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TEXAS LOTTERY PRESENTED WITH THREE PRESTIGIOUS NATIONAL AWARDS
Agency recognized for best website and print advertising efforts
(AUSTIN) – The Texas Lottery Commission received three top lottery industry awards during the 2021 North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries’ (NASPL) annual conference, which was held digitally for a second year in a row due to COVID-19 precautions.
The agency was presented with a Hickey Award and two Batchy Awards during the virtual NASPL DeskCon seminar.
“We are delighted to have our redesigned website and print advertising efforts nationally recognized by our lottery industry peers,” said Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery Commission. “These honors are a compliment to the creativity and hard work executed by our talented staff and advertising partner, ThirdEar. As we celebrate these awards, we remain driven to finding creative ways to highlight our products in an entertaining way so that the Texas Lottery can generate revenue for public education and veterans’ services in Texas.”
The Texas Lottery was presented with a Hickey Award in the Best Website category for its redesigned website that launched in Dec. 2020. The new look features a fresh, modern design that incorporates the latest web technology, making site navigation across both web and mobile platforms more intuitive for its users. The refreshed look features an expanded layout for the latest draw games on the homepage and the all-new “Player Area” that houses popular resources for Texas Lottery® players. The project spanned eight months and utilized a combination of an agile core committee and workgroups to balance development speed and accuracy. To incorporate stronger brand recognition for the agency through its website, the agency migrated its txlottery.org domain to the new texaslottery.com URL in June 2021. The Texas Lottery and ThirdEar were also recognized as Hickey Award finalists for the Luck Happens Shakey Graves Livestream in the Special Events/Promotion category.
In recognition of the many contributions lottery marketing pioneer Owen Hickey made to the industry, the annual Hickey Awards are presented to lotteries that emulate Hickey’s commitment through successful promotional and strategic marketing efforts in the areas of Website, Special Events Promotion and Audio/Visual Presentation.
In addition, the Texas Lottery earned a Batchy Award in the Print Advertising – Retailer Signage/Merchandising category for its Hawaii Dream Getaway point-of-sale promotional signage and a Batchy Award in the Print Advertising – Color or Black and White category for its All or Nothing™ daily draw game print ad. The Hawaii Dream Getaway point-of-sale signage, which was used to promote the X THE CASH scratch ticket multiplier family and the Hawaii Dream Getaway Promotional Second-Chance Drawings, featured a near-six-foot surfboard and incorporated a QR code that gave consumers an augmented reality experience with Darius Rucker where they could learn more about the Hawaii trip and private concert that was being awarded as a second-chance promotional prize.
“It was an amazing opportunity for Atlas Experiences to collaborate with the Texas Lottery and Pollard Banknote to innovate the player experience,” said Derek Gwaltney, Founder & CEO of Atlas Experiences. “The augmented reality promotional elements with Darius Rucker created a unique way to communicate with players and winners that generated excitement for the Hawaii Dream Getaway promotion.” The Texas Lottery’s All or Nothing print ad, which was created internally by agency staff, showcased the unique nature of the game – “Match. Or Don’t.” The ad reminds players that they can win by matching all of their numbers and also in a less traditional way of matching none of their numbers. It was a fun, simple and relatable approach that got Texans excited to play All or Nothing.
The Texas Lottery was also a Batchy Award finalist in four other categories.
For the Radio Advertising: Corporate Beneficiary category, the agency was recognized for its “A Brighter Future” spot, while its 30th Anniversary campaign print advertisement was honored as a finalist in the Print Advertising: Coordinated Print Campaign category.
The agency was also tabbed a runner-up in the TV Advertising: Coordinated Campaign category for its “It All Starts With a Scratch” evergreen commercial spot and a finalist in the Special Category for Original Music for TV or Radio with its “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner” audio track.
The Batchy Awards honor the memory and distinguished career of Ralph Batch, a champion of quality lottery advertising. Each year, the Batchy Awards are presented to recognize lottery advertising that achieves the level of excellence Batch upheld throughout his career.
About the Texas Lottery Beginning with the first ticket sold in 1992, the Texas Lottery has generated $33.6 billion in revenue for the state and distributed $71 billion in prizes to lottery players. Since 1997, the Texas Lottery has contributed $27.6 billion to the Foundation School Fund, which supports public education in Texas. As authorized by the Texas Legislature, certain Texas Lottery revenues benefit state programs including the Fund for Veterans’ Assistance. Since the first veterans’ themed scratch ticket game was launched in 2009, the Texas Lottery has contributed more than $166 million for programs supporting Texas veterans.
The Texas Lottery provides several entertaining games for lottery players including Powerball®, Mega Millions®, Lotto Texas®, All or Nothing™, Texas Two Step®, Pick 3™, Daily 4™, Cash Five® and scratch ticket games. For more information visit us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or at texaslottery.com.
PLAY RESPONSIBLY. Editors/News Directors, note: Images of the Hawaii Dream Getaway point-of-sale promotional signage and All or Nothing print ad are attached in PDF format.
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