Ex-Tote chief takes reins at struggling Chariot lottery

Chariot, the operator of struggling lottery game Monday, has appointed Lorraine Brannan, former marketing chief at The Tote, interim marketing director.

Chariot, the operator of struggling lottery game Monday, has appointed Lorraine Brannan, former marketing chief at The Tote, interim marketing director.

She replaces Andrew Williams, who left Chariot last month without a job to go to (MW 15 June).

Brannan is developing a new marketing strategy for the charity lottery and is advising the board on its marketing needs, including staffing and resources.

Chariot has also parted company with Us, the agency behind its &£10m TV launch campaign. It has decided it will not be using above-the-line advertising in the short to medium term.

Brannan says: “As an online business, we will be focusing our efforts on online marketing.”

Williams, a former head of brand at insurance company Prudential, lost his job at Chariot as part of a management clear-out.

The restructuring also led to the departure of Chariot chairman Tim Holley and managing director Craig Freeman, and administrative director David Gray stepped down. The moves followed disappointing sales, after Chariot only managed to sell 5% of the 10 million tickets available.

Peter Jones, a non-executive director of Chariot and chairman of The Tote, replaced Holley, who is a former chief executive of Camelot. Jones has been a driving force in plans to privatise The Tote.

Although Chariot has burned through &£13m raised by its Alternative Investment Market flotation in February, Jones has succeeded in securing a refinancing package worth &£2.6m.

Brannan left The Tote in July 2005 after the organisation relocated to Wigan. Before she joined the organisation in January 2003, she was head of marketing for Marks & Spencer Financial Services.

It emerged earlier this month that Monday, which had promised to donate a larger proportion of its proceeds to charity than the National Lottery, had cut its pay-outs to good causes from 30p to 22.2p for every pound spent. That means its donation is less than the 28p given by the National Lottery.