Promote a Las Vegas-themed scratch lottery ticket. What exemplifies the fun, entertainment and excitement of Vegas? Elvis. Solution: The First Annual Running of the Elvises.

We begged the mayor’s office to shut down a downtown street. We hit the online bulletin boards. We created a YouTube invitation video, website, and blog-seeded.When the Elvises left the gates, it was pure, brilliant chaos. Every news outlet in Minnesota gave us prime-time coverage (from Good Morning America to ESPN’s Play of the Day). The running of the Elvises is the most successful launch of a lottery ticket to date.

Initially challenged to sell $1.1 million worth of Welcome to Las Vegas Scratch Game tickets during the first four weeks of the campaign, we sold $2.1 million, an increase of 95 percent.* The media helped us build buzz and game sales. In Minnesota alone, 28 feature stories created 3.25 million impressions. And across the United States, 114 news features produced 16 million impressions.***Minnesota State Lottery Scratch Game Sales data, October, 2007.

**Cision Report, September 2, 2007