This past weekend, a group of female pool players known as The Rack Starz had their official launch party (disclaimer: PoolDawg works with some of these ladies and will be looking for ways to expand the relationship. Despite those facts, this is not a shameless plug).
- Rack Starz Posing with PoolDawg's Mascot, Frank
The opinions on this across the billiards industry have been pretty wide ranging, from those who think it’s a genius idea to those who feel that the group takes away from the game itself.
Pretty much everyone knows where I stand on this, but I wanted to see if there was a comparable campaign to compare it to. What I found was a group called The Frag Dolls.
- Industry dominated by males? Check.
- Attractive women who participate in said industry? Check.
- Website/Facebook/Twitter? Check.
- Available for launch parties, industry events and anything game related? Check.
- Frag Dolls at the Assassins Creed Launch Party
The question of course is whether or not it actually works. The Rack Starz just launched, so the jury is still out, but as for the Frag Dolls, the numbers speak for themselves. The group has over 12,000 likes on Facebook and 1.375 million Twitter follows. Yeah, I think it’s working.
So why does this concept work? Simply put, guys like girls who like what guys like. This is the reason why every major sporting event now has female sideline reporters. Guys like hearing girls talk about sports. It’s that whole “she’s like hanging out with one of the guys, but’s she’s got boobs and is hot” thing.
We all know that videogames are very male dominated, especially games where “fragging” is involved (any first person shooter), but what about pool? According to the most recent available SGMA report, 66.1% of pool participants are male. According to PoolDawg’s own Facebook “likes”, 63% are male. The question then is whether or not the “hot girls playing games that guys normally play” concept will translate. The challenge is the aging demographic. While videogames skew heavily toward the 13-24 set, pool does not. The majority of pool participants are over 35, which will present somewhat of a problem.
Even with pool’s aging demographic, if done right, the group can be successful. The key though will be organization and leadership. The Frag Dolls are smart, organized and extremely tech savvy. They take advantage of every media outlet. Take Youtube as an example. Over 626,000 views of their videos. Take a look at some of the press they’ve received over the past few years. This doesn’t happen without a tactical, coordinated effort and a shitton of work.
Will the Rack Starz be successful? If they follow the Frag Dolls gameplan and put in a ton of work, I’d give them more than a puncher’s chance..
