BBJ Media lands Littlewoods Lotto

Littlewoods Leisure has moved the media buying for its Lotto scratchcard account to BBJ Media Services out of Mediapolis.

BBJ has handled media for Littlewoods Pools and Spot the Ball since 1995. The brands spent nearly 5m last year.

A spokesman for Littlewoods says the decision to centralise the scratchcard account was made to reap economies of scale. “It is sensible to move all media into one shop,” he says. Mediapolis had handled the account for a year.

Lotto has spent nothing on advertising this year, and last year spent just 300,000, but the Lotteries business is expected to resume its above-the-line spend next year, possibly with new products.

BBJ planning director Tim Elton says: “We feel the work that we did on pools has stood us in good stead for this business.

“Littlewoods is a good brand, and we will have to think cleverly to make inroads into the National Lottery’s share of the scratchcard business.”

Littlewoods Lotteries is also behind the Diana, Princess of Wales, scratchcard, which provoked public controversy after complaints about poor taste.