People’s Postcode Lottery: Is your door in the draw

Key Points

Having launched in 2005, People’s Postcode Lottery aim is to raise funds to support charities and good causes, while allowing players to win life improving cash prizes. With their biggest draw ever on the horizon, The7Stars were tasking with bringing in new players to PPL among a younger, more affluent growth audience.

A first of its kind partnership with three main broadcasters in the UK that would leverage trusted and well known talent encouraging viewers to sign up and get ‘their door in the draw’.

Biggest draw ever in the nearly 20 year history of PPL. Marked improvements in consideration and word of mouth peaking at above 10% for the first time ever.

The Challenge

Having launched in 2005, People’s Postcode Lottery’s (PPL) sole aim is to raise funds for charities and good causes while allowing players to win life improving cash prizes. On average, PPL raise £18 million a month for charities and good causes up and down the UK, equalling a staggering £1.2 billion since launch. For £12 a month, players are entered into the draw and December was the big draw month, with the campaign around Christmas playing a huge role in attracting new players.

The 2023 December draw was no different, with a huge £17.3 million to be shared by players in a single postcode, up for grabs. PPL had a clear set of objectives for the7Stars to work towards. The campaign would need to recruit new players for PPL’s biggest draw ever. No ease feat with the backdrop of Christmas, the busiest time of year in the TV market.

The TV Solution

With the clear objective to work toward, The7Stars working collaboratively with PPL’s in house media team, got to work in forming the campaign. People’s Postcode Lottery, had worked hard in the past to build the brand; with a recognisable jingle, golden envelopes and cheque reveals featuring famous faces, had led to strong brand awareness levels among the core, older audience. While this was great, it did present a problem; the brand wasn’t on the radar of younger, more affluent audiences. To be able to deliver against the objective, growth would need to come by reaching and attracting this younger, more affluent audience, while still appealing to the core older demographic. But with strong awareness levels across the UK; PPL’s current comms weren’t engaging with the audience, who had likely seen it and felt the brand and proposition wasn’t for them.

The7Stars took PPL back to TV, the battle ground that had created the high levels of nationwide awareness, but took a different approach. They would tap into the broad, nationwide audience by leveraging the entertainment programming that millions tuned into each week. This meant not only using famous faces but featuring them in the shows that made them famous. Linking up with Rachel Riley, Emma Wills and Mike Wedderburn all featuring on the sets of Countdown, Coronation Street and Sky Sports News to deliver authority and trustworthiness. The7Stars would look to Implement this strategy at scale involving as many famous faces as possible to get everyone playing.

The Plan

With the big idea settled, The7Stars and PPL got work in how they could create it. Working directly with the three biggest broadcasters in the UK, a first of its kind partnership was developed. TV spots were created by each station matched to their in house style. Talent, shows and sets were selected to resonate with both core and growth audiences. On ITV; Emma Willis, Stephen Mulhern, AJ Odudu and Will Best stared. On Channel 4; Fred Sirieux, George Clark and Rachel Riley encouraged viewers to get there doors in the draw. And on Sky; Jamie Redknapp took viewers on a journey from the League of Their Own set to Sky Sports News bumping into Katharine Ryan and Mike Wedderburn on route.

Using tools like TechEgde, the7Stars carefully crafted the campaign to ensure that it effectively reached the younger, more affluent audience, building a bespoke channel mix that was the most relevant to them. This extended beyond linear as well, with BOVD being a key element of the campaign, adjusting budgets and splits to match the viewing behaviour of the new audience and reach the right eyeballs at the right time.

The campaign kicked off on 11^th November with a special 10” intro followed by the 60” hero creatives in Live Football on Sky Sports and The Voice UK on ITV. This was followed up the following day with 60” spots in more Live Football on Sky Sports Super Sunday and Three Little Birds on ITV. This launch activity lead to spikes in sales following the spots in the football and The Voice. Following on from the launch weekend, the partnership was designed to build in weight as the month went on, matching with the typical sales pattern of a month, building urgency as the draw date inches closer. This approach saw the campaign build huge spike in ratings over the weekend of the ticket sales deadline. This resulted in 1 in every 20 spots on TV being a PPL ad, making the campaign truly unmissable. The spot schedule for the campaign was cherry-picked ensuring spots in the biggest shows across TV including I’m a Celeb, Bake Off, Gogglebox and international football. Beyond this The7Stars ran daily attribution with InnovidXP, tracking the performance of every creative, assessing what the most effective ones were at driving viewers to the site and to sign up for the next draw. This led to 7Stars copy swapping in as much partnership creative as possible to drive as many sales as possible for PPL.

The campaign finished with a bang across a massive final weekend of 25^th and 26^th November. The campaign brought together the talent from all channels into one unmissable 90” spot that drew from the shows across each station. This spot was roadblocked across all broadcasters as close to the 21:15 break as possible to make the deadline totally unmissable. This roadblock was mirrored across BVOD environments with first impression surges across ITVX, Channel 4 Streaming and Sky on Demand to deliver mass scale against the younger, more affluent audience who spend more time on BVOD platforms vs Linear TV

Finally, the campaign was supported with Out of Home elements that integrated IP and talent from the TV creatives across a curated selection of the UK’s biggest and most iconic OOH sites including Piccadilly Circus, with activity ramping up in the build to deadline day, mirroring what was happening on TV.

Results

Across the campaign, PPL partnership with the three main broadcasters, made PPL’s Christmas campaign truly unmissable, reaching 38 million at an average of 19.7 times each. The bespoke broadcaster creatives reached 34.6 million at an average of 7.7 times. This commitment to TV also showed in the relationship between sales and the biggest spots on TV with subscription spiking in real time as spots played out. Consideration for PPL saw increases and notable jumps across London, a core region for the younger, more affluent growth audience. Word of mouth reached an all time spiking above 10% for the first time ever.

With the goal of delivering new sign ups, the campaign smashed targets delivering the biggest ever monthly draw in the nearly 20 year history of People’s Postcode Lottery. The Long term effect of these sign up, will see PPL generate a staggering £70.3 million for charitable causes around the country.

Databank

Sector: Charity

Brand: People’s Postcode Lottery

Campaign objectives: Sales and sign ups

Target Audience: ABC1Adults, planned against Adults 25-44

Budget: £8 million Approx (Nielsen Adintel)

Campaign Dates: November 2023

TV Usage: Spot, Partnership

Creative Agency: In House

Media Agency: The7Stars