Joyful lottery ad a winner
Campaign promoting tickets as holiday gifts spreads tuneful good cheer
Who's ready for some joy? Boy, we sure are. We don't have to tell you it has been a long recession, folks, and there's every indication the pain is going to go on a bit longer. So we are happy to announce the arrival this week of a new ad campaign for the Illinois Lottery from Energy BBDO/Chicago.
Energy BBDO went through a rough patch recently when the shop lost its high-profile Jim Beam business, but even so, the agency obviously remains capable of conjuring up some good cheer on behalf of the lottery just in time for the holidays.
The campaign with the tagline "Joy Someone" (we like it!) is designed to encourage consumers to buy lottery tickets as holiday gifts. To drive home that point, Energy BBDO, in conjunction with director Aaron Ruell, has created a commercial with eye-grabbing visuals and a rewritten, retro version of "Joy to the World" from Spank Music for a soundtrack.
Whenever we hear a good piece of music in a spot (even a hugely familiar piece of music), we're reminded of how few agencies are interested nowadays in incorporating music into their work. In this version of "Joy to the World," the song's lyrics have been completely revamped to reference the montage of characters seen in the commercial -- all of whom have been of service to a customer and therefore are deserving of lottery tickets as a present.
We especially loved the images of the lady sitting proudly behind the amazing cat tower she built and the carpet cleaning man sudsing up a carpet while sporting a big grin.
Ruell's directorial style seems right for this project -- not too fussy or overblown. But he finds a way to make the persona of each character in the commercial feel delightfully distinctive and believable. No easy task when you're dealing with several characters and a mere 30 seconds to get the job done.