quick somebody make some branded content for sponsors around Harlem Skyscraper, and then we'll get some exposure.

I recommend slow motion video showing the beauty and fluidity of bicycling, and purity of the sport. Key points to ensure to capture:

• How the product enhances the experience of cycling
• Transformational experiences
• Formats that can be distributed across multiple social platforms
• Tattoos...a metric s*** ton of tattoos.
  

Now go make some viral branded content videos dammit!

While kinda joking, Dan is correct.

They are a multitude of reasons why the red hook crit is interesting to fans. Some of those are shared with any bicycle race.

Without a doubt, the RHC has spent a great amount of time, thinking and effort on design, brand and message -- which has developed consistently thru the years.

They are a perfect template and a great example of what a very small smart team can achieve.

In fact, by now, the RHC marketing and brand rivals dramatically larger budget and races.

You can be dismissive "doesn't take place in a borough with B and ends with a -rooklyn" --- but, I mean, honestly, if you can't sell Harlem as a cool place, you can't sell anything.

In other words: "If you build it, they will come" But you gonna have to figure out what exactly to build, and work hard to fucking build it.
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. --- Thomas A. Edison

The biggest draw and marketing aspect of the early years of RHC was 1. fixed gear/messengers craze, 2. related unsanctioned "outlaw" alley cat craze, and 3. related rise of Brooklyn as a brand craze.  It was really an opportune time for something like that to succeed and they ran (rode) with it.  Mad props to them for recognizing something great and putting in the hard work of building it up.

Harlem on the other hand doesn't have the same perfect storm/convergence of physical and cultural environments to replicate RHC's success, nor can they even simply just replicate a similar marketing strategy and get similar results.  It can succeed on it's own merits and charms, but it won't rise to the level of RHC's popularity, at least not in the foreseeable future.

I was for sure being cheeky when referencing Brooklyn as the only reason for success, but seriously, that's where NYC's - nay, the planet's - "cultural tastemakers" were (are) at the time.  Harlem, for all it's rapid gentrification and storied history, just doesn't have that critical mass of "cool".  It wasn't the only reason, but it was a major reason.

Totally correct. Back up twenty years and its a very different scenario

and, completely fitting, Facebook reminds that I posted this photo of Dave Trimble on Kissena kit, racing at Harlem, exactly seven years ago.

 
I am not necessarily suggesting that the harlem crit would be as big as the RHC, but it can certainly be dramatically bigger than last weekend. And some simple marketing/promoting smarts would get it there.

Fully and completely stand behind this statement: if you can't sell Harlem as a cool place, you can't sell anything.

For crying out loud, the Apollo theater is two blocks away from the race. The poster draws itself.

Different city etc but this....
http://www.londonnocturne.com/

The challenge for races like Harlem is to get casual cyclists interested in attending and watching. USAC has no template or model for marketing bike racing to spectators, and sponsors. RHC has had to do marketing to racers as well as fans in order to draw sponsors dollars.

RHC has thrived because there is a good ROI for brands to be associated with it. Global reach, year round awareness, and confluence of cool (fixies, Brooklyn, night time, short laps/spectator friendly courses). Compare that to most of our races we get 1 out of those four, and the rest is all middle aged dopers dudes, a$$ crack of the morning, and 1 lap every 7-8 minutes...literally yawn. 

Look at USAC Crit Championship this year in NC. They tried to run it on a course they had never run a race on, and had to switch last minute, so it was on another un-tested course. There were apparently many crashes and local services were unprepared for the number of injured bike racers as part of the this event. You would think that somebody at USAC would be reaching out to local media and services to shout from the rooftops that nationals were coming to town and this is big for local businesses and connecting local press with riders coming, in order to get coverage, but it sounds like that isn't what USAC is spending time or resources on. Certianly making crit racing more dangerous isn't a winning media strategy because it got virtually no coverage outside of cycling press, even Velonews has one (only ONE?) story on the damn crit champs.  No video and the best the do in local press is a blurb in the local paper about it in the middle of a round up of all cycling things in the Greenville area. That is a PR FAIL by USAC.

I can analyze what USAC sanctioned racing needs to compete with RHC, but I can tell you unless USAC gets its act together I can see bike racing being replaced by Strava segments and SnapChat stories of epic rides, all in the form of branded content.

It seems like there's just not really a concern with making races more public. The entire culture is pretty hidden from public view, I'm not sure I would've ever known about local racing had I not happened to live with a serious cyclist last year. 

Even if USAC or race promoters were to simply tap into existing networks of casual cyclists (like BikeNYC, Transportation Alt, etc) I think you'd get a lot of public interest, at least in the races that occur at reasonable hours of the day. 

If the opportunity ever came along (e.g. not for a 6am PP race but perhaps a crit in a publicly-accessible space) I'd love to help a promoter get the word out about some NYC racing. I wouldn't pretend that we would get RHC levels of interest but I'm sure we could dial up the crowds by multiples of what we get now. And @JohnOlsson could get his beer garden money...

