Since launching in 2009, Lotto Max draws have been held once a week, on Fridays.
But people unaware that the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation – the body jointly owned by five provincial lottery commissions – recently introduced a second Tuesday draw were met with a pleasant surprise on May 14, the day the new rules came into effect.
Working with Halifax agency Wunder on the creative concept, the Atlantic Lottery corporation opted to cover parking fees for the day on more than 700 meters in downtown Halifax and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Anyone travelling to the cities’ cores discovered parking meters covered with green bags explaining the stunt and promoting Lotto Max’s new Tuesday draw.
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The brief was fairly straightforward, says Stephen Flynn, creative director at Wunder. Lotto Max wanted to announce its Tuesday draw “in a big way and surprise people with some kind of gesture,” with the goal of “making people’s Tuesdays better in a way that they found surprising and actually benefited them in a real way.”
Among the different options considered, the parking concept was the most efficient way for Lotto Max to reach the biggest number of people, Flynn says. He notes that even those who didn’t benefit directly were still likely to see the green signs placed all over town.
The campaign was promoted on Lotto Max’s own channels and through a media push, and a video was created capturing people’s reactions as they went to pay for parking.
Wunder received assistance from agency Haylo on account management and logistics. The two shops are currently competing for a larger experiential-focused RFP with Atlantic Lottery.
Wunder, which remains a two-person shop, has run similar stunts in the past. Last summer, it ran a campaign for restaurant chain King of Donair that promoted a phony airline called DonAir (offering $7 flights from Nova Scotia to Alberta). That work built off of a digital campaign for the same client a year before, which featured a webcam capturing a 24-hour live stream of donair meat roasting on a spot at a King of Donair location.
