Lotto are famous in New Zealand for their commercials. The Imagine series has been running since 2021 and this is the 5th execution in the series.

(Other executions include: Pops Gift, Mum’s Wish, Armoured Truck and LO5T.)

It was time to inspire New Zealand with another epic story of someone winning Lotto.

Or was it?

Lotto's Imagine series consistently tops New Zealand’s favourite ad charts.

“With every passing ad the pressure has grown to tell a story as compelling as the one that came before.” - NZ Herald.

The pressure was on to do the same thing we always do.

So we knew we had to do something different.

Lotto ads usually are always about the big win… but research showed us that many lotto players actually put off checking their tickets to give themselves longer to imagine.

Only a few Lotto players will ever win. But every player can enjoy the wait.

So instead of doing what every other Lotto ad does and focus on the win, this year, we decided to focus on the wait.

We decided to leverage the built up interest in our upcoming Imagine commercial.

The previous commercials have always been about someone winning big.... so we decided to flip that on its head.... instead of focusing on the win we focused on the wait at every possible touch point.

In film we told the story of a team of researchers, in Antarctica, who hold off checking their ticket so they can keep dreaming for the 6 months they’re stuck there. But the audience is left on a cliff hanger, did they win?

After making the audience wait a month we announced a $50,000 prize if you could unlock the ending. Didtheywin.co.nz turned the audience into the Antarctic researchers as they explored the interactive research base for clues. They could even unlock prizes based on the dreams the characters had in the film.

And finally we adjusted our own retail jackpot ads to help people keep their tickets on ice.

But it’s important to note that New Zealand Lotto was created by the government 30 years ago to fund community projects. 100% of the profits fund over 3000 good causes.

ROI: Every dollar spent on the Imagine campaign has returned $20.85.

On Ice not only lived up to the expectation of Imagine commercials didtheywin.co.nz entertained kiwis for a combined 3.2 years…

That’s a lot of entertainment to squeeze out of 1 ticket.

“Over the last few years our business has seen the value of investing in strong creative storytelling. This investment has enabled us to achieve record sales growth. Undoubtedly the strength of the ‘Imagine’ brand campaign inspiring Kiwis to dream big, has been pivotal to our success”

– Annemarie Browne, CMO Lotto NZ, 2021