How Arizona Lottery’s ‘Play to Adventure’ Strategy Led to a Sell-Out

For many, adventure is the calling of the wild, the adrenaline of the unknown, and the thrill of exploration. However, the concept of ‘adventure’ can be reimagined in so many unique ways. This is what gave birth to the “Arizona Adventure” campaign. Led by O.H. Partners for the Arizona Lottery, the aim was to celebrate the breathtaking diversity of Arizona, transforming ordinary lottery tickets into gateways to the state’s natural wonders. Dive in to discover the creative journey that propelled the Arizona Adventure campaign to unprecedented heights.

By: Jessica Rahimzadeh, Art Director, and Ricky Depugh, Copywriter

The Arizona Lottery wanted to increase revenue, player engagement, and signups to their Players Club program. However, engaging with an audience during the pandemic took a lot of work. This meant in-person activation opportunities were few and far between—so we’d have to get creative with our solution. We saw a chance to give players the ultimate outdoor adventure—and the Arizona Lottery would be their guide.

Inspired by the beautiful desert painted across southern Arizona to the green and dense forests of the northern region, we wanted to celebrate the state’s natural beauty. This led us to launch Arizona Adventure, an integrated campaign that every Arizonan, regardless of where they live, could be proud to participate in. 

We designed three illustrations that would be featured on one-of-a-kind scratchers tickets, each highlighting a different part of the state. The tickets were designed with our players in mind, using southwest iconography and a message of how ticket sales from the Arizona Lottery keep our state beautiful. Unlike most lottery tickets, you could only get these in Arizona. 

We sent our players out on a self-guided adventure where they could explore 12 Arizona state parks and get rewarded for doing so. When they arrived at their destination, they could log on to a custom microsite, check in with their phone, and earn entries into drawings for their share of $1 million in cash and travel prizes. We gave out some goodies like stickers and posters so they could continue the adventure. 

And for those who couldn’t make it out on the in-person adventure, we brought the adventure home to them through an integrated social media campaign, collecting user-generated content and sending social media influencers to some of the state parks. 

The Arizona Adventure Scratchers ticket and promotion were a success. It was not only the top-performing ticket for the campaign’s duration, but it completely sold out before the promotion ended – the first of its kind. For our players, it paid to adventure.

O.H. Partners is a full-service national advertising agency with a staff of over 100 people based in Phoenix, fueled by creativity to create work that works for our client partners in Arizona, California, Nevada, Colorado, and Mexico. O.H. is a virtual superstore of services, grabbing national attention for work in research, strategy, creative, branding, media planning and buying, digital, public relations, social media, and more

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