UFC Lightweight Champion 'The Notorious' Conor McGregor has starred in an advert to promote the Pegasus World Cup – a $12 million dollar invitational horse race run at Gulfsteam Park in Florida featuring amongst others superstar galloper California Chrome. 

The contents of the advert featuring comedian Jon Lovitz are amusing in nature but it’s the social media reach the 107 second clip has had that piqued my interest. Since being posted twelve hours ago the video has been retweeted in excess of 3,400 times and will likely reap millions of views.

Nothing about the advert is standard fare for the racing industry, but then again the Pegasus World Cup isn't your standard horse race - and maybe varying from the "norm" is what will make it successful. 

There is no doubting organisers have spent a fortune securing the services of one of the world’s most recognisable sportsmen, but given its already apparent cut through into mainstream media, it appears money well spent.

The question is, what learnings can our local racing jurisdictions take from this 107 seconds of genius?

In Victoria the lion's share of marketing focus is taken up by the Spring Carnival, particularly the four-day Flemington extravaganza.

Punters have been told that Flemington is “The Playground Of Racing Royalty” for the past two years, a campaign targeting a small group at the top of the socio-economic food chain and by extension largely ostracising the masses. The exciting launch of the 2015 "Playground Of Racing Royalty" campaign garnered nine retweets.

The campaign in itself is fantastic. It's aspirational, and no doubt fulfills the brief, but it risks portraying the sport as elitist. 

The story through the Channel Seven broadcast is largely the same, with regular crosses to celebrities sipping champagne in high-priced marquees with a heavy focus on "who" they’re wearing. That’s lovely for those who can afford it or are lucky enough to be invited, but the future of this sport doesn’t lie in the Birdcage, it revolves around the year-round fans who fund the sport.

Yes, the telecast is good at using celebrities to "endorse" the sport but it's not actually working, maybe because they're normally in a marquee far away from the actual racing action talking about anything but the races, save for a token tip as the interview is wrapped up. 

Perhaps marketing campaigns need to be geared towards - I dunno - the target market?

Since the novelty of partying at Flemington that saw big crowds in the early 2000s has worn off, attendances have been on the decline.

For their part, the ATC relied on the tagline “The Tradition Continues” for its 2016 Championships campaign, but again declining crowds would suggest that maybe that 'tradition' needs to change. Lacking from the campaign are any recognisable figures or assimilation with the general public – both key features in the McGregor advert.

Now, I’m not here to say racing in America is any healthier than it is in Australia, but in isolation there is much to be learnt from this campaign and its astronomical short-term impact. 

Racing needs to drop the veil of privilege and trade in the unrecognisable fashion models for ambassadors capable of captivating the target audience. Conor McGregor is one of the most recognisable figures in the world and him putting his name to the Pegasus World Cup will do more for racing than a year-long campaign featuring beautiful people sipping champagne.

McGregor may only add a small number of people to the 2017 Pegasus World Cup crowd, but there’s no doubting that millions who wouldn’t have otherwise known of the event are now aware of its existence and will be more likely to engage in horse racing.

Improving public perception of racing is more than just whacking a couple of popular faces on an advert – the product needs to be suitably evolved for an evolving landscape – but at least engaging ambassadors relatable to the target audience will make the sport seem more attainable and inviting to the common man.