Lottery news from http://www.thestate.com/
Restaurateur featured in ad hopes promotion will help him as well as state
The South Carolina lottery is taking a new tack in selling its newest game, relying on a familiar face — and a familiar taste — for Midlands residents.
Both the lottery and the pitchman, Columbia restaurateur and musician Barry Walker, hope the campaign for peach cobbler-themed scratch-offs pays off on the bottom line.
The ads, which began running last month, will continue through the summer. They feature Walker’s bluesy alter ego, Chef Fatback, serving up a helping of his “world-famous peach cobbler” and later performing with his Groove Band.
Walker and his band were paid $250 for the ad, $50 per band member.
The campaign combines two ideas key to lottery sales — food-related games and ads that highlight unique aspects of Palmetto State life, said S.C. lottery director Ernie Passailaigue.
The television spot and print ad also mark a new direction and have a unique look and feel, Passailaigue said, and could be duplicated in future games and ads.
“I just can’t remember a specific commercial like this,” Passailaigue said. “That was probably unique. We try to make it whimsical and not a hard sell.”
The idea formed after Passailaigue saw Walker and his band perform at a Charleston food and wine festival. Walker and his band, Passailaigue said, reminded him of television celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse.
Not coincidentally, Emeril — or maybe Savannah’s Paula Deen — was also on Walker’s mind, and he jumped at the chance to highlight his Mac’s on Main restaurant and its live blues music.
With 13 episodes of a cooking show that aired on local television under his belt, Walker said, the lottery ads were one more step toward the realm of the Food Network’s Deen, whose customers line up at 8 a.m. to secure dinner reservations at her The Lady and Sons restaurant.
“We’re selling a lot more cobbler now,” Walker laughs, referring to his product available in grocery stores. “It’s a full-frontal assault on people’s psyches.”
The lottery has tried to feature state personalities and events, Passailaigue said. Some of the lottery’s first ads featured University of South Carolina mascot Cocky. Another game featured the state’s Southeast Wildlife Expo.
“Whenever we can do something like that, we try to do that,” Passailaigue said of highlighting South Carolina people and places in lottery ads.
The lottery’s advertising budget is restricted to 1 percent of its roughly $1 billion in sales, which amounts to nearly $10 million. The ads are produced in-house, and many featured in the cobbler ad are lottery employees.
It’s too early to tell how cobbler will perform.
The Peach Cobbler game debuted the first full week in June. It has averaged $106,710 in sales per week the first month. Firecracker Cash was released the same week and has averaged $79,186 in sales, while Money Clip has averaged $127,141 in its six weeks of sales.
Another food-themed game, Boiled Peanuts, has averaged $157,993 in sales per week during its 20-week run.
Each of the four games costs $1.
Both Walker and Passailaigue said other Mac’s-related games, such as macaroni and cheese or barbecue, could be featured. Passailaigue said the lottery could highlight other state businesses, characters or events.
The ads may spark a windfall for Walker, who noted he’s less in the cooking business than he is in marketing. More exposure could mean more dinners sold, but also cookbook, music and other sales.
So far, he said, it’s working. Fatback was recently recognized out and about in Charleston and Savannah.
“I didn’t know the impact of this thing, how far-reaching it was,” Walker said. “We’re trying to be a big fish one day.”
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