28 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • JULY/AUGUST 2024 Close your eyes (ok, maybe don’t have them completely closed) and imagine a brand that has a greater reputation than the World Cup (coming soon to an America near you in 2026!), provides better value than Starbucks and is recommended at a significantly higher level than the likes of TikTok, DraftKings and Ceasars. This brand’s aided awareness is also significantly higher than world renowned institutions such as American Airlines, Marriott, Major League Baseball (is it still America’s pastime?) and United Airlines. If you said Powerball, you would be correct. Quite remarkably, for a brand without much fanfare in the landscape of these United States, when more than 30,000 Americans (the largest representative sample I personally have ever managed in 29 years of researching!) were asked which lottery, gaming or gambling brand comes to mind first, the answer once again is Powerball at 17%, beating out the likes FanDuel, and MGM Grand. Reputation is the cornerstone of power! The great reputation for Powerball is driven by females (who also score both Amazon and Starbucks significantly higher than their male counterparts), while American men have stronger reputation scores for the likes of BMW, MLB, McDonalds, DraftKings and FanDuel. Value is more expensive than price. Powerball currently sits alongside BMW in terms of ‘value,’ not a terrible brand to be compared with. Powerball and Mega Millions have remarkably similar USP’s (unique selling positions), but they currently have a strong and significant advantage over other gambling and sports betting brands in terms of value proposition, loyalty, and reputation, such as MGM Grand, FanDuel and Caesars. “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” V Lombardi One interesting way to get at what a brand stands for is asking an unaided ‘key word’ association. Powerball is strongly connected to ‘Winning’. However, the word ‘Jackpot’ is significantly lower as a ‘top of mind’ word among younger Americans (18–34-year-olds), when compared to older Americans, who have witnessed many more jackpots above $500m in their lifetimes. The biggest risk is not taking any risk... In terms of its aided key words (respondents were asked to select words shown to them), Powerball is strongly associated with two major words or phrases - ‘Lucky’ and ‘Risk Taking.’ Meanwhile younger Americans (18–34-yearolds) over-index on Powerball’s word associations with terms like ‘Rewarding’, ‘Thrilling’ and ‘American’. The fact that different generations across America think about the Powerball brand in different ways is definitely a positive for all the ad agencies and marketers in the Lottery industry, allowing wider scope for verbiage and imagery in games, advertisements and promotional tools. Understanding Powerball and add-ons. An opportunity for new players? Two-thirds of Americans claim they understand how to play Powerball. This is driven predominantly by males (75%) over females (62%), although as a male myself, I often overestimate how much I actually understand about anything and everything in this THE POWER OF POWERBALL. UNCOVERING THE FACTS BEHIND ONE OF AMERICA’S LEADING BRANDS. Simon Jaworski, Founder & CEO, Lotto Research
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