Case Study:

PNE Winter Lottery

The Challenge

The PNE Winter Lottery had two key issues arise. Firstly, there was a discrepancy in familiarity between the Winter Lottery and the more widely known Prize Home Lottery which typically runs in the spring and summer. This lack of familiarity with the Winter Lottery previously hindered its visibility and participation compared to its summer counterpart. Secondly, the daily distribution of cash prizes over a month presents a challenge in crafting effective messaging. Unlike a lump-sum prize, spreading out the winnings requires a more nuanced approach to engage and retain participants.

The timing of the lottery also presented a unique challenge, with a portion of the campaign period running over the Christmas holidays, when user engagement (and spending) are historically low.

The Solution

To spread wider awareness of the lottery, we opted to utilize both Google Ads and Meta Ads platforms, with unique targeting and ad type mixes on each to maximize our reach.

Meta Ads utilized several targeting strategies through multiple ad sets; including wider prospecting audiences with lottery-related interests, retargeting, lookalikes of previous year’s purchasers, and mobile gamers.

Google Ads had a two-pronged approach with Search ads targeting users who showed intent for other local lotteries and a Performance Max campaign that utilized a mix of varied media to expand reach across multiple placements and connect with a wider audience across the Google network.

In order to mitigate the slower period over Christmas and New Year, the primary campaigns were paused for this period to maximize ad spending in higher intent periods. Over this time a softer approach was taken with a retargeting campaign focusing on awareness to keep the lottery top of mind.