The challenge
In 2017 Camelot was experiencing a well-publicised struggle - with falling ticket sales for their flagship Lotto game. This had reduced its good causes returns by 4.7%, resulting in serious scrutiny from government and the National Audit Office. The BBC had also decommissioned The National Lottery show from broadcast TV in January 2017, moving it onto the iPlayer. No wonder the newspaper headlines declared that Britain had fallen out of love with the lottery. National lottery came to ITV to change that opinion.
The insight
Not only had The National Lottery lost it’s primetime viewing slot, it had also lost it’s sense of fun. It no longer felt like the big, entertaining, nation-uniting event that it once did. If we were to get the nation to fall back in love with the lottery, we had to find it’s fun and put it back on the radar. That's where Saturday night comes in, an evening where the family get together for an evening of the best entertainment TV has to offer. That's where The National Lottery belonged and we wanted to inject the fun of ITV entertainment programming into the lottery. We wanted to make it feel like part of the show, not just part of the schedule.
Our idea
We created 2 brand new entertainment formats as part of the partnership. The first was Race to the Numbers which enabled the public to literally race to a local Lottery funded location for the chance to win a cash prize live. The second was The Big Surprise - which celebrated the people behind the good causes funded by playing the lottery. These ran as part of the airtime and also as content featured on the National Lottery’s official YouTube channel. A version appeared every Saturday night in ITV’s live entertainment flagships, including Britain’s Got Talent, The X Factor and The Voice. By the end of the year, we had successfully delivered 37 shows reaching nearly 28m people.
ITV have been an invaluable strategic partner who have consistently delivered innovative and deeply insightful solutions to help us drive relevance for the Brand and returns to Good Causes… Placing the National Lottery Results back at the heart of Saturday night TV in a resonant and contemporary manner they have harnessed the power of their platform and an understanding of our brand to help ensure The National Lottery continues to be part of the fabric of modern British life.”Adam Chataway, National Lottery Marketing and Sports Partnerships
Watch Race to the Numbers
The results
The partnership led to a real step change for The National Lottery, leading to:
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Half of viewers saying it had positively impacted their opinion of the Lottery, rising to two thirds for regular Lotto players.
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Our Big Surprises content received a 4**** rating from System1, putting it in the top 5% of all advertising, showing high levels of emotional engagement.
+5.4%
An increase in main draw ticket sales +5.4% in first half of Camelot’s financial year
46% Positive sentiment uplifts amongst regular players - pumping happiness up to 46% from 3%
£46.5m An increase in returns to Good Causes +£46.5m vs the previous year’s fall in returns
Have you tried TV?
If you're looking to supercharge your brands growth, or revenue, then TV might be the perfect partnership. Why not partner with the UK's largest commercial broadcaster to kick start your conversation with the nation today.
Sound like the right opportunity for you? Get in touch with itvcommercial@itv.com for more information.
