This year has been a funny old one. We’re mid-July but it still feels like the longest March ever. At this stage we’re pretty tired of the words unprecedented and lockdown. That said, this period has been one of the most innovative for Kaizen and our clients right across the country. Where some businesses pivoted into entirely new markets, others tasked us with rapidly deploying their online presence and providing e-commerce functionality through Shopify Development and Woo-Commerce stores.

Sport in general however was completely decimated overnight. Games, races, festivals and entire seasons concluded overnight. Many of these sports are now thankfully on the path to restarting and we have just assisted the Irish Football Association with their Return to the Everyday Game, guidance strategy document design.

Horse Racing, of which we are deeply intertwined with both the governing body in Ireland and multiple racecourses, lends itself well to social distancing. Plenty of space, a non-contact sport and with a sole jockey being able to manage most tasks pre, post and during a race, few people are needed to keep the sport going. The Irish Government have been quite supportive of the return to Horse Racing in Ireland and as such this has been one of the first sports to come back to life….though the notable absence of crowds and even owners makes this a surreal time for all.

As part of the return to racing Horse Racing Ireland and RTE have teamed up to show racing every Saturday evening, showing racing from right across the country. This is huge for the sport as with many other sports remaining absent, we have been able to gain new viewers and followers who may have previously discounted the sport. Helping to engage newcomers to the sport, Kaizen were tasked with creating a series of explainer videos. The aim of the video series is to introduce the sport, its rules and to address some of the most common questions that arise from racing.

We cover topics such as: The Ground, How Long is a Race? Stewards Enquiries and many more common topics. All videos are output at broadcast quality and with the addition of a great voice over, these explainer videos have been incredibly well received both in broadcast and online platforms.