How Kentucky Derby Partners Made Louisville a Winning Brand

Just beyond the dual-spired grandstand, brand-laden paddocks, thundering dirt straightaways, and julep-soaked infield of Churchill Downs is one of the most vital partners the Kentucky Derby and its brand sponsors turn to each year: The city of Louisville itself.

In its 151st year, horse racing’s marquee event is still reaching out to new generations of fans around the globe, but it has also emphasized its strong ties closer to home. Among those, it recently renewed a longstanding relationship with Ford that extends the automaker’s sponsorship of the race through 2029, gives it naming rights to the First Turn Club hospitality space, plants activations around the grounds and logos along the starting gate and barn area, and even mixes up a Ford Pony non-alcoholic cocktail of lemon juice, simple syrup, blackberry, mint leaves, and ginger beer.

That deal isn’t just a favor thrown to a longtime supporter or an attempt to get on the right side of tariff talks: It’s an acknowledgement of a company that’s had an assembly plant in Louisville for 80 years and a truck plant there since 1969. Today, Ford employs more than 12,000 workers at its Louisville plants alone, with its Ford Escape and Expedition, Lincoln Corvair, Navigator, and F-250-550 Super Duty trucks all produced in the city.

“Ford is really thinking about our entire demographic, which is 18 to 80, and how they can really engage with each set of demographics,” said Casey Ramage, vp of marketing and partnerships at Churchill Downs Racetrack.

Meanwhile, showing off the more erudite side of its upbringing, the Derby marked this year’s 100th anniversary of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby by emphasizing the ties between Louisville and the novel’s tormented millionaire namesake. Jay Gatsby started out as a soldier at Camp Fay in Kentucky, while his beloved Daisy Buchanan began as Daisy Fay, “by far the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville,” before marrying Tom Buchanan in a wedding at Louiville’s Seelbach Hotel “with more pomp and circumstance than Louisville ever knew before.”

As it turns out, Churchill Downs, Louisville Tourism, and what is now the Seelbach Hilton all revel in the association, with the Seelbach opening a Great Gatsby suite earlier this year and pointing out Fitzgerald’s tendency to grab drinks at the hotel’s Rathskeller while at Camp Taylor himself during World War II. Designed by Louisville native Terra B. Nelson, the two rooms of the Art Deco suite were meant to highlight the divide between Jay and Daisy while surrounding visitors with references from the novel.

Earlier this week, Churchill Downs threw a Gatsby-themed gala for its opening night of its weeklong run-up to the Derby that asked guests to dress in 1920’s fashions and Gatsby costumes and featured actors from Louisville theater—including a Daisy Buchanan understudy from a Broadway production of The Great Gatsby—in era-appropriate performances. Louisville Tourism provided artifacts and activations from the Belle of Louisville and the Waterfront Botanical Gardens, while Churchill Downs itself offered fans opening night ticket packages that included dinner on the Spires Terrace above the grandstand, a speakeasy cocktail tasting, and a room at Churchill Downs’ hotel. 

“Derby week, we race six out of eight days, so we’re going to welcome almost 400,000 guests, and that’s the size of six Super Bowls that we’re about to produce this week,” Ramage said. “Everyone in Louisville loves a theme, so each of our days we have a different theme that goes along with it.”

Louisville love

On Tuesday, April 29—502’SDay—the Derby spent a third year specifically celebrating facets of Louisville life that it felt deserved time in the spotlight. This year, it focused on Louisville’s own former heavyweight champ, humanitarian, and greatest of all time, Muhammad Ali, while bringing in an artist to create a mural in his honor and putting a boxing ring in the paddock area.

For Thursday, May 1—Thurby—Louisville’s Frazier Museum offered a look at the history, culture, and music of Kentucky. It brought in country/gospel artist and “yodeling cowgirl” Phoebe White, Navajo flautist Fred Nez Keams, rower and Spalding University president Tori Murden McClure, and a tribute to record store/cultural hub ear X-tacy.

The Thurby lineup received a little help from another Louisville institution: Brown-Forman, whose Woodford Reserve serves as the presenting sponsor of the Kentucky Derby, the name sponsor of Churchill Downs’ year-old Paddock Club, and the official Bourbon of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby. Brown-Forman’s Old Forester—which actually promotes Thurby—not only serves as the official Mint Julep of the Derby, but it also has its distillery in Louisville proper and offers tours and tastings to visitors.

“We’re very strong partners, of course, with Brown-Forman, and we both share a very strong heritage that’s based here in Louisville, Kentucky, yet also expands on a global scale,” Ramage said. “So it’s fun for us when we get to kick off Derby week with all the Louisvillians and regional visitors who come in, and we get to work on a special ‘20s-inspired cocktail with Old Forester that’s served in one of our hidden speakeasies, which I can’t tell you where it is.”

No other home

Despite a proliferation of big-hat-wearing, julep-drinking Derby parties across the U.S., Churchill Downs and surrounding commercial partners have increasingly invested in making Louisville the star of Derby week.

After attending the Derby last year with Call Her Daddy’s Alex Cooper, Hot Mess host Alix Earle is returning this year at Churchill Downs’ invitation with partner and Houston Texans wide receiver Braxton Berrios to attend Derby events and judge the Best Turned Out award for the race’s most well-groomed horse. Churchill Downs is also partnering with Carolina Panthers wide receiver Xavier Legette for on-the-street social media videos around Louisville during the Derby.

While Derby sponsors, including Longines, Vineyard Vines, Lululemon, Aviator Nation, and Barstool Sports, invest in the event’s look and attempt to imbue Louisville with their sense of style, other brands focus on giving Derbygoers reason to go out on the town.

FanDuel has Shaboozey getting everyone a little tipsy at its Friday party in the Paristown Arts and Entertainment District, while Diplo provides the soundtrack that night at Sports Illustrated’s Revel at the Races at Ice House. With events attracting celebrity chefs like Guy Fieri and galas with Tracy Morgan, Aaron Rodgers, and Simone Biles on the guest list, Derby week gives Louisville the impact of a Super Bowl or Sundance without having to call in too many favors too far from home.

“People are celebrating the Derby coast to coast, so every year we are looking at what is best in class on a global level and ideas that we can bring back from other events,” Ramage said. “We look at our fans. We look at the music industry. We’re always looking at other industries to see what we can do to pull that back.”