Why is this more important in these times?
The lottery is in a very interesting position right now because it's depended on more than ever for revenue for the state. The state is looking to the lottery more than ever to generate additional revenue to accommodate shortfalls and progressive and interesting marketing to try to build the audience and sales. We're coming in at a critical time and an important and interesting time.l
You say you're focusing on those 21-35- are there any income levels or other factors that matter?
Well, it's a buck to play. It's pretty much available to anybody who wants to give it a try and the income levels pretty much match the typical income levels of the state, you don't see to much variation in the players.
One thing that is important to the lottery and all businesses is the multi-cultural aspect in this marketplace. We've partnered with a Hispanic firm called Lopez Negrete- which is one of the top Hispanic firms in the country- I have a personal relationship with Alex Lopez for ten or 15 years- we share an account together- we both work on Wal-Mart together so we brought them on as a partner in this presentation- they're opening an office here in Phoenix in our office, so they'll have a presence here and this brings a whole other level of excellence when it comes to the multi-cultural aspect of the lottery.
When will we see this new campaign starting?
Our contract begins July 1 which matches up with the state's fiscal year so we're in a transition period now, sort of ramping up. It's interesting because we have so much experience with the account so there isn't a whole lot of learning curve in terms of how to handle an account like this- you know it's one of these multi-faceted pieces of business from PR to Web to advertising to promotions to sales support and partnerships, it's a very diverse piece of business. We have a month and a half now of transitions, we take over in July, you'll probably start seeing our work in the fall, I would think it would take us a little while to pick up steam- we'll be sure to give you a peek at it before it rolls out.
