How did we market a lottery game about poker? With an ace up our sleeve.
The Challenge
Our Maine Lottery clients developed a new ticket offering based on the highly popular World Poker Tour licensed brand. The rules of the game were a little tricky, like knowing when to go “all in” (which required an additional purchase) and understanding the many different ways to win. So not only was the agency tasked with creating awareness and visibility for this new promotion, but we had to appeal to both game fans and novices. We put on our poker faces and took a seat at the table..
The Insight
While everyone knows some of the basics of poker, it can still be an intimidating game. Our strategy was to make sure above all else, playing the game would be fun and it didn’t matter if you knew a full house beats a flush. So it was important to remove the barriers to enjoyment. We also determined we’d have to develop and share some educational information on the rules of the game. Again, keeping it fun.
The Solution
We went “all in” on bringing the many different poker associations into play. Including using a green felt poker table in our POS, making sure the World Poker Tour logo was prominently displayed and incorporating simplified poker language in copy across all platforms, especially television and radio. We also wanted players, both seasoned and inexperienced, to begin having a poker experience even before they started to play. The agency produced two :15 second spots to run as bookends highlighting the name of the game as much as possible. Our efforts included social media support as well.
A noteworthy note about our media plan: in order to create the broadest visibility for our messaging, we worked with our friends at Scientific Games in determining how and when to reach Adults 21-34. Our broadcast plan delivered over 2.2 million impressions in statewide TV and radio, reaching 95% of Maine. The paid schedule was supplemented with bonus spots that added 25% to the value of the campaign.
This was an extremely successful new product launch. In the first two months, there were sales of $1,269,239. It became the 3rd most popular draw game in just 8 weeks and almost 77% of ticket sales included the “all in” additional purchase.
A win-win for everyone, hands down.
