Your Shot: Capturing Real Life-Changing Moments for the National Lottery
It’s one of those jobs that most people go their entire life without thinking about, but once you realise that there is a contact centre devoted to confirming that people have won the National Lottery, you know that it must be a uniquely joyful place to work. That’s the moment of happy realisation that adam&eveDDB’s latest ad for the UK National Lottery delivers to everyone who sees it.
In the film we meet Michelle, a real-life employee at National Lottery operator Camelot’s contact centre and witness her delivering joy to a real winner. LBB’s Alex Reeves asked art director Brad Woolf and copywriter Dan Bailey to find out how the idea came to life.
LBB> What was the initial idea behind this campaign? It seems like the sort of thing that come out of a lightbulb moment talking to the client.
Brad & Dan> Yes, after chatting to Camelot, we were immediately intrigued by the idea that there’s a contact centre full of people who take winning calls day-in, day-out. It felt like a side of The National Lottery that no-one had seen or even really thought about before. We loved the idea that these life-changing moments are every day for the people who work in the contact centre. We were also fascinated by the genuine moment of mounting tension within the contact centre when they know there have been big winners in a recent draw and are waiting for calls from these millionaires.
LBB> Michelle is instantly likeable - how did you find her?
Brad & Dan> She is a supervisor in the contact centre and happened to be the person that showed us around, as we were trying to get a better understanding of how it all worked.
LBB> Why was she the perfect subject?
Brad & Dan> We were immediately struck by her vivaciousness, love of her job and warmth. Her enthusiasm was infectious and we felt sure she would be the perfect person to put in front of the camera. Fortunately, after a little reluctance, she agreed to appear in the film – much to our relief.
LBB> Exactly how much of it was 'real' and how much was recreated? That must have been a tough balance to strike.
Brad & Dan> We wanted to keep as much of the film as real as possible. All of the featured members of staff are people who work at The National Lottery contact centre. The external office shots are at Camelot’s head office, but we chose to recreate the internal office shots purely to keep disruption at the actual contact centre down to a minimum. However, both the dialogue you hear and the winning caller you hear at the end of the ad are genuine.
LBB> What was the shoot day like?
Brad & Dan> The shoot went pretty smoothly. Henry (Alex Rubin, our director) and his team did a brilliant job making people that aren’t actors feel extremely comfortable in front of the camera. We were lucky that Michelle was a natural - always hitting her marks, never fluffing lines, showing her lovely personality throughout. The biggest disruption we had was losing a few hours due to heavy rain that got so severe that we couldn’t record any sound.
LBB> Were there any really memorable moments from the process of making the ad?
Brad & Dan> Genuinely, the most memorable thing from the whole process was getting to know the people that work in the contact centre and realising what wonderful jobs they have. They get to share in people’s most joyful moments and feel privileged to do so.
LBB> What can we expect next from the campaign?
Brad & Dan> You’ll have to wait and see but perhaps another side of The National Lottery you hadn’t considered previously…
