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September/October 2014 • Public Gaming International
from the experience of building Monopoly
Millionaires’ Club that will cause us to do
something different for the next National
Premium Game. The amount of thought and
research and world-class creative that has
gone into this new NPG causes us to hope
that we thought of everything! But I suspect
we will see some opportunities to do some
things differently for the next NPG too.
You’re combining some deep insight into
the unique nature of the lottery industry, but
also applying some of the ‘best practices’ of
the successful consumer marketing brands.
M. Scheve Reardon:
McDonalds could
have researched and figured out which color
would be the best color for each state and
gear their marketing in every other way to
appeal to the uniqueness of each state mar-
ket. For that matter, McDonalds does ex-
tensive research and does tailor its menu to
include some food items to appeal to local
markets. We should do the same, with part of
our portfolio geared towards the sensibilities
of local markets, and part geared towards na-
tional consumer markets. It’s not an either/or
conundrum. It’s a both/and solution.
Lotteries should look at the methods of
these giant consumer brands and follow
best practices for branding. By using a con-
sistent logo, tagline, and color scheme, we
optimize the impact of our communications
with players and retailers.
Advertising firms probably prefer that
you allow them control all the advertising.
I would suspect that they always pitch the
idea that everything should be local.
M. Scheve Reardon:
Let me share a sto-
ry. Our ad firm is based out of Kansas City.
They do a great job. But some of our national-
brand advertising is sourced elsewhere. For
instance, we advertise Powerball in Royal Sta-
dium. The focus is Missouri Lottery, with our
logo and our messaging. One of the principals
from the advertising firm went to a Cardinal
game and commented, “Wow, you guys don’t
have a lot of advertising at your stadium.” We
couldn’t understand why he did not see the
advertising which is all over the place. Ginor-
mous logos and ‘POW’ for Powerball. You
couldn’t miss it. Then he said, “Well, that’s
not your advertising.” He explained that from
his point of view, the fact that it was national
meant that it was not building our Missouri
Lottery brand and that therefore it wasn’t re-
ally our advertising. Now isn’t that the oddest
thing you’ve ever heard?
He honestly felt that if it does not include
our colors and the other Missouri-focused
brand-messaging elements, then it does not
count as advertising for us even though it is
promoting our biggest-selling brand.
To be truly national, lotteries need to
overcome the obstacles to getting into the
big-box channel. I know you have worked
hard on this issue. Any progress towards
the elusive goal of standardizing account-
ing and sales report formatting to meet the
needs of cross-jurisdictional retailers?
M. Scheve Reardon:
There is. NASPL is
once again working with interested lotteries,
including Missouri and some of the biggest
lotteries on a pilot to develop a more uniform
approach for the multi-state retailers. It is
absolutely essential that our industry listen to
our retail partners and take immediate steps
to standardize our procedures and reporting
formats. Or at least standardize as much as
we possibly can. This is something that will
be necessary if lotteries are serious about
making our products available in the big-box
national chain stores. 7-Elevan has commu-
nicated to us that this is imperative for them.
It is not likely that we will be able to ever
settle on a single uniform approach, but there
are ways to make it easier for the multi-state
retailers to do business with us, at least meet
them half-way. We have to do that because
the big-box chains will not carry our products
if we don’t. It’s as simple as that. Lotteries all
value their independence, but our customers
will not abide the inefficiencies of forty-five
different lottery models with forty-five dif-
ferent report formats, business processes, and
accounting procedures.
We must also be more strategic in our ap-
proach to retail. Lottery has the ability to
help drive retail traffic. Understandably, we
always focus on our goal of selling more tick-
ets. But if we were to be more open-minded
about helping our retailers accomplish their
goals of increased operating efficiencies and
driving store traffic, we could build a more
collaborative and strategic partnership that
would engage their support and focus on
selling more lottery products. Retailers want
to collaborate with Lottery on developing
cross-promotions that utilize lottery products
to help increase in-store sales of their propri-
etary food and drink products. Retailers want
to be a part of Lottery’s website connection to
millions of consumers. Lottery has tremen-
dous power to help the retailers in ways that
would not cost much money, would engage
retailers to focus more on Lottery, and would
definitely drive sales of lottery products.
u
May Scheve Reardon Interview
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continued from page 12
is fair, the transaction between lottery and consumer is entered
into on equal and understandable terms. Integrity insures fairness,
fairness inspires trust, and trust sustains the transaction between
player and the lottery. Should the consumer’s trust ever be lost,
there is no technology imaginable that will resuscitate the required
good will and salvage the prospect of a successful Lottery.
But integrity must be made manifest for all to see. And we dem-
onstrate our integrity and maintain player trust through multiple
mechanisms. These vary somewhat among jurisdictions, but in-
clude open records acts, financial and operational audits, winner
awareness efforts, strong player services operations, robust securi-
ty measures, open meeting requirements, legislative oversight, and
board or commission review. To neglect this aspect of lottery life
is to jeopardize the business itself and, more important, imperil the
funding of the good causes we serve.
As critical as emerging technologies are to the future prosper-
ity or our lotteries, our continued commitment to maintaining the
public’s trust is even more fundamental to sustaining our industry
as we go forward into this brave new world of bits and data packs,
optic lines and mobile connectivity. Both are necessary and neither
alone is sufficient. Together, however, the future is ours.
u
Government Gaming Enters an Era of Innovation and Growth
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