silver
VML Seattle
This campaign for Washington’s Lottery was to promote the Seahawks Scratch ticket. Because the Seahawks, like many NFL teams, wore their highly awaited “throwback” (retro) jerseys from the 1990s for the first time in 2023, we tapped into nostalgia and created an integrated campaign called “Ticket to the ‘90s”.
The main challenges centered around what was happening in Washington State in 2023. Massive layoffs throughout the state, homelessness at an all-time high, significant increase in wildfires, not to mention the lingering effects of COVID—all these things contributed to heightened stress and anxiety in individuals across the state. What we were asked to do was to take people’s minds off this negativity and give them a much-needed escape through the simplicity of Seahawks football.
We solved the brief in a number of ways. By using much-loved nostalgia, we took people back to a simpler time. The 1990s were a great decade in Seattle and we wanted to tap into all of it. We also chose to use a retired fan favorite, Michael Bennett, to lead the charge as our campaign’s main spokesperson. And, more than anything, we got people laughing. Well-timed comedy goes a very long way in providing an escape. As for quantitative results, our campaign finished with over 37 million impressions statewide, 60% thruplay on all social videos and over $2 million in earned media.
Because the Lottery is a state-run agency, there were certainly a number of local references we tapped into for this campaign. Michael Bennett was a member of the Seahawks Super Bowl-winning team. The Kingdome was the since-imploded football stadium the Seahawks played in during the ‘90s. Then there are MANY universal references to the ‘90s itself, including mentions of fax machines, CD players and flip phones.
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