Allwyn Invites the UK to ‘Add Some Play’ to Their Christmas with Scratchcards Campaign

Allwyn, operator of The National Lottery, today launches a festive Scratchcards campaign, which celebrates the entertaining ways adults come together to play games at Christmas. The fully integrated campaign brings to life the fun, away-from-the-phone, interactive role that National Lottery Scratchcards play in social moments – festive gatherings being a perfect example.

Launching in the same week that The National Lottery celebrates its 30th birthday and announces a landmark £50 billion raised for Good Causes, this campaign ‘Musical Scratchcards’ invites the nation to embrace Scratchcards by encouraging play that sparks laughter, shared moments, and even a bit of friendly rivalry. From playing a round of ‘Musical Scratchcards’ around the dinner table to other imaginative games in a wide variety of settings – Allwyn is putting The National Lottery at the centre of group traditions that families with grown-up children and groups of adult friends can look forward to each year.

The campaign was written by Katy Stanage and Alice Marani and directed by acclaimed director Steve Rogers. The production company, Biscuit, worked alongside VCCP’s global content creation studio Girl&Bear to bring the spot to life. It captures a family enjoying their annual game of ‘Musical Scratchcards’ where each family member takes a turn scratching when the music stops. As the Scratchcards are passed around, the excitement and laughter build, with friendly bickering adding to the joyful chaos that makes gatherings memorable. The film comes to an end with the iconic scratch of the card, perfectly capturing the playfulness of the simple yet meaningful ritual. 

The campaign is fully integrated and features a National Lottery-funded choir, VoxSkool, singing a bespoke version of ‘12 Days of Christmas’ on radio. A social campaign includes local community groups, Deal Dippers and Swindon Skaters, showing how they have some fun with Scratchcards during their Christmas celebrations, alongside a print campaign across press and OOH. Additional activity includes a takeover of the entire WHSmith store in Victoria Station with static window posters and in-store retail media and activation – led by VCCP Retail Experience and produced by Girl&Bear – as well as a series of partnerships, influencer activity and podcasts.

Steve Parkinson, brand and marketing director at Allwyn, said, “Christmas is all about shared moments, many times involving games and a healthy dose of competitiveness! National Lottery Scratchcards are all about adding some fun and excitement – so are the perfect thing to bring along to festive gatherings. Hopefully some big festive winners will be made, but of course, each moment of play also contributes to UK Good Causes – so it really is a win-win.”

Darren Bailes, global chief creative officer at VCCP, added, “We did a piece of research all about National Lottery Scratchcards – and learnt the weird and wonderful games, and traditions that people already have. This work will share those ideas with everyone, in the hope that more traditions and games are invented. The cast was stellar and Steve, our director, brought out some incredible performances in the film.”

Jonathan Price, client partner at Hearts & Science, said, “As our first Christmas campaign with Allwyn, we’re extremely excited to deliver such a prominent campaign that shows that National Lottery Scratchcards are games to be enjoyed by everyone, old and new players alike. This campaign is the result of year-long collaboration across both agencies and the team at Allwyn, and we’re proud of all the new media opportunities we’ve all brought to the brand in that time.”

Having so far focused its marketing activity on draw games – like Lotto and Set For Life – this marks Allwyn's first campaign for National Lottery Scratchcards, as it looks to introduce exciting new products and experiences, and raise even more money for National Lottery-funded projects. This year’s range of festive Scratchcards is bespoke for 2024 and features two firsts for The National Lottery with a foldable Christmas card and a gift tag Scratchcard. A '18+ Gift Responsibly’ mark is also displayed across all executions – re-iterating the need for people to be 18 or older to buy, gift, receive and play.

The campaign will run across social, radio, AV, OOH, press and YouTube for six weeks. With Christmas also being a natural gifting period for Scratchcards – with 59% of 18-44 year olds saying they have bought or would consider buying a Scratchcard as a gift at Christmas – the media plan celebrates delivering moments where people are in a seasonal giving mindset. This will peak around festive category entry points such as Secret Santa and those final flourishes, with audio, print and OOH landing alongside a major video campaign (including TV, VOD and online platforms), as well as on social.

The campaign will also feature large format OOH, press ads within festive content and gift guides, and podcast host reads with presenters such as LuAnna and Johnny Vaughan adding known talent to the campaign. On top of this, an exciting continuity partnership with ITV will tap into winning moments across their peak schedule and a radio sponsorship across Global’s network will give listeners a chance to win big in the build-up to Christmas.