National Lottery says 'thank you' with new TV ad

The National Lottery has launched its ‘thank you’ Christmas campaign with a nationwide TV ad.

The 40-second animated ad celebrates the milestone of 500,000 lottery-funded projects, which was reached during 2016. The campaign builds on the momentum generated by the success of this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic executions.

The TV work will run alongside bespoke in-store posters, bunting, counter cards and national print ads that highlight the National Lottery’s series of festive draws.

These include the Christmas Eve Lotto draw, which will have 200 extra raffle prizes of £20,000. The EuroMillions Christmas Mega Week draws on 20 and 23 December will each create five guaranteed UK millionaires. There is also the New Year’s Eve Lotto draw, which will have 100 extra raffle prizes of £20,000.

There have already been a number of Christmas-themed National Lottery Scratchcards on offer for the past few months, including the £2 ‘Christmas Countdown’ and £5 ‘Christmas Advent Calendar 2016’.

“We’ve had a lot to celebrate in 2016 - not least of all half a million projects funded and the amazing success of Rio. National Lottery retailers should feel rightly proud of this - and what better time of the year to say thank you than at Christmas?” said Camelot’s head of retail channel, James Pearson.

“Sales of our festive scratchcards have been really strong and we hope our retailers really get behind the fantastic Christmas-themed draws too. I’d like to take the opportunity to wish all our National Lottery retailers a happy, prosperous new year.”

Last month, the National Lottery revealed sales had fallen by 6% to £3.4bn during the first half of this financial year, driven by a decline in retail performance.