Current Issues in Marketing Strategy

The task of taking over from Tattersalls was always going to be a difficult task, but Intralot have gone about it in a very impressive way. They have focused on a differentiation strategy, upgrading the way that people 'convenience gamble' and spreading their advertising budget wide to increase customer awareness of the new products. So far the stats are impressive. So what have they done well?


The upgrade in the gambling process
The product that consumers are buying is now very different. It is better (subjective comment), it is newer, tech savvy and much more convenient. Intralot have placed automated machines (seen below) to check tickets, relieving store owners from the arduous task and making it easier for customers to dash in and out.

The importance of this is differentiation, but more than anything it is adapting to 2008 consumer demands, a better product should increase repeat purchase rate.

Advertising Mix
Their advertising mix has focused on consumer awareness, getting their name out there and position themselves as 'The luckies game around' or more simply put, 'The best chance to win'.
They have communicated this through a range of vehicles, (in some cases vehicles quite literally), Television campaigns have run in peak time with quirky notions of creating luck, they sponsored trams around the city, posters and print advertising has been all aligned.

Aligning the advertising is marketing 101, I especially like the use of the bright orange logo's everywhere, even on the checking machine itself. Consumer awareness has become very high in a very short period of time, a big win for a new company and the sales stats so far are impressive

The results
Instant scratch ticket sales are up on the same period a year earlier. Numbers dipped when they ran out of stock last weekend (good problem to have). The replacement of Tattersalls instant scratch ticket product with Intralot product has not hurt at all. The Intralot online games, Keno, Lucky Lines and Bingo are pulling good interest too. Their advertising is driving good traffic.

Josh Strawczynski's Opinion
Intralot are trying to target the 'convenience gambler', they are changing the way we are able to access the game, making it quicker and more autonomous (the way gamblers like it...impersonal and largely anonymous).

Their advertising and branding has been excellent so far, it will be interesting to see how their sales figures increase as the bugs are worked out of the system.

Sam Berringer's Opinion
It will be interesting to see if they continue to innovate and target 'convenience gambler', for example, Intralot Peru has announced that it has become the first firm in Latin America to let players to take part in online lotteries utilizing a SMS.

For more on SMS lottery click here