Capitalizing on the Spotlight

Season 3, episode 8 of Yellowstone saw John Dutton in the market for a cow horse, presenting another priceless opportunity to promote Western performance horses. Yellowstone Press Photo

If you watch Yellowstone, last night’s opening scene introduced you two five stars of the cow horse industry—Kelby Phillips, Todd Bergen, Bob Avila, Corey Cushing, and Tracer Gilson (probably better known as a reiner).

This isn’t the first time Western performance horses have been highlighted on Taylor Sheridan’s hit Paramount Network show. Reiners played a prominent role in season two, which then parlayed into The Last Cowboy, a reality-based series about NRHA Professionals as they prepared for the first-ever Run for a Million. The reality show was slated to run again this year, but sadly the program and incredible event became yet another COVID cancelation earlier this summer.

The effect of major television exposure for these Western disciplines is immeasurable in a time when people aren’t as readily exposed to Western culture and horses. (I don’t think Red Dead Redemption counts, though my oldest son did try to sell me on the game due to the horse slant.) Influencers within these disciplines have a responsibility to capitalize on these opportunities to grow their sports and their fanbases. I have to wonder how many non-horse people saw Bob cutting that cow and Kelby taking 1910 down the fence and said, “I want to see/do that!” I know my husband did, which was his same reaction after watching the reiners a couple years ago. (I predict team roping is the next sport featured.)

Last year, I worked with NRHA and AIM’s Catapult Creative Labs to develop a paid-search SEO program to promote reining and joining NRHA on the coattails of The Last Cowboy. The show had primo positioning, running right after Yellowstone. So if you were into cowboys, you might stick around to learn more about this reining stuff you’d seen at the Dutton Ranch and then do a quick search to expand your knowledge.

Through a Google Ads campaign and ads placed on Facebook and Instagram, people who searched for more information about reining or the personalities on The Last Cowboy were driven to a specially designed landing page where they found information about reining, articles about the personalities on the TV show, videos of runs, and rules for the sport. They also had the opportunity to enter for a chance to win a trip to a major NRHA event by signing up for a special reining-fan email list.

NRHA.com experienced a 30% increase in traffic in just the first week of launching the program to coincide with the first episode of The Last Cowboy. Site traffic continued to build for the following weeks. It achieved more than 700,000 brand impressions and 330,000 site clicks, for an unheard of click-through rate of 5%. In the end, the fan list had more than 200 names of potential new members—or at least new fans of the sport, which has been a goal for quite some time. After all, a strong fanbase is attractive to sponsors.

These types of programs aren’t free, but they’re worth it. NRHA’s willingness to bet on the draw of the sport’s excitement and personalities and gamble with an expertly placed ad campaign paid high rewards while also enhancing the experience of watching The Last Cowboy and Yellowstone, perhaps convincing a few to get a horse and take it for a spin.