Melbourne Cup Carnival has been lacking in mega celebrity names but the biggest name is yet to come

WE’RE used to seeing huge international celebs travel down under for spring racing season. But this year, we were left with a bunch of boring C-listers.

Celebrities Attend Melbourne Cup Day

WHEN a swiftly orchestrated marriage proposal; some glossy Melbourne housewives, an embattled Bachelor and the sister of someone incredibly famous become the main attractions at our premier racing carnival ... something is very wrong.

The likes of Nicole Kidman, Liza Minnelli, Naomi Campbell, Jerry Hall and Eva Longoria may have made the A-list cut at Spring Racing Carnivals in previous years, however, 2014 is the year the international A-team was usurped by a swag of local ‘celebrity’ names.

While a shadow was thrown over the whole carnival after the deaths of two Melbourne Cup runners, the social set have been keen to keep the mood ‘up’, right up until the last race is run at Saturday’s Stakes Day.

Yesterday’s Oaks Day, was touted as THE fashion day of the carnival and kicks off the back end of a carnival fraught with triumphs, tragedy and tears.

“You need people who people are talking about and you also need your water cooler moment,’’ says Swisse marketing supremo and marquee enthusiast, Mitch Catlin.

“I always think flying out sisters or brothers of someone famous is quite funny.

“I mean we (at Swisse) always go for ‘the icon’ in a particular field, like we invited Megan Gale to be at Swisse which was great as she has been very busy with motherhood and she was terrific.’’

Unreservedly, Ms Catlin says he has left the biggest and best until last.

“Margot Robbie is undoubtedly the hottest Australian at the moment and The Bachelor is the one person everyone is talking about at work,’’ he adds.

Fitting finale: Australian actor Margot Robbie lands here tomorrow for Saturday’s Stakes Day as guest of the Swisse marquee. Photo: Jonathan Short/Invision/AP

“So, we have both — the ‘hot’ person and the water cooler moment.”

Swisse, captured the current pop culture Zeitgeist this year, The Bachelor their star attraction.

Blake ‘Love Rat’ Garvey copped THE most media after his Derby Day and Cup Day appearances.

Mr Catlin says he thinks about every celebrity move he makes for the Swisse marquee at race time.

“I dare say we spent a lot less having Blake Garvey in our marquee than Chris Hemsworth would have cost but we got all of the media,’ he smiles.

“We are very careful with how we spend our money and use our resources,’’ he adds.

As for Solange Knowles as a guest in a coffee marquee this year, the DJ didn’t even do interviews, so if I were Lavazza, I’d be brewing and slightly spewing.

On the ground for the whole carnival, Melbourne based Herald Sun columnist and a veteran of carnival life, Luke Dennehy, thinks this year was a little weak and subdued in the international ‘star’ stakes but it didn’t phase him.

“There haven’t been those big, big names, so I guess we have had to do with the stories and incidents from our local stable of ‘celebrities’,’’ he laughs.

“From The Bachelor to Gabi and Geoffrey and the always fun Housewives, it’s been a carnival very much focused on the locals.’’

Gabi Grecko poses with her engagement ring after Geoffrey Edelsten proposed at the Emirates Marquee on Melbourne Cup Day.

The reason celebrities are invited to grace these smarty pants, two and three-level marquees that are dotted throughout The Birdcage (essentially a carpark that is turned into a marquee nirvana for the entirety of the Spring racing carnival) is pretty simple.

Corporate sponsors pay celebrities with clout and some kind of brand association top dollar to be ‘ambassador’ for a day.

The paid celeb then waves the flag; stays in their host’s marquee and gets photographed in front of brand’s ‘media wall’ all in the hope of garnering lots of TV, digital, radio and print publicity for the marquee brand.

And everyone walks away happy. In theory.

Our Fair Lady: In 2012 Derby Day had megastar Nicole Kidman with her Swisse ambassador hat firmly planted. Pic: News Corp

Although Blake Garvey was perfectly amiable (if not cautious) when talking to mainstream media, not everyone seemed impressed with his behaviour.

“He was so rude and wouldn’t take a photo with anyone without his girlfriend’s dad being in the photo,’’ said blogger’, Kylie Brown (aka @britbown).

“What was that about???”

Meanwhile, interviews with Lavazza guest Solange Knowles were pushed back and back and back. And with the race-day media buzzing around like bees, the lure of a late-in-the-day interview with the DJ were met with a giant ‘meh’.

The man formerly known as Bachelor: Blake Garvey and the girl he rejected before hooked up with her again, Louise Pillidge, both in the Swisse Marquee on Cup Day. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Unfortunately some racing marquee peeps think the whole day is about THEIR marquee forgetting that pace of the media is so fast, they move on from one to another very, very quickly.

Some thought the appearance of charming Thor actor Chris Hemsworth, as an ambassador for Johnnie Walker, may had been diluted.

Considering ‘Thor’ had a highly publicised and hugely successful appearance as a Foxtel ambassador just two nights before Derby Day, the media could have been a bit ‘whatevs’ about seeing him again.

Hemsworth still caused a big and messy media scrum but he still wasn’t the headline act in most of the big news stories coming out of Derby Day.

Sister of ... Solange Knowles was guest DJ of Lavazza on Derby Day Picture: Bradley Hunter

“Flying out big-time stars can be just too expensive and you want guaranteed bang-for-your-buck,’’ said a Melbourne-based PR executive, on condition of anonymity (for fear of social scene ‘pariah’ status.)

“Often they’ll come out if they have a number of ambassador gigs — possibly like Chris Hemsworth did — but the cost is just too prohibitive to bring out one name for one event.

“The rise and rise in power of digital and social media, the news cycle pace can’t guarantee that a ‘big’ name will hold for an ‘exclusive in a newspaper or TV interview.’’

Hunk of gorgeousness: Chris Hemsworth in the Birdcage on Derby Day for Johnnie Walker. Picture: Bradley Hunter

While the American model and TV personality Gigi Hadid may not be a household name she certainly gave her hosts, Emirates, a cool school and contemporary factor.

The Sports Illustrated rookie’s name may have drawn a blank from some of those in the German-themed Emirates marquee but she gave the media pretty pictures. And that’s what much of this is all about.

Model guest of Emirates: Gigi Hadid on Melbourne Cup Day wearing Alex Perry and a Jonathan “Hatmaker” Howard hat piece (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)