Washington Lottery’s rookie mistake

This Friday we bring you the debut blog appearance from our much-loved Account Manager Mr Riccardo Webb… ^MF

Why would a company create an awesome ad that posed a question – a question you’d be tempted to answer – and then forget to give people the platform on which to answer?

Washington Lottery has just released a really cool TVC that depicts what a bunch of guys would do if they won the lottery: Segway jousting. I love this. I’d probably do the same thing. And others loved it too; the ad received coverage on some great sites including Engadget, Crunch Gear and Geekologie.

Washington Lottery stated that:

“The campaign, strapline Play Together, Win Together, aims to position the Lottery as a social experience and encourages friends to play it together to make their dreams come true.”

Great…inspiring, even…so why not celebrate that idea by providing the tools for people to do just that?

The reason I like the ad is not just because it’s pretty damn funny and well shot, but because it exploits the deeply human truth that every one of us has at some point considered what we’d do with a fist-full of cash and our imagination! Social media is the ideal platform where a company can connect in that human way and deliver a little more value to their consumers than a pamphlet under the door which I’ll probably end up using as poo-under-the-shoe scraper.

What Washington Lottery did well

They created an ad with social traction that’s fun to watch, easy to share and raises a question that anyone could answer.

What they didn’t do well

They failed to use their social presences to support what they did; instead they blocked user generated content and interaction with the very people who think they rock for making this ad.

Simple solutions to fixing the problem

1. Make it easy for people to share and create. Use YouTube features to your advantage (see Molly’s post on Desperados from earlier this week for an example of how to exploit YouTube to the max). Think of descriptions or annotations that could direct people to your Facebook page or simply say “Submit your story to [insert email address here]”.
2. Go to them, don’t wait for them to come to you. Using Twitter, you could simply search for people talking about the lottery, what they’d do with a winning ticket, people talking about a holiday with their friends, heck, you could even search for people talking about Segway jousting! The idea is to find relevant conversations that are happening online, and to engage with these people like a human being…be fun!
3. Open the platform, start the conversation. First off, get the Facebook page set up and working properly. Allow people to upload cool photos of what they’d love to do with their winning lottery tickets. You could even start a discussion that allowed people to start the conversation themselves or create a poll to kick it off.
4. Capitalise on your success. If people are talking about your ad, milk it! Comment on the articles that praise your work. Be the first person in the world to create the Segway jousting society and set up the world’s first jousting event sponsored by Washington Lottery.

The point is this: with social, explore all the ways you can turn a good idea into an big, effective movement. As long as you are consistent, sincere and tell stories that kick ass, you won’t go far wrong. People can smell “corporate” a mile away, which deters some brands from engaging; but don’t abandon them just as you’ve got their attention.

Brought into the world on Friday, April 15th, 2011 and filed under 1000thoughts, Case Studies, Things we like.