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FALL
2011 UPDATE
The
MHC Marketing Advisory Group held three meetings in the spring
of 2011 that provoked a lot of great discussion and ideas
concerning marketing plans for the industry as a whole and, more
specifically, for the Maryland Horse Industry Board. One
of the primary functions of MHIB is to promote and market the
state’s horse industry.
The
Marketing Advisory Group originally met as a way to help with
some efforts to support Maryland horseracing and quickly got
involved through MHC and MHIB in helping stage Decanter, the
first-ever wine festival that was held at Pimlico Race Course in
April. Despite terrible rainy weather, the event was a
success and will be expanded to two days in 2012. Once
again, MHC and MHIB will help the MD Jockey Club and the MD
Wineries Assn. stage the event.
Among
the proposals coming out of the Marketing Advisory meetings is
the need for the industry to not only develop a strategic
marketing plan, but also to develop a Super Site that
encompasses on one website all aspects of the MD horse industry
and link them together.
At
the May 2011 MHC meeting. Ellie Trueman presented to MHC members
elements of the 5-year marketing plan that she wrote with the
help of a 9-person horse industry ad hoc marketing committee
following the 2009 MD Horse Summit. Since then, the ad hoc
committee has been brought under the umbrella of the MHIB and is
now a full-fledged MHIB standing committee with 14 members.
The
first action the committee took was to start the new Touch of
Class Award program under the auspices of MHIB. Each
month, MHIB honors Maryland horses and/or people who have
demonstrated the highest standards of excellence in the MD horse
industry. The idea is to create a positive stream of good
news about our equine community. The first recipient in
September was Graham Motion, who won the 2011 Kentucky Derby and
is based at Fair Hill Training Center. Three TV stations
covered the award ceremony and nearly a dozen stories resulted
from the presentation. The second award was presented by
Maryland Million Day to 3-Day eventer Colleen Rutledge.
The
MHIB marketing committee is initiating meetings with the
National Geographic Society to explore the possibility of
developing a multi-deliverable Super Site for Maryland’s horse
industry. This is
in direct response to ideas discussed by members of the Marketing
Advisory Group.
As
events continue to unfold and come together, committee chair
Christy Clagett and Ross Peddicord from MHIB plan to call
another meeting of the Marketing
Advisory Group
to discuss progress and bring members up-to-date on many of the
initiatives that have been started thanks to the group’s input
and ideas. For more information contact Ross at peddicrd@mda.state.md.us.
Ross
Peddicord
Executive Director, MD
Horse Industry Board
peddicrd@mda.state.md.us
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