Public Gaming Magazine November-December 2015

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November/December 2015 // PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL // 33
effective marketing and identified 26 universal approaches to tell
a brand story ( .
These 26 universal approaches can be classified into three broad
groups. 10 of these 26 approaches (around 40% of them) fall into
what we call the “frame of reference” category which highlights
the importance of contextualizing your product when positioning
and communicating it. The other two areas deal with the product
(how to tell the product story) and with the consumers (how and
at what level to connect with the consumers).
The lesson to be learned here is about the type of story you
tell about your products and how you frame their story to en-
gage consumers.
Our experience shows that the lottery category generally focus-
es its advertising on communicating the playing mechanism and
benefits of its new products. This type of communication then
often also includes an emotional benefit, a reward for the player.
There is nothing wrong with this type of communication and it
often worked. But it also has become expected for the category
(just like you’d expect carrots to be advertised around a health
benefit). And the core players are used to it. Worse, it doesn’t
help to draw in light or lapsed players or younger generations of
players and it doesn’t invite new types of playing occasions.
What the “baby carrot” re-positioning example shows us is
that exploring and identifying a fresh context through which to
tell your product story can lead to surprising sales growth. And
it can be done way faster and more cost efficiently than through
a product redesign.
Conclusion
I hope that by now you’ll agree with my introductory observa-
tion that the lottery industry can learn a lot from baby carrots:
1. In the short term, the whole industry can tell more com-
pelling stories about its products by positioning and commu-
nicating them within a context and frame of reference that is
relevant to consumers rather than by simply focusing on the
game mechanisms.
2. Midterm, there’s the opportunity for significant growth by
rethinking the product experience and format, creating new buy-
ing occasions and conquering new distribution channels. ■
Ulli Appelbaum is Founder & President of brand research and
consulting firm First-The-Trousers-Then-the-Shoes specialized in
brand growth and brand storytelling. He can be reached at ulli@