Watch: Lotto cliffhanger gives glimpse of life in dark Antarctic winter

The latest ad for Lotto takes viewers to Antartica. Photo / Lotto NZ

Lotto has continued its long-running trend of epic stories, this time giving a glimpse at the lives of Kiwi scientists trapped in the dark winter of Antarctica.

The ninety-second ad, developed by DDB Aotearoa, is the latest iteration of the Imagine branding platform, which was first established in 2015 and has delivered a range of epic stories that have become increasingly rare in modern advertising.

The new spot plays on the insight that many Kiwis tend to hold off on checking their tickets, even after the results come out, to prolong the anticipation of the result.

Lotto New Zealand chief marketing officer Annemarie Browne says it's a trend that has led to some significant delays in claiming their winnings.

"We've had several stories from winners who have left their ticket unchecked as they continued to imagine," Browne said. "One of our Powerball winners was walking around with the unchecked ticket in his work bag for two weeks as the prize remained unclaimed, hoping to keep the dream alive for as long as possible."

This is, however, taken to epic proportions in the ad, with a group of scientists based in Antarctica in winter deciding not to check their ticket until they return home.

As they wait for the six months to pass, they trade Mallowpuffs for a share of the potential prize money.

As far-fetched as this might sound, scientists in Antarctica face severe limitations in terms of what they can import to the icy landmass. Recent statistics showed that alcohol was the single biggest export from New Zealand to Antarctica, topping even aircraft and clothing.

Alcohol tops the list of New Zealand's exports to Antarctica. Source / StatsNZ

When they do eventually check the tickets, the viewer is left with a cliffhanger that indicates there may be something more to come.

If this ad is to follow in the footsteps of the previous campaign, which featured hidden numbers within the actual ad, it seems likely that there could be more to come.

Lotto is a big spender on advertising annually, with stats from research firm Nielsen showing the organisation drops more than $30 million on advertising every year.

With every passing ad, the pressure has grown on DDB Aotearoa to tell a story as compelling as the one that came before. Lotto advertising has, in many ways, become the closest thing New Zealand has to the high-budget John Lewis Christmas ads that entertain viewers every year.

"Every time you've got to start again," says DDB creative director Mike Felix.

"You can't leverage what you've had in the past. If anything, you've got to push the boat out a little further. You've got 90 seconds to take people on a journey, so it's definitely not a movie. It's more like a haiku."

Felix says that while the ad is based in Antarctica, it was actually shot down in Queenstown by production company Eight.

As an interesting aside, this is the final ad to feature the creative eye of Damon Stapleton, who departed the agency alongside former CEO Justin Mowday to start Accenture-owned The Monkeys in New Zealand. After a gestation period of a few months, the pair became LinkedIn official today, updating their job titles on the business networking site.