Hastings Racecourse
branding / social media
The Project
Since 1889, Hastings Racecourse has featured live thoroughbred racing and simulcast racing from many of the world’s most prestigious tracks. Although privileged with a large base of long-time fans, Hastings wished to broaden its target demographic and capture the hearts of new millennial visitors. To do so, it was necessary to refresh the existing visual brand and establish a more compelling social media presence.
This project was completed on a subcontract basis on behalf of The Incubator Marketing.
refreshing the brand
To appeal to a younger demographic, updates were made to Hastings’ colors, typography, and imagery. The brand suffered from a lack of cohesive style guidelines, and marketing collaterals often looked disparate and unconnected. I therefore created a comprehensive brand guide outlining how to apply the new Hastings look consistently across all platforms.
The brand’s original maroon color was replaced with a bright, vibrant red, which was frequently used on overlays for an exciting, contemporary look.
League Gothic was selected as the brand’s signature display typeface. Its tall, condensed form is always set in a bold italic to convey speed, action, and the thrill of racing.
A professional photographer was recruited on select race days to capture high-quality images of races and crowd reactions. These photos then formed the basis for Hastings’ social media content.
Creating Engaging Content
Instagram was identified as a particularly important platform for capturing the attention of younger millennial audiences. Hastings’ content suffered from too many text-heavy graphics, poor image cropping, and low-quality photos.
Working closely with the social media team at The Incubator Marketing, I helped curate Hastings’ feed with high-quality photos featuring a balanced mix of content (e.g. races, crowds, special events, throwback/historical facts, and announcements). The result is a more diverse, engaging, and visually appealing channel that connects with younger users.
