Commentary

House Odds

State lotteries are long shots indeed, but here's an inside tip: Advertise on the back of every ticket sold and every ticket could be a winner. That's what's known as playing the house odds. The bet via LuckyMedia, a unit of Anomaly, a New York-based boutique, leverages that bare space on every scratch-to-win and printed ticket in a deal with the Michigan Lottery.

With nearly 1.3 billion annual impressions, 10 other revenue-hungry states are lined up to take their chances on LuckyMedia, which was in the process of securing its first client as Media went to press. The big play is putting coupons and packaged goods promotions in customers' hands at the point-of-sale. "There is a proximity to retail play here that we think is substantial," says Justin Barocas, a partner in Anomaly. "It gets messaging in at the last few yards."

Lottery ticket buyers obviously have money in hand, and they may have more in a second. The good news for packaged goods marketers is that 95 percent of ticket buyers also purchase at least one other item during their store visit; these little rollers index exceptionally well for beer, as well as batteries, film, and sports drinks. Consumers are paying $1 a ticket, while the cost per thousand stands at about $3 to $5. Those are nice odds.

Next story loading loading..