In a business driven by life-changing, eye-watering, beyond all reason jackpot prizes why bother with advertising?

Because buying a Lotto Powerball ticket is an act of faith, not an act of reason.

In 2015 Lotto NZ was a mature business which had become heavily reliant on jackpot levels to sell tickets. Revenue was in decline which meant that the lottery had less money to give back to at-risk New Zealand communities. This was something that they couldn’t walk away from, so they set a clear vision for growth:

- Increase annual revenue to maintain our contribution to New Zealand community projects

- By encouraging frequent players to play more often, particularly in weeks with jackpots below $10m

- By reigniting their desire to play by reconnecting them with the big dream once again

The “Imagine” platform launched in 2015 around the core organising idea “Imagine whose life you would change for the better by winning Lotto Powerball”. Two films, “Pop’s Gift” and “Mum’s Wish” made headway in achieving this vision.

The first campaign in the series, “Pop’s Gift”, was a runaway success, but the more poignant “Mum’s Wish” had a much more subdued reception.

Now, with Imagine 3.0 we needed to rekindle the love and continue building on the success of the previous two campaigns. To achieve this, we’d need to create something that packed a big emotional punch.

Objectives for Imagine 3.0:

1. Commercial Objective: Increase annual revenue above the target of $1081.3M

2. Marketing Objective: Increase annual ticket sales in low jackpot weeks (<$10m) by 500,000 tickets

3. Communiations Objective: Increase emotional affinity with Lotto Powerball advertising above the norm of 68%.

Imagine 3.0 came to life as another powerful, human story, told on a grand scale. “Armoured Truck” launched with a two-minute film based on a real winning experience:

We introduced the story of Ray and Sateesh, two armoured truck drivers and long-time work friends. Ray, having frightened Sateesh into believing that he will make him complicit in absconding with the cash in the back, finally confesses that he has won Powerball and the money is rightfully theirs. Keeping his promise that they would share any win 50:50, Ray reveals they are free from their jobs and can do the things in life they had always dreamed of.

With astronomical odds against winning, emotions conquer rational thinking. By inspiring New Zealanders to ‘Imagine’, “Armoured Truck” was able to increase revenues to record levels, even in lower jackpot weeks:

Results:

1. Annual revenue eclipsed expectations, with revenue coming in $165.2m above target

2. An additional 1.25m tickets were sold when jackpots were below $10m

3. A new benchmark was set, with emotional affinity for “Armoured Truck” reaching 84%

But most importantly, by significantly increasing the return back to the business, Lotto NZ set new records on the amount of money it could give back to New Zealand.