Wunderman Thompson Atlanta, a WPP company, and Spurrier Group have been selected as the agencies of record for a three-year contract with the North Carolina Education Lottery (NCEL). Wunderman Thompson will lead the Creative, Advertising and Marketing Communications Services, with Spurrier Group managing the Media Planning and Buying Services.
Wunderman Thompson Atlanta led the pitch along with Spurrier Group (Richmond), Wunderman Thompson (Chicago), Wunderman Thompson Data Management (Dallas) and Burson, Cohn & Wolfe (Atlanta). The partnership will begin on July 1st, with new work launching in September 2019.
“As with all sales organizations, advertising plays a crucial role in success, especially with the challenge of bringing new games and promotions to the marketplace each month,” said Mark Michalko, executive director, NCEL. “The lottery believes it has found a partnership with Wunderman Thompson and the Spurrier Group that will ensure our ability to continue growing support for education in North Carolina. We’re excited about the creative talent and media expertise our new partners bring to our mission.”
The mission of the NCEL is to raise revenue to maximize contributions to education for the State of North Carolina through the sale of lottery tickets/ products. This is accomplished by providing entertaining games through a dynamic business enterprise built upon honesty, integrity, innovation and teamwork. Since its inception in March 2006, the Education Lottery has contributed more than $6.24 billion to education. It has grown fiscal year sales to more than $2.6 billion, raising more than $670 million a year for education. Those results make the lottery one of the most successful sales and marketing organizations in the State. NCEL has become an integral part of the state’s culture in terms of the entertainment it provides, its support of the state’s retail economy, and its contributions and support of the education community.
“We’re thrilled to partner with the folks at the Education Lottery. Any group that contributes so much to furthering the education of its students, all while giving lottery players a chance to dream big, is something we can all stand behind. I’m ecstatic about the collective team we’ve put together to inspire growth and make this happen; truly the best version of what this company has to offer when it comes to creative, data and technology coming together as one integrated offering,” said Jeremy Jones, Executive Creative Director, Wunderman Thompson Atlanta.
“The team at Spurrier Group is ecstatic about the opportunity to work with the North Carolina Education Lottery! We have decades of experience in the category and are anxious to put our performance media approach into play for the wonderful team at the NCEL” said Donna Spurrier, Founder and CEO.