The top licensed games report follows below:
Alchemy3
“The company’s top four selling brands in fiscal 2017 were: The Home Depot®, AEG Live, I Love Lucy® and Grills Gone Wild®.
When A3 designs a program, ‘the brand’ is the beginning. As lotteries commit to licensed games we believe they should get more than just the brand in return. We design and execute comprehensive integrated marketing programs from start to finish—and that is typically why our games perform well. If the goal is to bring new/infrequent or younger players into the mix, we make sure that our clients are in agreement that to get a true measure of the game’s success, we need to look beyond measuring the program via index numbers. Simply put, a brand that achieves the goal of attracting elusive players may not score all that well on the index scale. That does not necessarily mean that the game is a failure, in fact, it could mean just the opposite. Alchemy3 makes sure that program objectives are clearly defined up front so that expectations are properly managed. We also believe in extending the brand to other lottery portfolio products. Why limit the use of brands to instant game promotions? Spreading the brand across multiple products—instant and terminal generated creates umbrella awareness for lotteries, providing a bigger ‘bang for the buck.’”
IGT
“IGT experienced tremendous success with Licensed Properties in 2016-2017. IGT harnessed the power of each brand to deliver compelling, relevant ticket art, eye-catching advertising, play-for-fun games, and second chance prizes, delivering engaging entertainment and increasing sales.
Wheel of Fortune®: IGT developed a turnkey, linked marketing program for 15 participating states. Each state could leverage the advertising program, featuring Pat Sajak and Vanna White. 84 winners won a trip to Los Angeles to participate in a lottery players only, non-broadcast version of Wheel of Fortune. More than 86M tickets have been printed, and sales have been outstanding across price points.
Ghostbusters™: 2016 saw the highly publicized reboot of the classic film, making this brand an easy choice for the 12 lotteries who launched. Iconic images from the original and new films made their way onto over 18M tickets.
Life is Good®: Life is Good® poses a unique opportunity for lotteries benefiting educational causes to spread the power of optimism. Their ticket art is eye-catching and fun, and second chance opportunities encourage players to take an active role in spreading positivity.
IGT’s Convergence Series: IGT has leveraged their portfolio of popular slot titles and applied these assets to instant and play-for-fun games. Employing brands that players are already familiar with enhances a lottery’s product mix, attracts new players, and grows sales. Several lotteries have launched tickets featuring Double Diamond™, Cleopatra™, Red White and Blue™, and Wolf Run™.”
Pollard Banknote
“Pollard Banknote’s top performing brands in FY2017 were Frogger, PAC-MAN™, Tetris® and Corvette®.
Classic arcade games transition naturally to the lottery world and continue to prove this at retail—this year, on average, Pollard Banknote’s Frogger, PAC-MAN™, and Tetris® games have sold 25% higher in the first 10 weeks than other games at their respective price points.
Pollard Banknote’s clients have been able to leverage the strong social presence of these classic brands to build robust promotional programs that include interactive elements—a proven engagement tool. These brands are successful because they engage both nostalgic players, and a new, younger demographic that has recently been introduced to the iconic games through a variety of social and digital platforms. To build on the momentum that these classic video games have created, Pollard Banknote has recently added Ms. PAC-MAN™ to its portfolio—a brand sure to deliver similar results at retail.
Corvette® elevates the tried-and-true vehicle category as the quintessential luxury sports car with an aspirational appeal. The success of Corvette® stems from our ability to add additional layers of engagement that range from experiential opportunities such as VIP trips to the National Corvette® Museum to retailer initiatives such as test-drive-to-win campaigns.”
Scientific Games
“The WILLY WONKA GOLDEN TICKET™ game burst onto the scene in early 2017 and has grown to become the largest and one of the most successful instant linked games of all time. Launching initially in 11 U.S. states, the linked game offers the chance to win millions in prizes instantly. Players can enter a second-chance drawing to win trips to Las Vegas for the chance to participate in the BILLION DOLLAR CHALLENGE™. This second-chance event produced by Scientific Games features a top prize of up to a whopping $1 billion!
MONOPOLY™ continues its run as the most popular licensed game in the lottery industry, with more than 20 new games in 2016. The brand provides a treasure trove of iconic images for marketers to use in promotions, like the Massachusetts Lottery’s $10 MONOPOLY Jackpot game. The game offers players a chance to submit non-winning tickets via the Lottery’s website, play a bonus game and earn up to 60 entries per ticket for a shot at $5,000,000 —guaranteed!
At No. 3, SLINGO® edged out No. 4 perennial favorite LOTERIA™ for most games launched this year. Since SLINGO first introduced lottery players to the unique combination of slots and bingo, it’s become a staple in the extended play category. More than five billion games of SLINGO have played online.”