The Colorado Lottery’s Winning Country Colorado Lotto+ advertising campaign is still winning in its second year.
The Colorado Lottery’s enhanced Lotto game was relaunched in 2019 with a higher price, a multiplier, better odds, a second chance add-on, and bigger jackpots in 2019. The first-year campaign focused hard on education about the new game, how to play and doubled down on Colorado Lotto+ as “Colorado’s Game,” with a Colorado 101-themed advertising campaign that featured eager, quirky, state park employees getting “trained” on all things Colorado and Colorado Lotto+.
The Colorado Lotto+ creative really found its audience with the Winning Country campaign, which launched in 2021 and is being relaunched now. Winning Country harkens back to 1970s nostalgia, with a wobbly 8-Track-esq soundtrack and sepia-toned film where cowboys and cowgirls excitedly talk about winning Colorado’s game, Colorado Lotto+, because only someone from or visiting Colorado can win.
“While Lotto and Colorado Lotto+ had already created more than 430 millionaires, its jackpots were not growing, and it was not bringing in as many new players as we wanted,” said Scott Chavkin director of marketing for the Colorado Lottery. “Adding the new features helped us draw in more players. The message that it was time to reconsider playing Colorado Lotto+ with bigger jackpots and better odds resonated.”
Since it was launched in 1989, the Lottery’s Lotto game had not changed much. When the Colorado Lottery created Colorado Lotto+, they increased the price from from $1 to $2, built in multipliers (2x, 3x, 4x, or 5x) and added an optional “Plus,” for an additional $1.
“Reaching the highest jackpot since 1992 before it was hit at $25 million in the past few months was incredibly rewarding,” said Jay Sisson, product manager for Colorado Lottery. “Coloradans feel like this is their game, and it’s developed into a new, strong brand for us.”