The UK Lottery is promoted through the messages of good it does for the community through lottery ticket purchases. This message is pitched in all the collateral used in retail, including the front of store promotional unit I saw recently when in Manchester.
The headline of THANK YOU stands out, reinforcing the message of good purchasing lottery tickets does.
I think this plays a role in driving sales. It also connects the business selling the tickets with the good words done as a result of the lottery ticket purchases.
Western Australia is the only state or territory in Australia where this level of community connection remains, through Lotterywest. In WA, they, too, promote the community connection in-store and elsewhere.
I think this is an important differentiator, especially with the rapidly rising profile of Lottoland and the takeover of lotteries everywhere in Australia except WA by the publicly traded Tatts Group.
We know from card sales at Christmas time that plenty of Australian shoppers appreciate supporting the community work charities through deliberate of purchases based on charities supported.
If I was an influencer at Tatts I’d be urging the company to deeply engage with a beloved charity in Australia, I’d want the company to link good community works to the purchase of Tatts lottery products.
While the company does engage today, it does not do so in a way that translates to a message at retail and I think this is where it misses out.
The Tatts / Lottoland comparison shows the difference is primarily in how products are sold – at least that is the perception pushed by the high-rotation Lottoland ads.
I think Tatts needs to change the conversation and following the British and WA lead could be worth considering.
At the same time I’d urge Tatts to pull back on the highly regulated approach to its independent retailers. I’d suggest they have one metric – sales. This would improve the love retailers have for Tatts and that, in turn, ought to improve sales.
Lottoland is running an aggressive race and Tatts currently appears to be way back in the field. It needs to significantly change its approach if it is to catch up.
it’s politicians who need to change. The lottery revenues have become a tax.
UK model is not all it is cracked up to be. The UK government is increasingly interfering in what good causes the profits can be spent on. Increasingly they are being used in areas traditionally covered under government budgets. Still better than Aus system though.
In SA the tag line was always “Prizes to players Profits to hospitals” and I think many (most) South Australians still think that is the case.
I have forwarded to you an email from another Country’s lottery with their latest embrace of technology.
While I understand Tatts need to move online, I am disappointed that those of us who may ewant to innovate in this space are prevented from offering on line sales.