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New Jersey Lottery Advertising
By Bebe Crone, Lottery Insights
April 2001
 Advertising Theme(s)
In January 2000, our advertising agency, GráficaGroup, recommended that the Lottery begin to develop a more consistent theme that would be present throughout all of our communications and campaigns. Our objective was to bolster the image of the Lottery by producing a meaningful and relevant figurative link between Lottery products and the hopes and dreams of our players. Our challenge was to produce a brand campaign that would not only boost sales of our more mature products, but also support the promotion of individual games and ease the way for the launch of new ideas. The branding message chosen was, "For Every Dream, There's a Jackpot."
Due to the fact that each New Jersey Lottery product offers varied prize levels — Pick-4 has an average prize of $2,700, players can win a wide range of prizes with instant scratch games, or they can dream bigger and win millions when playing Pick-6 Lotto or The Big Game — the brand message was designed to appeal to players of the various games and support each product's unique attributes. The message also reminds players that the prize and jackpot do not have to be exceptionally large to fulfill one's dreams.
In April 2000, we incorporated this message into the launch of our series of 30th Anniversary instant games. Since that time, "For Every Dream, There's a Jackpot" has been present at event sponsorships, in collateral materials and Web site copy, and media announcements detailing jackpot levels, new game promotions and lottery milestones. To date, we feel this campaign has been successful; promotions that were supported with advertising have proven to be fruitful for the State of New Jersey in generating additional sales and revenues to support education and institutions.
Advertising Strategies
For fiscal year 2001, we have continued with our strategy to support game promotions and game enhancements with the brand campaign. We introduced New Pick-6 Lotto and Holiday instant games with television, radio, transit and point-of-sale. Jackpot advertising includes 10-second radio spots for Pick-6 Lotto and Big Game. In addition, we have supported The Big Game through jackpot messaging on billboards. A Pick-3 game promotion and a Pick-4 instant cross promotion are scheduled for Spring 2001 and both will be supported with radio, transit, point-of-sale and agent sales incentives.
The main challenge that the New Jersey Lottery faces, from an advertising standpoint, is the fact that in order to reach all of our players we must buy in three media markets; New York, Philadelphia, and New Jersey. There is a great deal of overlap among newspapers, radio and television stations in these three states. Operating in the most expensive and twelfth highest media markets in the country, we must choose our mediums carefully and always consider which ones will impact the greatest number of listeners/readers in the most cost-effective way. In the months ahead, we will continue to support game promotions, event sponsorships and jackpot levels through the combined efforts of advertising, marketing, and public relations. We have many exciting and unique events planned for 2001 and as always, will measure the results of our campaigns on a case-by-case basis.
Unique Advertising Strategies
As previously mentioned, our advertising budget must be economical due to the fact that the New Jersey Lottery operates in one of the most expensive media markets in the nation. Our challenge was to produce sales increases with limited funding and as a result, we began to move away from product-specific advertising, which can be expensive and started using a branding campaign.
Two television commercials were produced — one for instant scratch games and one for on-line products. Both were designed to support the theme of "For Every Dream, There's a Jackpot" and to support the individual game promotions. Due to budget constraints, each commercial was produced with a general theme, and a "changeable" promotional message was tagged at the end of the spot. This way, the production costs were minimized and the exposure of our brand was extended. Store signage, transit advertising, billboards, jackpot awareness advertising, etc., all support the "For Every Dream, There's a Jackpot" theme. The strategy was to create a link between the player and the Lottery that did not focus entirely on individual products, but rather set the stage for product-specific messages for the promotions.
While the Lottery campaign approval process begins with recommendations from the marketing staff and the Deputy Director of Marketing & Sales, the Executive Director ultimately approves all strategies and Lottery campaigns. The New Jersey Lottery has advertising guidelines, which are always considered when making final recommendations.
New Jersey Lottery Advertising Guidelines
- Games and advertising will reflect Lottery policy.
- Lottery products will not be associated with tobacco, alcohol or sexually oriented products.
- The Lottery will not encourage people to gamble beyond their means.
- The Lottery will promote responsible play by printing The Gambler's Anonymous telephone numbers on all of its products.
- The Lottery will not associate itself with unlicensed or unregistered businesses.
- The Lottery will not target minors in its advertising and will actively work to prohibit minors from playing.
