On September 19, 2001, MDI announced that it had entered into an agreement with the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) for a Powerball advertising campaign featuring music legend Ray Charles, under the company’s exclusive lottery licensing arrangement with the singer.
The television and radio campaign introduced a new theme song for Powerball, as performed by Mr. Charles, a 12-time Grammy winner. The campaign also introduced a new Powerball slogan and new logo graphics.
“Mr. Charles recorded six different musical renditions of a new Powerball tagline: ‘It’s America’s Game–The One and Only Powerball’ for a Powerball branding and jackpot awareness campaign,” explained Bret Toyne, Executive Director, MUSL. “Fifteen Powerball lotteries signed on and ran the commercials in late 2001 and early 2002.”
The Powerball advertising campaign featured him performing the Powerball theme song in each of his award-winning musical styles. “Six 30-second television spots were produced—one spot for each musical rendition(Rhythm & Blues, Jazz, Rock, Country, Modern and Symphonic).Each television spot had its own unique set to match the musical renditions as well as different sets of talent (extras) to make the spots look different. Twelve radio spots were also produced, including 60-second spots and 30-second spots.”
Lotteries could customize the ads. “Both television and radio spots left a five-second window at the end for jurisdictions to insert their own tagline or jackpot alerts,” said Toyne.
The campaign included jackpot alert ads. “Mr. Charles did voice-overs for the Powerball jackpot alerts. In one session, he counted from $10 million to $150 million in $1 million increments, and then $155 million to $350 million in $5 million increments,” explained Toyne.
The campaign was a huge success. “By entering a joint advertising campaign, the participating jurisdictions were able to procure outstanding production values and a recognized national talent,” ended Toyne.