Racing UK signs deal with GB

RNS Number : 6341H

GB Group PLC

25 February 2010

 



Press release

Racing UK places safe bet on Identity Management Frontrunner, GB Group

~ GB Group brought in for UK's pure racing entertainment channel ~

LONDON - 25 February 2010 - Racing UK, the subscription TV horse racing channel, is confident about retaining existing customers and winning over new ones after signing a deal with GB Group (GB), the UK's leading Identity Management business, to implement GB's U4C Identity Management solution. 

Racing UK, as the principal customer-facing business unit of Racecourse Media Group (RMG), has a potential free-to-air audience of 12 million homes and about 2,500 pubs and clubs in the UK, and sees customer retention and acquisition as a priority.

Under this deal, GB will consolidate all of Racing UK's existing prospect and subscriber information into a Single Customer View (SCV) database in order to provide the company with deeper insight into its customers' identities and, as a result, improve customer retention and reduce customer churn.  Racing UK understands that a key measure of success for most customer-orientated businesses today is having a comprehensive understanding of its customers' identities and, more importantly, applying this knowledge strategically.

Racing UK's objectives include increasing customer retention and extending their life-time value. However, its challenge was finding a way of pulling together the myriad sources of customer information spread across its systems - and applying its objectives to this data strategically.

The aim was to delve deeper into the identities of their subscribers to get an understanding of each individual's behaviour patterns and how they want to engage with Racing UK. The next steps involved applying this knowledge to ultimately manage and retain existing subscribers for longer, while at the same time increasing life-time value.

"We knew we were losing out on a lucrative marketing and advertising opportunity as a result of a lack of customer understanding - not due to a lack of information, but rather a lack of intelligent Identity Management to access the right information at the right time," says Nick Mills, Commercial Director at Racing UK. "GB's U4C solution met our criteria, as its automated contact strategy delivers a bespoke communication route map for each individual customer based on a thorough understanding of the individual's identity. This allows us to respond to time sensitive opportunities based on customer buying signals or behaviour, which are currently unexploited."

Richard Law, GB's CEO commented, "Identity Management today is totally different to Identity Management five years ago.  Today it is not sufficient for companies to know who its customers are. Businesses need to be able to truly understand their customers and their behaviour, to allow them to exploit perishable opportunities by responding to and interacting with customers in real time - as this is when they are most likely to be responsive to them.

 "To build a profitable customer relationship, organisations need a single customer or prospect view that works across all channels and touch points. GB's Identity Management solution, U4C, achieves this by integrating information gathered from every stage of the customer lifecycle - from enquiries to requests for further information through to responses to campaigns and even financial and billing information."

Nick Mills of Racing UK also added, "Having worked with GB in the past, we are confident that this is the right company and right team with the best experience in the market to help us meet our objectives.  U4C is a sophisticated solution that enables us to amalgamate large numbers of ongoing campaigns at a low cost, which is exactly what we need."

About Racing UK

Racing UK is the premier independent horseracing broadcaster in the UK and Ireland. The specialist channel was set-up in 2004 and is dedicated to broadcasting more than 650 live race meetings a year with commentary, debate and tipping from 30 of the UK's top racecourses. Racing UK services more than 40,000 commercial and residential subscribers. Tune in by going to Sky 432 (UK, NI, ROI), Virgin 536 (UK), Corus ntl 411 (ROI) or online at www.racinguk.com.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Seb Vance

Racing UK Press and PR Manager

T: 020 7592 0465

E: [e-mail]

About GB Group plc

GB is the UK's leading Identity Management business. It helps organisations recognise and verify all elements of an individual's identity at every interaction. Through the application of our proprietary technology, we enable organisations to connect, communicate and transact with people safely, responsibly and profitably.  In doing so, we help businesses like O2, Laura Ashley, HBoS, LloydsTSB, ASOS.com, Virgin Games, PartyGaming, Betfair and Ladbrokes understand their customers better to create more meaningful customer interactions - and reduce costs across the business.

GB is listed on the London Stock Exchange (GBG). For more information, please visit GB Group's website: www.gb.co.uk.

GB Group - because identity matters™  

For further information about GB's global Identity Management applications, please contact:

Maxine Morgan, GB Group

Email: [e-mail]

Number: 07976 538556 / 01244 657333

Adrie Wessels, Bite Communications

Email: [e-mail]

Number: 07907 979945 / 020 8834 3474

 

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