{"id":16380,"date":"2011-01-29T10:02:40","date_gmt":"2011-01-29T08:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=16380"},"modified":"2011-02-03T01:50:03","modified_gmt":"2011-02-02T23:50:03","slug":"is-jb-met-the-last-gallop-for-jb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/is-jb-met-the-last-gallop-for-jb\/","title":{"rendered":"Is J&B Met the last gallop for J&B?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The J&B Met is the fashion and society highlight of the year on the South African calendar, attracting many who know little about horse racing (and often about fashion too!).\u00a0 Now the sponsorship of the event by one of the world’s best-known brands is under threat, and could be\u00a0a threat to the hospitality industry in Cape Town too.\u00a0\u00a0 Today could see the last J&B-sponsored Met.<\/p>\n

It is proposed that new legislation will see\u00a0a ban on advertising of alcoholic beverages, and therefore the sponsorship of the horse racing event by J&B would no longer be allowed.\u00a0\u00a0 It would need a hugely powerful non-alcoholic brand, with an extensive marketing\u00a0budget, to fill the J&B ‘hooves’, given the focus they have placed on the event for a number of years, not only on the day itself, but linking PR to it too, inviting VIP’s, and organising after-parties and annual best-dressed shop competitions too.\u00a0 The event is so successful that South Africa generates the third highest J&B sales in the world.<\/p>\n

The theme of today’s Met is “Larger than Life”, and fashionistas are bemoaning the difficulty of finding something suitable to wear to match this vague theme.\u00a0\u00a0 In\u00a0the advertisement for the event,\u00a0it is described as “Massive outfits, oversized accessories, gigantic personalities”.\u00a0 The event is supported by Cape Town Routes Unlimited, but its blue logo is barely visible\u00a0on the black background in the advertisement.\u00a0\u00a0 More than 50000 fashionistas are expected to\u00a0be at Kenilworth Racecourse today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The event is a boost for fashion designers, as the TV cameras and newspaper photographers will be focusing on the couples who may win the ‘Most Elegant Couple’ prizes.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The Cape Argus <\/strong>reports that R18 million alone is expected to be spent on clothing for the event, while the event adds another R34 million in accommodation, meals and travel related income to the economy of the Western Cape.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The attendance by non-Capetonians seems to have declined this year, as accommodation bookings\u00a0for this weekend\u00a0appear to be far lower than in years before.\u00a0 Typically overstating the value of the event for tourism, which is a two-day stay for non-Capetonians attending on average,\u00a0is\u00a0the media comment by Cape Town Tourism Executive Manager for Marketing,\u00a0Lianne Burton,\u00a0about\u00a0the value of\u00a0the event: “…essentially extends Cape Town’s summer party season by a month after the end of the school holidays (schools went back only two weeks ago, and Cape Town has just suffered one of the worst two-week summer lulls ever)!<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/a>\u00a0 Twitter:@WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The J&B Met is the fashion and society highlight of the year on the South African calendar, attracting many who know little about horse racing (and often about fashion too!).\u00a0 Now the sponsorship of the event by one of the world’s best-known brands is under threat, and could be\u00a0a threat to the hospitality industry in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,22,21],"tags":[9616,32367,8220,32366,108,85,32378,805,9617,3414,9615,887,3419,802,3415,2999,9619,9618,2785,9614,32388,3718,9620,32373],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t