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In June 2025, the New York Lottery backed its annual Pride message with something concrete. For the whole month, it showcased the work of five LGBTQIA+ artists across 14,000 touchpoints. Early engagement is strong. If that goodwill translates into loyalty among younger urban adults, Art Werk Gallery could become a new paradigm for establishing authentic community relationships.
Art Ad-“ded”
In the past, the Lottery, in collaboration with its ad agency McCann New York, supported Pride Month with a short series of graphic posts. The idea evolved into a smaller Pride campaign on Instagram and Facebook. Like its predecessor, the Art Werk Gallery originated as a purely digital initiative, but the Lottery wanted to move beyond just in-house creative and involve the wider community.
Five New York-based artists were selected to be the stars of The Art Werk Gallery, each contributing original artwork for the campaign: Marcos Chin, Andina Marie Osorio, Audra Linsner, Rani Som, and Jarrett Key. Each artist provided at least one piece for display, and their artworks collectively explored themes of community, resilience, and queer identity.
Authenticity was an area where the Lottery was particularly conscientious. McCann also ensured that the primary creative and production team was from the LGBTQIA+ community. The team also ran the campaign past McCann’s culture committee multiple times to get feedback from everyday queer New Yorkers.
“Engaging artists required a deep dive into the community of queer artists across the state, and was something we spent extra time on. We wanted to ensure that our full roster encompassed a diverse group of artists, a lot of different media, and represented the state as a whole, not just primarily New York City,” says Andy Mendes, Senior Copywriter, McCann New York.
The art was displayed on 14,000 digital screens statewide, as well as on billboards, kiosks, and in retail locations. The Lottery website featured a virtual gallery hub with the artwork and artists, and it used its online social platforms to post short messages from the artists, including Key, who encouraged young queer creatives: “Your voice matters. Your stories matter… Don’t give up on yourself. Our contributions and our voices matter.”
Instead of promoting games, the art displayed was framed with a rainbow background. The background had the Lottery’s logo, a brief description of the campaign, a QR code to view more art on their website, and their responsible gaming message.
All told, the campaign reached millions around the state. “While the New York Lottery is already a recognizable brand in New York, we are always looking to drive brand awareness further. This campaign allowed us to capture the attention of more New Yorkers by doing something authentic in the community and becoming part of the conversation during this key moment, ultimately keeping New York Lottery top of mind,” says Elise Rodriguez, Strategy Director, McCann New York.
Lottery Megaphone
Earned media followed quickly with local press covering the statewide gallery. Support flooded in across the Lottery’s social channels. “The biggest surprise was just how excited New Yorkers were to see the works of the queer artists we collaborated with. We received our best social media performance in 16 months from the campaign, with every post being among our most successful content ever,” says Tommy Boyce, Senior Social Strategist, McCann New York. “In addition, the comments and positivity that overwhelmingly surrounded this campaign show success, which cannot be directly measured but is felt.”
The reaction has been clearly positive. “We believe that it’s not enough for brands to walk the walk. They need to talk the talk, especially when it comes to connecting with communities across New York,” Boyce explains.
Eventually, favorable sentiment will be put to a more rigorous test when the Lottery decides whether to repeat it in 2026. It will measure how the campaign affected the good causes it supports, inevitably becoming a return-on-investment question.
Whether the campaign proves financially justified or not, it should be heralded as a success for being held at all. Lotteries have a powerful voice when they choose to use it. Effectively harnessed, it can spotlight communities, initiatives, and programs.
New York isn’t the only lottery to engage in cause-related campaigns. Many states have unique communities and causes they support, such as veterans’ assistance (Texas Lottery’s Fund for Veterans’ Assistance tickets), teacher support (Idaho Lottery’s Scratch for Schools), or disease research (Illinois Lottery’s Tickets for the Cure). BCLC launched a “Greater Good Giveaway” $2 scratcher this May, offering a top prize of $10,000 for the winner and $10,000 for a registered charity of the winner’s choice.
Yet, New York’s Art Werk Gallery breaks new ground in the industry, as it provides a platform to a marginalized community. The sheer magnitude and duration of the campaign have few parallels. Additionally, the campaign traded product visibility for cultural visibility. Finally, Pride support is outside the Lottery’s legislative mandate. This is something the Lottery felt it should do. By interweaving these elements in one initiative, they are allowing others to speak and redefining how lotteries can utilize their voice.