It’s no secret, an Elf brought a lot of holiday cheer to our Maine Lottery clients.
The Challenge
In the busy holiday season, the Maine Lottery always wants to provide players with extra value and opportunities to win. For 2020, the Secret Santa promotion was designed to engage and reward players in the final weeks of a stressful year. Our challenge was to engage people and help spread some fun and holiday spirit with hopeful, uplifting messages.
The Insight
During the holidays, people like to be involved with traditions, themes and icons of the season in order to get Into the spirit of things. Buying holiday-themed lottery tickets for themselves or others is easy for people to do and it brightens their moods as well as possibly lining pockets with real jingle. So in the dark year of a pandemic, a holiday promotion filled with fun, heartwarming images was exactly what was needed to bring a smile to every player.
The Solution
Our creative team decided to reinvent the Secret Santa tradition and make a connection to the Elf-themed holiday tickets for 2020. Using cheerful images and a nostalgic nod to the animated Christmas stories that live on in everyone’s memories, we created the Legend of the Secret Elf. The story was brought to life in magnificent, stunning animation that became the centerpiece of the campaign. A 30-second television spot, supported by radio, POS and digital display banners, ran statewide for seven weeks.
The Results
The 2020 Secret Santa campaign generated a record 1.5 million entries into the RewardME Club, Maine Lottery’s loyalty program, for their Secret Santa drawing. That was a 12.5% increase over the 2019 promotion! But just as important, players were so delighted by the Secret Elf television spot they expressed their thanks to the Maine Lottery on social media for such a happy holiday message. It made us believe again in the magic of the season.
