The Mississippi Lottery Corporation (MLC) launched its first two draw games—Mega Millions and Powerball—on January 30. The slogan for the advertising launch campaign is “Have Fun, Y’all!”
The campaign will incorporate traditional and digital media. “We are utilizing both types of advertising as we introduce our company and our games,” said MLC President Tom Shaheen. “To start, we are incorporating traditional methods like radio and static billboards. On the digital side, we will feature electronic billboards, social media and other methods like firestick, roku and geo-fenced digital ads.”
MLC’s launch campaign will entail “a multi-media advertising blitz followed up with promotions and events throughout the year,” added Meg Annison, Director of Communications, MLC. “We had roughly 680,000 How-to-Play brochures being distributed to retailers two weeks before launch.”
The focus for introductory advertising is two-fold. “We are focusing on having fun, while playing responsibly,” explained Shaheen. “Playing responsibly has been included in our messaging from day one.”
The teaser ads went live on January 23. Introductory social media posts include education about how-to-play. “Every Friday beginning 12/6/19, we posted a social media post related to Powerball and Mega Millions,” said Annison.
MLC will buy space on billboards to promote the size of jackpots. “We have four billboards for this purpose already being used. We will ultimately have 36,” said Annison.
MLC anticipated 1,450 to 1,500 approved retailers will be on-board for launch. Both games will be actively promoted at lottery retailers. “Our IGT Aurora terminal display monitors will scroll various information pieces about PB and MM, including the launch date of PB and MM, as well as instant scratch-off games,” said Annison.
The estimated weekly sales for Powerball in fiscal 2020 (ending June 30, 2020) are $1 million. The estimated weekly sales for Mega Millions are $735,000.