- Advertising campaigns will be focused on adults 25 and older statewide with a very broad reach and effective cost-efficiencies.
- All print advertising will include the following information:
- Benefits Education and Institutions
- The name and title of the Governor and Executive Director of the Lottery
- www.state.nj.us/lottery
- If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER
Advertising Budget
Our advertising budget has remained relatively stable but small throughout the past three years. Our budget has been approximately .03% of total sales. Given that our advertising budget is conservative, radio seems to be the most effective use of our advertising money. We utilize radio for jackpot-awareness advertising, as well as support for game promotions and some new instant scratch games.
| Media | % of Total Ad Budget |
| TV | 11.03% |
| Radio | 20.49% |
| Print media | 2.96% |
| Production | 16.80% |
| Transit/billboard | 14.15% |
| Consumer promos | 13.49% |
| Drawing events | 14.60% |
| Public relations | 4.03% |
| Research | 1.70% |
| Other | 0.74% |
| Total FY00 Ad Budget* | 100.00% |
| *Point-of Sale materials are included in the production costs. |
Unclaimed Prize Funds
The New Jersey Lottery can use unclaimed prize money for second chance drawings, additional prizes and game promotions. In recent history, the Lottery has conducted a number of game promotions that were funded with unclaimed prize money. They include:
- New Pick-6 Lotto — Buy 2, Get 1 Free coupons
- Pick-6 Lotto — Buy 5, Get the 5th Free game promotion
- Jersey Cash 5 game promotion — Buy 5 days, get the 5th free
- Pick-3 Green Ball Double Draw game promotion
- $1 million second chance drawing — 30th Anniversary Instant Game Series
In-store Promotions
Our planned in-store promotions for the next year include promotional events where we park our Lottery trailer on the retailer's premises and give away promotional items, hold second chance drawings and sell the retailer's instant tickets. The use of our big yellow trailer at these events is key as it is highly visible and attracts attention. In some instances this will include an appearance by our drawing hostess, Hela Young. In addition, this year we will be developing second chance and "ask for the sale" promotions for our retailers.
Over the past two years, we have hired outside firms for mystery shopper programs when we launched Lotzee and The Big Game. Recently, we conducted a mystery shopper program with the introduction of the New Pick-6 Lotto. However, unlike previous mystery shopper campaigns, New Jersey Lottery senior staff and district sales managers acted as the mystery shoppers. This strategy allowed us to go out into the field, have one-on-one contact with the retailers, and encourage them to display all POS items and "Ask for the Sale." It was a great experience for all involved and was very successful.
The New Jersey Lottery does not currently have an ongoing retailer incentive plan. However, we include an agent incentive program that offers cash and merchandise for each consumer promotion, which are designed to create competitiveness and help to increase sales. For example, when the Lottery relaunched Pick-6 Lotto, we included a retailer contest that offered cash prizes. Top retailers that increased their individual sales of 20% or more within their sales category received a prize. The remaining retailers that increased their sales were entered into a random drawing for merchandise (audio/visual equipment, tickets to Broadway shows, sports events, etc.). The program was successful and more than half of the agent network met the minimum requirement of the 20% increase in sales; $12,500 in prizes was awarded in each of the four retailer categories; and a total of 50,000 in prize money was awarded.
Retailer Prize Chart
| Retailer Rank | Prize Amount |
| 1 | $5,000 |
| 2 | $2,000 |
| 3 | $1,000 |
| 4-5 | $500 |
| 6-10 | $300 |
| 11-15 | $200 |
| 16-20 | $100 |
| 21-30 | $50 |
| Retailer Classification |
# of Agents |
Required Sales Increase |
% of Agent Network |
Prize $ Per Category |
| Class AA |
1574 |
20% |
26% |
$12,500 |
| Class A |
1010 |
22% |
17% |
$12,500 |
| Class B |
1305 |
24% |
22% |
$12,500 |
| Class C |
2114* |
25% |
35% |
$12,500 |
| Total |
6003 |
|
100% |
$50,000 |
In order to qualify, agents must:
- Have been licensed before April 15, 2000
- Have met the standard sales quota of $2,000 per week ($1,700 online and $300 instant) for each of the previous 13-week period
- All agents must be in good standing
- Contest Period: 8 draws
The above was submitted by Virginia Haines, Executive Director of the New Jersey Lottery.
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