Licensed brand theme tickets increase in popularity

by Commissioner Gary Peters

Over the past few years the Michigan Lottery has produced more instant tickets that carry a licensed brand theme, such as The Price is Right, Pink Panther and the Three Stooges. This trend has been growing among all lotteries for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, players instantly recognize the imagery associated with these brands and are drawn to the ticket. In a sense, half our work is done because we’ve captured the players’ attention.

Who in Michigan doesn’t recognize the old English “D” of the Detroit Tigers, or the winged-wheel of the Red Wings? By using images like these, our tickets have a built-in, loyal audience from the moment they hit the streets. Additionally, licensed products have proven successful in bringing new players to the Lottery.

For example, following the launch of our American Idol ticket, which is detailed below, membership in our Internet VIP club, Player City, increased considerably.

Another important element to licensed brands is that they offer us great opportunities to give away merchandise prizes. These prizes often include apparel, tickets, trips—any number of items related to the brand.

We recently launched two very popular licensed brands, the $2 Detroit Red Wings and the $2 American Idol tickets. The Red Wings ticket that was launched in February is actually a second turn for this game; when offered in February 2006 the game sold out in just seven weeks.

The ticket offers a grand prize of either a Red Wings home-game trip for two plus spending money and accessories, a road-game trip for two plus spending money and accessories, or a 46-inch LCD widescreen TV and $500 in cash.

The game also offers a total of 676 Red Wings prize packs to be given away in four drawings that include team merchandise like shirts, jackets and caps. The top prize in that game is $20,000.

The American Idol ticket, also with a $20,000 top prize, is proving extremely popular as it is offered in conjunction with the show’s current TV season.

The grand prize for American Idol is a trip for two to the two American Idol finale shows in Los Angeles, for which availability is extremely limited. There will be four second-chance drawings, with one widescreen TV and 741 prize packs to be given away in each.

On April 2, in conjunction with Opening Day, a Detroit Tigers instant ticket is scheduled to launch. Not only does this $5 ticket have a top prize of $100,000, it also offers players a chance at three sets of two 2008 season tickets.

Besides the great prizes in the game itself, the Detroit Tigers ticket has a terrific second-chance bonus that will feature four drawings. The grand prize in each drawing will be a set of two 2008 season tickets, with 375 prize packs that contain an authentic jersey, plaque, wind shirt, cap, jacket and stadium cushion seat also given away. Given the great success of the Tigers in their 2006 season, we think this ticket will generate a lot of interest.

We expect the popularity of licensed products to continue to grow and we intend to use them as much as we can. Players love them and that translates into sales, which translate into commissions.

All proceeds from the Lottery are contributed to the state School Aid Fund which supports kindergarten through 12th grade public education in Michigan. In fiscal year 2006, the contribution was $688 million.

For additional information, please visit the Lottery’s Web site at www.michigan.gov/lottery.