The Illinois Lottery and iHeartMedia Chicago Bring a Powerful New Story to Life

The Illinois Lottery donated 30 seconds of airtime to an up-and-coming star, Drew The Kiiid, who has a small but mighty Chicagoland fandom. His profile is about to become much, much larger as he performed a segment of his single “Get It” in a live ad on iHeartMedia Chicago WGCI.   

This powerful activation looks to fuel to the Illinois Lottery’s recently launched mobile app campaign, which features Drew The Kiiid’s music, while elevating a local artist.

“iHeartMedia Chicago is honoured to have been selected by the Illinois Lottery to debut its first-ever live ad event with ‘Drew The Kiiid,” said Matt Scarano, president of iHeartMedia's Chicago Region. “iHeartMedia Chicago has a rich history of embracing rising recording artists from the Chicagoland community, and we are thrilled to showcase Chicago native ‘Drew The Kiiid' on five of our station brands."  

'Get It' also involves an ongoing, vibrant, whimsical ad series featuring messaging that launches the brand from a slinger of paper tickets that have been around for nearly 50 years to a forward-thinking, dynamic, 21st-century product. Drew’s song and the visuals elevate 'B-D-E' - Big Download Energy - generating interest among a new generation of users who can play anywhere, any time.  

“dentsu X is known for defying convention,” said Anne Ramsell, VP of planning for dentsu X. “We have the same rebel spirit as the ‘Get It’ campaign itself, and there’s no better way to rebel than to break an old system. So, we built a media idea that breaks the music industry by launching a new artist using our ad time and breaks radio by airing a live ad in a modern way. Just like what Illinois Lottery is doing with the app, what’s old is new again.”  

This new campaign is the first from Dentsu Creative, which won the Illinois Lottery business earlier this year, building upon the existing relationship the brand had with dentsu X as its media AOR. The campaign showcases dentsu’s unique approach to horizontal creativity, bringing to life integrated solutions that pair attention-grabbing creative ideas across innovative media moments.