the highest levels of customer service. As a membership club, it is recognised as one of Asia’s most prestigious, with more than 23,000 members. These multifaceted roles make it a well-respected and remarkable organisation, dedicated to its mission of enhancing the quality of life for all Hong Kong people.

Possible Worldwide

Possible Worldwide is a global agency that creates meaningful and measurable interactive marketing. The firm serves a broad range of Fortune 1000 clients, including AT&T, Barclay’s, Comcast, Dell, P&G, Nokia, Microsoft, Mazda and Starwood.

Headquartered in New York, Possible operates 23 offices worldwide, with major operations in London, Shanghai, Delhi, Singapore, São Paulo, Dubai, Los Angeles, Cincinnati and Nairobi. For more information, please visit possibleworldwide.com. Possible Worldwide is part of WPP Digital, which is the digital investment arm of WPP.