Marquee Madness
The Age
Thursday November 1, 2001
MYER is glaringly absent from the corporate marquee set at Flemington racecourse this year. The retail giant has long been among the most glamorous stalwarts of the elite Birdcage enclosure each November.
Last year's Myer marquee was a flamboyant highlight of the Spring Racing carnival, with its theme of "15 shades of pink". A Myer marquee invitation was among the most coveted, and guests included James and Jodie Packer, athlete Tatiana Grigorieva, and actress Claudia Karvan. Asked why the company had pulled out this year, Myer Grace Bros' acting acting managing director Warren Flick would merely say that Myer continues to sponsor the Fashions on the Field event.
"We feel that our customers are far better served through these efforts than the operation of a marquee."
But this is not a sign of hard times on the corporate partying scene. The other familiar Birdcage brands will still be prominent on an elevated section of the members' lawn overlooking the track - Moet & Chandon, SAAB, Emirates, Cadbury Schweppes, TabCorp and Canon.
There may be a war on in Afghanistan, Ansett's future hanging in the balance and general economic gloom, but - bar some concessions to austerity - the Melbourne Cup party is about to begin in earnest.
Elaborate marquees - paid for at great cost to the corporates - lure invited guests keen to schmooze, network and lap up the hospitality.
From a humble eight corporate marquees in the Ascot enclosure behind the grandstand in 1983, the Flemington course will this year hold more than 250 corporate marquees, and another 50 marquees for caterers.
Melbourne caterer Bruce Keebaugh, director of The Big Group, says invitation lists are tighter, and entertaining less ostentatious. "People are being very cautious in the way their brands are being promoted," he says. "Everybody is not wanting to look like they are doing the most over-the-top thing in a tight marketplace."
SIMILARLY, Peter Rowland - caterer for more than 80 corporate marquees at Flemington - has observed that many of his clients this year have budgeted for ``quality lighting" in their marquees instead of chandeliers; Tasmanian roe instead of imported caviar and Australian sparkling wine in lieu of French champagne. And, instead of carpets woven especially for the fourday carnival, companies are opting to hire flooring.
Rowland says the topend firms will spend $160ahead on catering, including food, alcohol, and staff. ``Corporate entertaining will be very good, very stylish, very elegant," he says. ``But it won't be seriously overthetop, as might have happened in past years."
Bruce Keebaugh, whose Birdcage clients include Moet, Cadbury Schweppes and TabCorp, reckons the maximum expenditure is more like $180 per head.
Last year the Victoria Racing Club earned $10 million from corporate entertainment at the Melbourne Cup alone. VRC corporate marketing manager Brendan Ford, says that for the ``big four" race days at Flemington - the Melbourne Cup, the Oaks, Victoria Derby and Emirates Stakes - companies have spent up to $300,000 each to run marquee parties for a total of about 40,000 clients.
The scale of corporate hospitality has grown each year over the past 18 years. Ford says the corporate demand has survived the flattening of the economy ``because corporates (the VRC's business clients) are so loyal. Revenue is likely to increase this year, but it won't be as significant as in previous years".
Despite corporate loyalty to the Cup, Ford has detected some jitters in the corporate hospitality world in the past few months.``We've been speaking to a lot of people from interstate that are having difficulty because of the uncertainty of the travel arrangements," he says.
``Another feeling is, `should we be doing all this entertaining, having a nice time when there's a war on?'."
Racing offers a relaxed environment. ``You have plenty of time to do business and talk to your clients," he says. ``Your attention is not taken away constantly by sporting action. You have a sevenhour day that is broken up with a race every 40 minutes."
Judy Romano, manager of the Emirates and SAAB marquees at Flemington, speaks of the Melbourne Cup as ``like breathing" for Melbourneborn corporate types. ``The ultimate is to be a guest of a sponsor," she says.
``People like to brag, and say, `Oh, I'm invited to Emirates, I'm invited to SAAB or Moet', you know? It's like, `Oh, where are you going to be on Cup Day?'."
In Trackside Enclosure, situated at the western end of the course, will be the 700 guestperday marquee belonging to Tooheys, the new Melbourne Cup race sponsor. Toohey's New will certainly take out the award for the most elaborate marquee - not surprising given that multinational Lion Nathan paid a rumored $80 million over 10 years for its company, Tooheys, to have naming rights to the Melbourne Cup.
This $8 million a year eclipses Fosters' outlay of $1.5 million for the 2000 Melbourne Cup. Although he refused to confirm the figure, Lion Nathan marketing director David McNeil says the company, which has exclusive beer distribution rights to Flemington racecourse and the right to use the Cup in its marketing, considers the outlay worth it.
He says the deal is part of a longterm plan to raise the profile of the brand in Victoria and increase its 15 per cent market share (second to Fosters). The marquee guests will mainly be hoteliers and retailers who have shown sales excellence. But to an outsider, there is no mistaking the glamor factor.
Comedian Rob Sitch, model Christy Hinze, newsreader Sandra Sully, singer Tina Arena, and swimmers Grant Hackett and Daniel Kowalski are expected to mingle in the Toohey's marquee. Entertainment, downstairs, will be by Marcia and Deni Hines, Daryl Braithwaite and James Reyne.
The pick of the Birdcage crop promises to be airline Emirates, which will mark its fourth year at the Cup and is once again in the running for the chic celebrity stakes. Romano says Emirates wishes to ``give back to their people and partners so it's not about filling it with celebrities" but still, among the 100strong guest list each day will be Australian actor Robert Taylor (star of TV's Ballykissangel); Geoffrey Rush; Sigrid Thornton; and Martin Sacks.
In the Birdcage, entry is strictly invitation only. But if you are Mr Citizen, who wants to entertain some mates and the missus in style, you can buy tickets to a table spot in a marquee. Event management company BTTB is one of several agents who buy marquees from the VRC and onsell them to small companies and the public.
BTTB director Corina Baldwin, says an entry ticket to a marquee for one day per person will cost $400 to $650. This includes ticketing, a sitdown lunch, nibblies throughout the day, a jazz band, entry in the cup sweep, and a handsome view of the track. Also included can be champagne and chauffeuring to the track.
Baldwin says many of her business clients feel that now is not the time to not go to the cup. ``This is the time they probably do need to really entertain, to say, (to customers) `thank you for your loyalty, thanks for your support over the year'."
Tent events
AMONG all the decorations, food, drinks and celebrities, the Emirates corporate marquee at Flemington for the Melbourne Cup (pictured below on Derby day last year) has got one up on its rivals this year: A fully plumbed, porcelain toilet.
The powers-that-be at the airline of the United Arab Emirates, in its fourth year of appearance at the racecourse, decided that this time, a portaloo just wouldn't do.
So now, their guests, a select few of Melbourne's social, business, political and media elite, can spend a penny in style.
The game of ``my marquee is better than your marquee" has long been a sport among the social set at Flemington, and this year is no exception.
Cosmetics company L'Oreal, for example, will have a powder room staffed by beauticians for any lippy touch-ups guests need. And Toohey's boasts that its marquee is the first ever to have on-tap beer, and it will also host what it claims is the Southern Hemisphere's biggest sushi train.
INDULGENCE
During Melbourne Cup Day Carnival at Flemington racecourse, punters are expected to consume:
? 150,000 bottles of sparkling wine
? 300,000 cans of beer
? 85,000 prawns
? 85,000 oysters
? 1.5 tonnes of beef
? 75,000 chicken breasts
? A semi-trailer load of lettuce
? Source: Peter Rowland Catering
© 2001 The Age
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