Atlantic Lottery: ASK AWAY

Credits & Description:

Category: Corporate Communication

Advertiser: ATLANTIC LOTTERY

Product/Service: LOTTERY

Agency: REVOLVE

Agency: DIGITAL KITCHEN

Chief Creative Officer: Matthew Allen (Revolve)

Chief Creative Officer: Mark Bashore (Digitalkitchen)

Executive Creative Director: Matthew Mulder (Digitalkitchen)

Creative Director: Demetre Arges (Digitalkitchen)

Senior Copywriter: John Smith (Revolve)

Art Director: Sam Archibald (Revolve)

Art Director: Josh Hayward (Digitalkitchen)

Executive Agency Producer: Eric Oldrin (Digitalkitchen)

Agency Producer: Laurie Blank (Digitalkitchen)

Agency Producer: Chezik Walker (Digitalkitchen)

Cinematographers: Trevor Fife (Digitalkitchen)

Cinematographers: Morgan Henry (Digitalkitchen)

Account Co-Ordinator: Kim Mosher (Revolve)

Agency Account Director: Nelson Angel (Revolve)

Agency Account Director: Patricia Nelis (Revolve)

Designer: Ryan Gagnier (Digitalkitchen)

Designer: Raul Villalobos (Digitalkitchen)

Designer: Ben Chaykin (Digitalkitchen)

Designer: Ashley Nieves (Digitalkitchen)

Technical Director: Adam Kruszynski (Revolve)

Media placement: Digital PR - Internet - June 23, 2012



Summary of the Campaign

Atlantic Lottery has been part of the fabric of Atlantic Canada for 35 years. Although Atlantic Canadians know of Atlantic Lottery, very few could tell you much about them, such as who owns Atlantic Lottery, where their profits go and the impact that they have on Atlantic Canada. This lack of knowledge and information resulted in great mistrust and misperception about them as a company.



The task was to reduce unfavorable perception by increasing public understanding of the corporation.



The strategy revolved around creating a platform where Atlantic Canadians could truly get to know Atlantic Lottery. AskAway.ca became the hub for an integrated campaign where Atlantic Canadians could ask Atlantic Lottery anything they want. A conversation would be started through real questions from Atlantic Canadians being answered by real Atlantic Lottery employees.



Through TV, print and online Atlantic Canadians could explore stories, find answers, and most importantly, participate in a two-way conversation at AskAway.ca.



In the first 6 months of launch, the campaign met or exceeded set objectives for year 1: A positive beginning to a long term initiative.



From a PR perspective, AskAway.ca exemplifies an unprecedented effort to build and preserve trust and understanding between Atlantic Lottery and Atlantic Canadians. Public mistrust and misconception was identified and a swift decision was made to make any, and all information, 100% accessible. This was a bold step, but one that demonstrates a steadfast commitment to operational transparency, accountability and organisational integrity



The Situation

Created in 1976, Atlantic Lottery is the lottery operator of Atlantic Canada. They are a crown corporation with the governments of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland/Labrador. They are wholly accountable to these governments and, therefore, to the people of Atlantic Canada. To date, over $6bn in profit has gone back to these four provinces.



However, due to lack of information, very few understand the tremendous impact Atlantic Lottery has on the lives of Atlantic Canadians. This lack of knowledge has led to great mistrust and misperception about them as a company.



The Goal

Objectives:

Long term: To reduce unfavorable ratings from 38% to 25%.



Short term:

To reduce unfavorable perception (-1%) and enhance scores of public ownership (+3%), transparent reporting (+1%), safe/regulated gambling environment (+1%).



Primary Audience:

Atlantic Canadian adults, 35+/well-educated/leaders of public opinion/political influencers.



Research:

In 2009, research revealed that Atlantic Lottery had a reputation problem. The benchmark for reputation problems that often result in public pressure or regulatory costs is 30%, with over 40% considered to be high-risk. Atlantic Lottery was at 38%. Research insights helped direct the overall creative approach.



The Strategy

This target actively seeks out information and facts in order to establish an opinion and ‘be heard’. Therefore, the communications strategy was to:



- Create a platform (AskAway.ca) where Atlantic Lottery’s story could be told through Atlantic Canadians speaking directly with Atlantic Lottery.



- Develop breadth of content from the ongoing dialogue with Atlantic Canadian communities in order to further inform and immerse their audience.



- Ensure that all support pieces leverage content from the site and encourage two way dialogue/conversation online with the call to action of “Get to know us better at AskAway.ca”.



Ultimately, the goal was to leave them with a better understanding of Atlantic Lottery; that they are a responsible, compassionate organization that mitigates the worst effects of its business, and contributes its profits to the betterment of the quality of life of Atlantic Canadians.



Execution

The Ask Away campaign launched in June 2011 with the hub of the campaign, AskAway.ca being the first, primary tool to launch (June 23). The site launch was supported with the following integrated media plan:



TACTIC TIMING LOCATION(s)

Website June 23 onward Nova Scotia

New Brunswick

Prince Edward Island

Newfoundland

Television w/o July 11 - w/o Aug 15

w/o Oct 17 – w/o Nov 14



Print w/o July 4 - w/o Oct 10

w/o Oct 17 – w/o Dec 26



Online – Video w/o July 18 – w/o Aug 8

Pre Roll w/o Oct 17 – w/o Nov 21



Online – w/o July 11 – w/o Aug 8

Display Ads w/o Oct 17 – w/o Nov 21



Online – w/o Oct 17 – w/o Nov 21

Facebook Ads



The only adapt to the plan was the audience being broadened to include general population 19-60+ (versus the specific 35+ target).



Documented Results

The first year of this long-term campaign not only met or exceeded targets for that time period, but it was achieved within the first 6 months of activity (using 2009 as base period).



Metric 2009 Target 2011 Met/Exceeded Differential

Unfavourable opinion 38% -4 to 34% 37% Exceeded by 3%

Publicly owned 36% +7 to 43% 39% Exceeded by 4%

Transparent reporting 28% +3 to 31% 29% Exceeded by 2%

Safe, regulated

Gambling environment 26% +3 to 29% 27% Exceeded by 2%



On top of this, site interaction/activity for the period of June – December 2011 was very positive when compared to general industry standards.



Time spent on website: 4 minutes

(Global industry average is 3 minutes*)

Average pages per visit: 8 pages per visit

(Global industry average is 5 pages*)

Visitors: 35,188

Engagement : 328 questions submitted



*Source: Google Analytics Knowledge Base for Government/Non-profit Websites 2011