Alcone Marketing Group Pushes California Lottery with Tour
Alcone Marketing Group is spreading the word about a new lottery scratch ticket and California game show with a mall tour and live event.
The agency is working with the California State Lottery to stage a tour in four markets to promote the new show, hosted by Mark Wahlberg, and a new Scratcher ticket of the same name “Make Me a Millionaire.” And to do it, Alcone is bringing a piece of the show to shopping malls in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Sacramento.
Reps set up a portable set of the show to let shoppers play a real-life component of the show, called “SafeCracker.” Players in the mini game compete for lottery Scratcher tickets and other prizes, including the chance to play on the actual game show in Hollywood.
The event, which kicked off last weekend, will make stops in San Jose Jan. 30-31 and in Sacramento, the hometown of the California State Lottery Feb. 13-14. The promotion coincides with P-O-P work the agency is handling for the organization.
“It’s a different model for promotion and getting people involved in the lottery,” William Hahn, president and CEO of Alcone Marketing Group, said. “It’s a lot of fun. It brings what is normally a static thing to life.”
“We’re using the mall tour to introduce players to our new game show,” Cathy Johnston, a spokesperson for the California State Lottery, said. “We’re hoping to reach as many people as we possibly can.”
The promotion is Alcone’s first of the new year for the California State Lottery. The agency was awarded a multi-year contract with the organization last August after a state-mandated RFP. It has been working with the lottery for 16 years.
The new TV Game show and new Scratcher brand replaces the California State Lottery’s largest selling Scratchers ticket, the Big Spin Scratcher, which gave players the chance to go onto the “Big Spin” game show. Lottery research showed that the “Big Spin” show was dated and lacked excitement, and the lottery strived to bring in a younger audience with a new brand,
Robert Flanigan, an account director at Alcone Marketing, said. “Big Spin” last aired on Jan. 10. “Make Me a Millionaire” launched Jan. 17 and airs on Saturday nights.
The California State Lottery offers some 20 different Scratcher games at any one time. Lottery sales took in around $3 billion between July 2007 and July 2008, Johnston said.
“Our goals are twofold: first to make both lottery players and non-players fans of the game show, and second to encourage them to get on the show should they go out and buy ‘Make Me a Millionaire” Scratcher tickets,” Flanigan said.
And so far, the lottery group seems to me reaching an audience, Alcone said.
“Consumers love the live engagement with the California State Lottery,” Ray Gottschalk, senior vice president, group account director of Alcone Marketing Group, said. “Consumer response and attendance has been exceptional.”
The event is being marketed via e-mail blasts, TV spots, online and via radio spots. Alcone is handling the event design and is developing and executing creative elements, signage, onsite logistics, staffing and multi-media components for the promotion.
