'The Gift Is in the Giving' in the California Lottery's 2018 Christmas Campaign

California Lottery continues its tradition of encouraging people to give Scratchers as gifts to both friends and acquaintances, especially to those people who are often forgotten during the holidays. This could be a neighbour, barista, hairstylist or anyone else that adds to your life on a daily basis. The campaign, created by David&Goliath, is grounded in the insight that a gift as small as a Scratchers ticket can have a big impact on someone who may not be expecting anything at all.

The centrepiece of this year’s campaign is a longform spot, 'Neighborly', that tells the story of a woman who observes and experiences the lack of personal interactions between residents in her apartment building, in a day and age where people do all their gift giving online. She then decides to break the norm by giving all her neighbours gifts of Scratchers - the good ol’ fashioned way, hand-delivery. But first she cleverly addresses all the envelopes 'TO:' and 'FROM:' different apartments. The result is an apartment building that goes from strangers living in silos to friends coming together to celebrate the best part of the holidays - each other.

Not only do we see it snow in California, hinting at the magic in the air, but the spot is set to an equally magical track appropriately titled, 'Signals', by up and coming artist, Júníus Meyvant. D&G collaborated with the directorial team The Guard Brothers – whose commercial work helms from the likes of Audi, Sony, Nike, Xbox and Stella Artois.

"The creative idea behind this campaign is rooted in a simple human truth that giving is the real gift,” said David Angelo, founder & chairman of D&G. “Scratchers are something small but can become something momentous when given to the right person. And in a world where there are so many distractions that keep us from having real, genuine interactions with people, a personal gift can help bring them together. In the end, the gift is truly in the giving, and that’s in addition to the all possibilities that Scratchers can bring.”

"The Gift is in the Giving” campaign will be featured across OOH, digital, social, experiential and radio components, encouraging people across California to remember that Holiday Scratchers are the perfect gift for all. The TV rounds out with :30 and :15 versions of “Neighborly” that will run on TV in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Fresno and San Diego.