M. Quinn Dossett, Vice President, Marketing
Probably our $3 Shake It Up! Campaign in February 2022 was my favorite. The reason is that this ticket is unique to Louisiana. For the second time, we partnered with Louisiana favorite, Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning, this time to commemorate their 50th Anniversary. The first strategic alliance we worked on together was in 2015, with our $2 Spice It Up! Campaign. The ticket featured Tony’s iconic green can as the scratch area. We included an extensive advertising and promotional campaign to go along with it. That ticket went on to index at 152 and win the Best Instant Ticket Award at NASPL that year. So, when Tony’s reached out to us about another alliance for their 50th anniversary, we were absolutely excited and jumped right in. This time we decided to “shake things up” a bit and chose to create a two-scene ticket featuring Tony’s retro logo from when they first launched, as well as the current logo they use today. We set the ticket at a $3 price point this time. We usually launch crossword and bingo games at that price but have been experimenting with different play styles for the last couple of years. While we did not incorporate any extra media spend into this campaign, it did become the highlighted campaign of the spring. In congress with Tony’s, we scripted and produced a live-action, with animation, television spot featuring the beloved character from the can, Little Tony, shaking things up at a Louisiana food festival by magically changing a dispenser facing full of Louisiana Lottery tickets to the Shake It Up! Tickets, much to the delight of festivalgoers. We even filmed the spot in our own parking lot with our promotional activation vehicle, LOLA, and Tony Chachere’s brought in their huge food truck to add to the setting. Of course, we hit all touchpoints in advertising throughout the state and coupled that media with an aggressive promotional schedule of in-store and social media promotions where players posted a photo of themselves with a scratch-off and their favorite dish to use the seasoning on. The ticket ended up being another resounding success, on sale for 35 weeks and indexing at 174!
We have a lot of great advertising and promotional plans for the coming year, but the one I have to say I am excited the most for is our upcoming Livin’ Lucky with Luke Combs $5 ticket. Experiential promotions are an area we definitely want to expand and do more of and this promotion plays into that strategy well . . . We will support this promotion with all our media channels and some fun merchandise, country music radio station promotions, and other prizes.
I do not think it is a stretch to say that the lottery industry as a whole shares the same acquisition and retention strategies. We just may each go about it a little differently or at our own pace. For Louisiana, the trick is not to alienate our loyal players that fall into a certain core age range, and who have their preferences with regard to play styles, games that are offered, promotions, communication, and any other aspect of their play. But, you also cannot ignore the customer you are depending on tomorrow or down the road. These “emerging market” or desired customers that you hope to become loyal players for years to come have different preferences or interests, as it relates to their spending dollars. More and more we are finding that these demographics are also interested in technology, added-value, and experiences. An integration or balance of what has worked in the past and what your future customers want for their spending is crucial to your lottery’s success. Advanced analytics, enhanced customer engagement, and extended play experiences are some of the tools we will be employing this year at the Louisiana Lottery.