I think the elephant in the room is that RHC is run by one guy, perfecting his formula and his team over time, and Harlem is run by a hodgepodge of characters from year to year.

There are plenty of USAC races that bring massive crowds and participation (Holy Week, Athens, ToC, etc) I'm not yet ready to say the root cause of the disparity is due to the organizing bodies.

Sigh.

Rhc made people care about a product nobody knew they wanted.

Harlem makes a product no one really cares about.

I think Dan hit the nail on the head with the fundamental difference (outside of nebulous external forces of trend) between unsanctioned races like RHC and USAC races like Harlem:  One focuses on spectator experience as much as racers and the other focuses primarily on racers.

Yes but no.

Poll.

How mahy of us live in bkln?
How many in Harlem?

Granted were a slightly skewed demographic but the point remains. Rhc had
a rabid spectator base the second they started. Its at night so little or
no sacrifice was required ti attend.

Made it much easier to package it for sponsors

Those arguing that RHC is easier to package or market than Harlem may be right. 

But I am a bit confused, from my perspective, there has been ZERO marketing or packaging for Harlem -- the promoting and brand is completely running on the fumes of what one was.

The RCH might have many cultural and geo advantages, yes, but it also has a solid marketing, aesthetic, and voice. Some of it grew organically. All of it came to be from the hard work of a very small but smart dedicated team.

Any sporting event in the world, specially harlem, can benefit from similar efforts. There was none of this effort behind harlem in 2015 and 2016.

Isn't that history, and the richness of the location, exactly the kinda of advantage we are talking about? Harlem has some version of all these, at 2pm on a Sunday. It had no one doing the work, or even the thinking that is included in the conversations on this thread. No one was putting it all together.

I attended the 2nd incarnation onward of the RHC , no one was thinking about branding and marketing ,the thing just grew organically because it was just a really fucking good idea,
Fair play to Dave , long may he continue to make a living doing what he , and his whole family have been doing all their lives, Loving Bikes 

With all this group chat about making a race successful I think Kissena should have a stab (easy to say whilst packing up belongings to leave the city). We have some clever people. 

*cough*cough supercross *cough*cough

what myles said.

It's international even http://pages.rapha.cc/cross/super-cross-uk

JohnMalcolmson said:

It's international even http://pages.rapha.cc/cross/super-cross-uk

Riders will find themselves racing on a completely mud-free course.


WTF is this blasphemy?!?

my heart knows only one super cross... but the rapha series has been around a little while...

https://player.vimeo.com/video/52934108

It's probably worth mentioning the roots of the Harlem crit:

http://www.nationaldoubledutchleague.com/Skyscraper/about.html

It was conceived as an activity for kids and dads; not a nightlife hipster mustache wax fiesta.

Screw dads and kids. With no lube even.
Were all about skinny jeans n fixies. Millenials!!!!

The shocking thing for me is definitely 1973 was pre-Title 9, since the apparently double dutch was the only intramural sport for girls.

Why I'm Not Racing Harlem Skyscraper This Sunday

By Chanel Zeisel

http://www.prettydamnedfast.com/blog/why-im-not-racing-harlem-skyscraper

eloy said:

Why I'm Not Racing Harlem Skyscraper This Sunday

By Chanel Zeisel

http://www.prettydamnedfast.com/blog/why-im-not-racing-harlem-skyscraper

I'm going to Harlem regardless.

I also have trouble with the article.  The reasoning is poor.  

If, and only if thirty women register this year, I'll restore prize equity next year—way to disenfranchise your audience! This guy needs a PR person, savvy move would be to find a sponsor not lat down a big fat guilt-trip. 

JohnMalcolmson said:

If, and only if thirty women register this year, I'll restore prize equity next year—way to disenfranchise your audience! This guy needs a PR person, savvy move would be to find a sponsor not lat down a big fat guilt-trip. 

He made an investment last year.  It didn't pay off.  It's a business decision.  He found out that not enough women showed up to justify the extra investment.

Without getting on all the failures to actually promote this race.

Women should be payed the same than the men. That much should be totally obvious.

The prize money is symbolic only , neither the men or the women are entering this race for the money , the winner of the men's and women's field should get the amount .
secondly , thanks for posting the article , because otherwise , I wouldn't of even known the race was on this weekend.
I find it hard to believe that if the right person was in charge , this could be a race with the profile of ..........dare I say it ....no , the Rapha Nocturne in London

Mark Taylor said:

The prize money is symbolic only , neither the men or the women are entering this race for the money , the winner of the men's and women's field should get the amount .
secondly , thanks for posting the article , because otherwise , I wouldn't of even known the race was on this weekend.
I find it hard to believe that if the right person was in charge , this could be a race with the profile of ..........dare I say it ....no , the Rapha Nocturne in London

Fully agree, I am blown away by the absolute lack of promotion/branding/advertising of a location that could rival the RHC or, yes, the Rapha Nocturne. What a shame.