Camelot says Lotto marketing helped return to growth
Camelot has credited the part its marketing campaign for the relaunched Lotto played in returning its flagship brand back to growth last year despite the controversial decision to double ticket prices in the Autumn.
Sales of the game were up 5.6 per cent in the year to 31 March, or by £130m, the company says.
The price of a Lotto ticket increased to £2 in September, the first increase in its 20-year history. Several new features providing more opportunities to win prizes were introduced to mitigate the impact of the price hikes and the relaunch was backed by a multi-million campaign dubbed a ‘New Dawn’.
The moves appear to have had a significant effect. In the first-half of Camelot’s fiscal year, the six months to 31 September, sales were down by £115m, or 9.6 per cent but moved back into the black for the full-year after the price hike.
It is not known if the marketing activity and new product features had any positive impact on the volume of tickets sold, or what effect the price increase had – Camelot does not report volume sales.
Total sales across its product portfolio reached £6.7bn, the second best return in the National Lottery’s 20-year history. The previous financial year, which included the National Lottery sponsored London 2012 Olympics, was the company’s best.
Sally Cowdry, marketing and consumer director at Camelot, told Marketing Week: “It was always going to be very tough to match our exceptional performance in 2012/13, when the anticipation and excitement around London 2012 allowed for a never-to-be-repeated marketing programme.
“However, our marketing and sales efforts over the past 12 months have really paid off in helping us achieve our second-highest ever annual revenues. Our ‘Surprising Numbers’ campaign for National Lottery Instants drove sales of these games to record levels.
“And our ‘New Dawn’ campaign made the launch of new Lotto an unmissable moment and really brought home the benefits of the new game to players – and has seen the flagship Lotto game back in year-on-year growth and delivering substantially more money for National Lottery-funded projects.”
Camelot says it raised £1.75bn for ‘good causes’ in the period. It has increased the amount of marketing activity it dedicates to promoting the good causes it backs.
