The three most dreaded words a point-of-sale designer regularly hears from clients: “Make it pop.”
How do you make signage stand out at retail but not overwhelm when other visuals in the store are competing loudly for attention?
Creating posters, decals, wobblers, toppers, and even six-foot stands requires the right formula. “It’s essential to have a formula in your mind when you’re working on POS to ensure you’ve covered all the necessary components,” says Bobbi Martucci, Senior Manager of Brand Marketing, Scientific Games.
POS always has the “hero” image (for lotteries, aka the game), a headline and responsible gaming legalese. It can also have secondary elements like lottery logos, social icons, and callouts. POS art must play off the game design to frame the game, not mute it. Designers must also ensure the art translates to digital channels for continuity across the entire campaign.
It isn’t always easy, but when designed correctly, POS can help turn a great instant game into a record-shattering game – which translates into revenue. A perfect example is Billion Dollar Extravaganza, the Massachusetts Lottery’s first $50 lottery game. According to La Fleur’s FY23 Best Instant Games Report, the game averaged $29 million per week and a per capita of $4.28 for the first 12 weeks, the highest in the U.S.
Part of the game’s success is its design featuring a gold background and a rich blue play area, which won the Fleurry Instant Design Competition in 2023. Scientific Games used metallic* and holographic Strategic Product Enhancements to elevate the look even further. “The game itself just shines and glows,” Martucci says.
The challenge lies in translating these physical attributes into effective POS materials. To start, Martucci used a dark background. The contrast between the background and the gold trim helps accentuate the game image. “It’s such a simple principle: dark background, light game image. It leads your eyes directly to the game.”
She also designed the POS text in metallic gold to convey the game’s special effects. “Taking the POS up a level and enhancing it with gold kind of gave it a little extra something,” she said.
The art also needed to express the grandeur of the game experience. Her solution came from an unusual inspiration. The game’s launch coincided with the movie award season, so she played off it. The stage and the lights are the most obvious parallels, but even the game image tilts as if it was posing for cameras.
Experts also know when to ignore the rules; Martucci is no exception. She advises against too many callouts, but this was a special case. The game itself had many notables, including the highest prize payout and most $500 and $1,000 prizes. To avoid competing elements, she had to play off the theme. A second look shows how the design callouts are reminiscent of For-Your-Consideration Academy movie posters. “I was a little nervous when I first showed it to them, but they loved it,” she said. “It really came together because we collaborated back and forth.”
Licensed Games
“Licensed brands require a bit of a balancing act,” Martucci comments. “You’re selling the lottery game but also the property.”
The game must always be the hero image. For popular properties like GAME OF THRONES, there may be half a dozen or more different game designs that a lottery can select for their portfolio. So the POS design must work for all the game variations a lottery chooses to offer its players. This especially holds true for SG’s Linked Games, which provide participating lotteries with branded, turn-key marketing support packages.
Martucci receives a number of licensed style guide assets for a brand and then pulls them together to create designs for a cohesive POS package. “All of the versions are then pre-approved templates that a lottery can pick from to create an entire POS kit for retail,” she explains. “This still allows for customization and special requests such as a larger headline, different callouts, or other logos.”
She sometimes adds depth to the POS pieces by hiding ‘Easter eggs’ in the art. For instance, as part of the Linked Games marketing look and feel for the GAME OF THRONES, elements from popular TV series, such as the continent of Westeros or dragons hiding in the smoky shadows, can be seen in the background. While they are often too small to notice on a decal, they are hard to miss on posters and six-foot standees.
“After 15 years designing materials for all kinds of retail environments, I’ve learned that making POS pop at retail comes down to creating art that balances the brand and the lottery’s key messaging about the game – as well as making it an eye-catching piece for players,” shares Martucci. “That is the essence of effective POS.”
With more than 100 licensed brands in the Scientific Games portfolio, the opportunity for her to create exciting designs is endless. And putting the pop in the design comes naturally.