North American lottery marketers were surveyed on how they will tweak their marketing for family of games (FOGs) for scratchers in fiscal 2020 to keep them relevant with players. Lottery product managers discussed multiple approaches, including adding and eliminating price points in a family, creating new brand and digital advertising programs and adding a large format ticket to the FOG lineup. Results follow below:
ALC
“We are really pleased with the performance of our portfolio. Not only have we seen steady sales growth, but our player base levels have also seen some gradual uptick, which is unheard of these days. So from a product standpoint, we have the right formula. Where we need to adjust our marketing strategy is in the areas of channel development, improving our in-store presence and optimizing the product mix at each retailer. Evolutions in those areas will certainly help with sales—but they will also ensure our offering is more relevant and accessible to players and potential players.”—Merrill Fullerton, Manager, Marketing, Instant Games, Atlantic Lottery Corp.
BCLC
“In January of FY19, we ran a successful tactical brand campaign ‘Find your match’ to promote nine new tickets that replaced the holiday lineup. We wanted to find a way to target light and casual players that may have received holiday tickets to discover more of what Scratch & Win has to offer all year round. Based off that success, we are refreshing this brand campaign around our new launches for September FY20 to encourage people to continue to ‘Find their match’ using striking personas to bring the tickets to life.”—Gladys Primeau, Category Manager, Instant Games, B.C. Lottery Corp.
California
“California is always working on new and innovative product ideas for our Scratchers games in order to keep players engaged and remain relevant in the marketplace. Our marketing and advertising strategy for 2020 will continue to build excitement with consumers around new Scratchers game launches while also promoting the product category more broadly to emphasize the variety of game styles and the overall enjoyment of playing a California Scratchers game.”—Whitney Alderson, Assistant Deputy Director, Marketing, California Lottery
Colorado Lottery
“The Colorado Lottery will continue to support its Family of Games with full marketing campaigns including TV, radio, POS, out-of-home, digital and social media. We will work with our advertising agency Cactus Inc. to look for new and innovative ways to engage our players. Family of Games offers us the opportunity to talk about the entire Scratch category and show that our games include something for everyone.”—Todd Greco, Scratch Product Manager, Colorado Lottery
Connecticut Lottery
“Families will continue to have a strong presence as core offerings in CT (Cashword, Win for Life and X Games). We are introducing a new wrinkle this fall with a one-time family—$10 (SILVER) and $20 (GOLD). The artwork is bold and eye-catching and the game-play is simple. The prize structures will offer a new twist for Connecticut: $25 minimum prize on the $10 bet and a $50 prize on the $20 and a heavy focus on mid-tier prizes. We want to continue to offer our players unique opportunities and lots of winning experiences.”—Carlos Rodriguez, Director, Lottery Games, Connecticut Lottery Corp.
DC Lottery
“We put a lot of thought behind the concept and marketing of our family of games. Our most recent family of games, the Electric Series, features a fun, retro-inspired concept that encourages players to grove along to their favorite retro-beats while having winning experiences with our Electric tickets. So far, this has proved to be a success. We’ve learned that engaging players through social media and digital ads have been a great way to reach new players and introduce them to lottery. We hope to replicate and build upon this strategy in FY’20.”—Stephen Cooke, Instant Product Manager, DC Lottery
