Expect a more traditional media plan as Atlantic Lottery tries to capture a growing urban population
The Atlantic Lottery Corporation is going to the Extreme in an effort to stand out in a highly competitive environment.
The Moncton, N.B. –based organization formally introduced Extreme Group as its new agency on Tuesday. Extreme, which has offices in Halifax and Toronto, quietly began working on the account in March following a formal review.
Extreme was among five agencies shortlisted for the assignment. The incumbent, Halifax-based Revolve, retained the corporate brand portion of the assignment it has held for the past five years. Extreme now oversees the ALC’s scratch, draw, sports, destination and e-gaming business lines.
The agency had previously worked on the scratch portion of the ALC assignment several years ago, but Scott McWilliam , managing director, sales and marketing, said while that offered a “comfort factor,” it didn’t play a significant role in the decision to award it the business.
“We need to change things up and we felt they were best suited to help us on that,” said McWilliam.
Extreme Group president and chief creative officer Shawn King said the agency has undergone significant changes since it last worked on the ALC account, including the opening of a second office in Toronto and a new senior management team.
“Our agency’s changed a lot since then, and we kind of wanted to go at it again, work with them differently and see if we could impact their business,” said King.
The ALC has traditionally enjoyed a monopoly in the Atlantic region, but has seen its dominance undermined by what McWilliam called the “digitization” of lottery games and the advent of unregulated games like PokerStars.net. At the same time, an aging population and an increasing move from rural to urban areas has created what McWilliam called “product relevance issues.”
McWilliam said changing traffic patterns are adversely affecting sales on games like Lotto 649 and Lotto Max, which tend to inspire impulse purchases when jackpots are high.
“We needed someone who could bring some fresh perspective and help us… really shake it up,” said McWilliam. “We’ve talked to people in the same way for too long, and it’s time to take a different look.”
The media portion of the business, held by Time + Space,, is unaffected by the review. However, McWilliam said the ALC is recalibrating its media investment.
“We went a little too far away from traditional over the last couple of years, and we’re kind of retreating back to the tried and true,” he said. “We’re at a point now where we’re [comfortable] with what investment is moving what needle, we just need some solid creative.”
Extreme Group is currently revamping some existing work and doing some preliminary labour on core products such as Lotto Max, said King. “We’re not sure when it will be ready, but we’re digging in now,” he said.
Toronto-based creative director Phil Sylver will lead the account initially, although he will draw resources from both the agency’s Toronto and Halifax agencies.
