Lotto puts the critics in a spin

By GEORGINA BOND

Choosing an advertising campaign for a game of chance is likely to be a bit of a gamble.

So has the New Zealand Lotteries Commission picked a winner with its new series of Lotto advertisements, spawned by Auckland agency Lowe?

Lowe won the lucrative account in June, breaking the 17-year stronghold of Saatchi & Saatchi.

The commission wanted to refresh the Lotto brand and to show that real people win Lotto every week.

Lowe's answer to this has been the creation of the fictional Bob Kingsman, a balding investment guru with a "psychic ability to spot a winner".

In a new commercial each week, Kingsman picks the viewer as this week's Lotto winner and "has a deal for you".

He encourages winners to invest in his bogus schemes, which so far include selling ice to Eskimos and exporting New Zealand sand to the Sahara. Kingsman has his own website (www.investmentguru.co.nz) which links to the Lotto website.

Four Kingsman advertisements have screened so far and Lowe chief executive Stephen Pearson said Kingsman was only one of many potential characters.

Lowe was among three finalists competing for the $15 million Lotto account - the others were Auckland agency DDB and the incumbent Saatchi & Saatchi.

The New Zealand Lotteries Commission communications chief, Helen Morgan-Banda, said Lowe demonstrated an excellent understanding of what Lotto meant to consumers and presented a campaign that was innovative, entertaining and commanded notice.

But the advertising industry has its own views on the effectiveness of the campaign, although of the 15 agencies phoned for comment, only eight were willing to go on the record.

Phillip Andrew, creative director at Clemenger BBDO in Wellington, said the advertisements were "dreadful".

"Certainly a great bulk of the people I've spoken to don't have a kind word to say about it. The concept is weak and I think it's missed the point. It certainly doesn't make me want to go out and buy a Lotto ticket."

James Mok, strategic director at Generator, said he thought the Kingsman character was confusing, irrelevant, not funny enough and that viewers would switch off to him.

"Ultimately, I don't think it's compelling."

Mok said it would be hard to gauge the success of the campaign by Lotto sales alone, given the game now had a new format with the "winning wheel".

Ross Goldsack, of Young & Rubicon, said the campaign did not have the "cut-through" of previous Lotto advertising.

"To me, it lacks presence. Lotto used to have a big feeling to it but this feels very small."

Trudy Dickinson, general manager of media buying company Mitchell and Partners, also said the general consensus at her office was people did not like it.

"But then you don't necessarily have to like ads for them to be effective," she said.

Chris Williams, chief executive of King St Advertising in Hamilton, did not think the campaign worked.

"There's no excitement, no aspirational value. The 'call-me-when-you-win' idea is over-promising," he said.

He thought the Kingsman character, who he likened to a second-hand car salesman, was one of the main problems with the campaign.

He said the campaign was "bitterly disappointing" given the review process companies went through for the account.

Lucinda Sherborne, strategic planner at Colenso BBDO, said she thought Lowe had missed a major trick.

"This was a huge opportunity to shake things up and get New Zealanders looking at Lotto in a fresh, positive light. Yet the irrelevant message and somewhat sleazy, negative nature of the campaign has almost done the opposite."

She said the concept seemed divorced from the dream of winning and she struggled to see how it would connect with consumers.

Universal McCann managing director Glenda Wynyard said she personally did not mind the advertisements.

"I think it's got people talking. It's simplified the game and I think that's what was really needed," she said.

"They've tried to do something really different and it's taken them into new territory. We'll have to wait to see the long-term advertising effect.

Rob Davies, director of advertising agency Admission, said he thought if any agency could "save" Lotto it could be Lowe.

"They've done a fantastic job with Vodafone and they need to bring to bear on Lotto that same mixture of what I call 'brand action' - concurrently building the brand and selling [Lotto tickets]."

Responding to the comments, Pearson said it was early days for the campaign, "and as many of our competitors commenting would know, it needs more time before those sorts of judgements can be made".

Morgan-Banda also said it was too soon to draw conclusions on the campaign's success.