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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 23 A P R I L 6 , 2 0 1 5 for tri-state advertising. Boardman acknowledges the company's six-year track record with the Massachusetts lottery and, for the last two years, Connecticut's lottery, were duly noted during the competitive bid process that led to its three-year contract. "It's certainly helpful to have that experience," Boardman says. "ey have a strong management and creative team and it's a plus when you have someone that's already working with a lottery and knows what's involved." Franczak says the challenges at Maine's lottery are similar to those faced by the Connecticut Lottery when the agency took over its marketing account. Although it had annual sales of more than $1.1 bil- lion and had contributed more than $7.8 billion to the state's general fund over its history, he says, the Connecticut Lottery's managers felt they needed to reinvigorate the lottery's marketing program. Fuseideas tackled that problem by developing fully integrated media plans to market the different lottery games across television, radio, point-of-sale displays and online, with particular attention paid to social media, Franczak says. e agency's advertising campaigns contributed to healthy sales increases for the Connecticut Lottery, he says, with social media playing a key role. Using Facebook, Twitter and other social media as marketing tools will play a similar role in Fuseideas' marketing strategy for Maine. "We pitched going into digital and social media more intensively as a way to help the Maine Lottery grow," Franczak says. "It's a huge opportunity for them." "e shareability factor with digital and social media is huge," Mason adds. "If the content is inter- esting, it's going to get picked up. We have a lot of ideas on how to get them to the next level." Storytelling is key to that strategy, he says, with the lottery's winners being an obvious source of engaging stories. "ese are fun little stories to tell," Mason says. "We'll talk to people as they present their winning ticket and claim their prize. It's so human. One of the key ideas we're developing is that there is a tre- mendous number of prize winners every year. People don't realize how many people visit the Lottery office to claim their prize. We'll be publicizing and sharing those winners' stories. It's all about increasing visibil- ity for the Maine Lottery." At the same time, Franczak and Mason say the agency's marketing efforts will be strategic, with a day-by-day blocking of the calendar year to iden- tify opportunities for creating timely advertisements and point-of-sale displays based on the rollout of new games or jackpots that are high enough to cre- ate some buzz or simply games that Fuseideas and Maine Lottery officials agree need a marketing boost. "e Maine Lottery is the overarching brand," Mason says, "but it owns a house full of brands. Each game has its own following, its own personal- ity, and that's important. But sometimes the overall brand gets lost in the background. " ere's some science behind the effort, too. Sales are an obvious measurement, but Franczak says the agency will be measuring the perceptions of Maine Lottery players by using the polling services of Pan Atlantic SMS Group, which was ranked by nation- ally renowned polling analyst Nate Silver in the top 20% nationally of 337 firms that were analyzed. "Our objective is to make sure Maine Lottery is seen in the most positive way," he says. Fuseideas' Portland team has a portfolio of past and present clients that includes the Maine Office of Tourism, Maine Turnpike Authority, Maine Department of Transportation, Sargent Corp., Portland Discovery Land & Sea Tours, Gorham Savings Bank, Finance Authority of Maine and the Bermuda Department of Tourism. Fuseideas leaders look forward to helping Maine Lottery build on a 40-year record of success. "It's a really big deal for us to land this account," says Franczak, whose agency was recently named one of the fastest-growing private companies in Massachusetts by the Boston Business Journal. "We want to give Maine a voice in something that's very important to the state. Our No. 1 priority is to help the Maine State Lottery do as much business as it can, so it can generate more money for the state's general fund." J a m e s M c C a r t h y , M a i n e b i z s e n i o r w r i t e r , c a n b e r e a c h e d a t j m c c a r t h y @ m a i n e b i z . b i z Providing solutions for diverse hiring needs for Maine companies 207-854-2422 directpersonnel.net 1-800-639-8802 mainestaff.com • Finance/ accounting professionals • Skilled laborers • Flaggers • Administrative experts • Health Care professionals • Engineers Call us today! A corporate division of Maine Staffing Group Open 4:30AM tO 1AM Or lAter. Drive 100 yards past baggage claim, look for our green sign. www.parknjetportland.com 747-5650 get your oil changed while yOu're AwAy Valet parking AirpOrt per day $10 More than $2.8 billion paid in prizes to winners since 1974. More than $146 million in cash and merchandise prizes paid last year. $14.9 million paid in commissions and bonuses to approximately 1,300 lottery retail agents — average $11,462 per agent. More than $327 million in total commissions and bonuses paid to lottery retail agents since 1974. More than $1.19 billion transferred to state's general fund. Maine State Lottery: By the numbers Average annual transfer to general fund since 2010 has been $52 million. In fiscal year 2014, the lottery transferred a record $51.72 million to the general fund. General Fund contributions from the Maine State Lottery are redistributed by the Maine Legislature and the governor to more than 250 state programs and services. Since 1996, the Maine State Lottery has trans- ferred $18.2 million to the Outdoor Heritage Fund through proceeds of certain $1 instant ticket games, to help fund critical conservation and wildlife projects throughout Maine. S O U R C E : Maine State Lottery

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