Heather Tryon, Category Manager, Instant Games, B.C. Lottery Corp. (BCLC), discussed “Taking Crossword to the Extreme.”
BCLC has managed to grow the Crossword brand by a few simple rules—keep it in the family (a Master brand), offer multiple price points. “Our fourth rule: we try to move them up. On our $2 ticket they can win a free $3 and our $3 win free $5 ticket. How can we continue to grow the brand? Player insights with IPSOS. We segmented players with their motivation and based on their general attitude in life,” said Tryon.
The solution was a 20th anniversary Crossword ($20). There was a short print run of only 250,000. “The marketing budget is $0, but we were able to make some counter displays for a few retailers,” said Tryon. “We sold out of Crossword in 19 weeks, but expected it to be in market for 40+ weeks. We had a 3.5:1 return on the counter display. No cannibalization.”
