AMV tipped to win £4m Euro lottery launch task

Lottery operator Camelot is strongly tipped to hand the &£4m launch advertising campaign for its first European lottery game to Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO. The advertising account was put up for tender last month (MW August 14), inviting incumbent WCRS to pitch against AMV.BBDO and Publicis.

It is understood that Publicis is no longer in the running for the business.

At the time the pitch was called, Camelot was at pains to point out that it was not a reflection on WCRS’s performance.

WCRS won the business in 1998 and handles the &£19.8m UK advertising account and was responsible for the disastrous Billy Connolly ad campaign last year. The ad campaign was ditched near Christmas.

The lottery operator recently appointed former Orange marketing chief Nicole Louis as marketing controller at Camelot. At Orange, Louis was part of the team that shifted the telecom company’s advertising out of WCRS into Lowe Lintas in 2000.

The pan-European lottery, which is being run in collaboration with Camelot’s Spanish and French counterparts, will yield a potential jackpot of &£35m.

It is one of a raft of games to be launched over the next 12 months, with the aim of reviving the fortunes of the National Lottery.