Why we asked Dettori to Dive into World Pool

Under the warming Riyadh sun in late February, horse racing’s hottest property, Frankie Dettori, flips on a baseball cap and smiles for the camera.

He’s about to be announced as a racing ambassador for World Pool, who are breaking new ground in 2023 with more races in a wider variety of locations than ever before.

A record 222 contests across eight countries would be globally commingled by the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s World Pool in 2023, and with Frankie looking to be booked on all the big days during his “Farewell Tour”, he was a great fit for the brand.

His riding intentions may have changed slightly since, extending his stay in the saddle into 2024 with a trip back across The Pond, but it was still to be the most documented season in the 52-year-olds 35-year-long racing career.

Branding and blogs, our bread & butter:

Kicking off with a photo shoot ahead of The Saudi Cup meeting in February and updating his quarter-of-a-million social media followers with a blog ahead of each World Pool raceday, we worked closely with Frankie to raise the awareness of World Pool as much as possible.

We banked some nice imagery of Frankie in World Pool merchandise to use on the World Pool website, across social media, and for wider media to use if mentioning the blog or publishing an exclusive interview. The Sun, for example, had exclusive access to Frankie’s thoughts ahead of each World Pool meeting in the UK & Ireland and would use World Pool-branded imagery.

Fresh video content ideas with Frankie:

Thinking of an original content idea for a 52-year-old jockey, who’s had countless sponsorship deals and more media exposure than anyone else in the weighing room, isn’t easy.

But, taking inspiration from a famous football show, “What I Wore”, we were able to deliver something fresh with Frankie to racing fans.

Thanks to a helping hand from Thady Gosden, who provided us with a rail-full of iconic racing colours, we produced “Frankie’s Favourite Silks”.

Filmed and edited by us, the video was a hit on social media (gaining over 600k views) as well as with broadcasters, notably RacingTV.

Knowing that you don’t get too many filming days at Frankie’s house, we also recorded some “Quickfire Questions” content for later in the season, which hit over 700k views and was played out on Ascot Racecourse’s big screens on British Champions Day.

Overall, the partnership with Dettori helped World Pool reach new global audiences on social media, gain mentions across traditional media, and strong brand recognition in the racing industry.

Never miss a flying dismount:

Intent on capturing all of Frankie’s farewell moments for World Pool’s social media followers, the Square in the Air team travelled to all 19 racedays in the UK & Ireland, as well as to Riyadh for The Saudi Cup.

While we teamed up with an on-course photographer to ensure we had a constant stream of high-quality imagery, some of the best pieces of content came straight from a SITA smart phone.

Frankie punching the air in slow-mo as he crossed the line to an ninth Gold Cup victory at Ascot received over 16k views, while snaps taken straight after his final Classic wins in the 2000 Guineas and Oaks, as well as after his Juddmonte International win aboard Mostahdaf, helped bring his fans closer to the action via @WorldPool.

Overall, the partnership with Dettori helped World Pool reach new global audiences on social media, gain mentions across traditional media, and strong brand recognition in the racing industry.

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