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Promotion & involvement

Although Camelot does not have a direct role in the distribution of lottery funding, we believe that raising positive public awareness of the benefits Good Causes funding brings to the UK can support the overall health of the National Lottery brand. At the same time we are aware that adverse publicity about funding decisions can harm the lottery’s reputation.

We use a variety of different methods and approaches to promote the positive impact of The National Lottery. We also believe that involving the public more directly in Good Causes distribution can to contribute to the lottery’s success.

Promotion

In partnership with the DCMS and the Good Causes distributors we established and co-fund the National Lottery Promotions Unit (NLPU) in 2003. Co-funded by Camelot, its aim is to make the public more aware of the many ways lottery funding has been used for the public good.

The NLPU has played a key part in raising positive public awareness of Good Causes funding, in particular by creating a National Lottery Good Causes brand. Designed to reinforce the link between playing National Lottery games and the benefits Good Causes funding brings to the UK, the brand has been used on a range of materials achknowledging the lottery’s involvement – from blue plaques on buildings to the opening credits of films. These initiatives make it easy for the public to understand where their money has been spent.

In terms of our continuing support, we have worked closely with the NLPU on a variety of initiatives including:

  • The development of the Good Causes website (opens in new window) designed to raise awareness of lottery funding both locally – by means of a map of the UK which features stories about lottery funding – and through promotion of various campaigns
  • Love UK, a campaign designed to celebrate what makes the UK great. Following the success of the first two-week Love UK initiative in June 2007 a second campaign was planned for May 2008 – this time lasting for a full month. The latest campaign included a national poll to find the UK’s best-loved landmark, a dedicated website (opens in new window), celebrity ambassadors who championed their favourite aspects of UK life, creative photography at some of the most iconic lottery-funded buildings in the UK and a string of competitions run across a range of media outlets. Camelot provided additional support for the campaign through its over 26,200 retail outlets, including a Love UK advert on our 1,450 retailer media screens and with dedicated Love UK-branded ticket messages
  • The "Get the Balls Rolling" campaign which involved the roll-out of hundreds of giant lottery balls, each with facts about lottery funding printed on them at Good Causes projects across the UK – from the large, including the Odyssey in Belfast, to the small, like Swansea Community Farm. This activity produced a range of imaginative photo and publicity opportunities
  • National Lottery Awards (opens in new window).

Working with the BBC

Our broadcasting contract with the BBC, which will continue into the new lottery Licence, allows for an increased amount of airtime available for lottery Good Causes messaging and programming. We have also worked with the BBC to develop a new show dedicated to the London 2012 - designated draw-based game, Dream Number.

Retailers

Retailers selling lottery products have told us that they want us to make information about Good Causes available – particularly in their local neighbourhoods.

As well as news and articles about the NLPU campaigns we also have a regular Good Causes section in Jackpot magazine – our bi-monthly magazine for retailers – which provides them with information they can pass on to their customers.

As part of the transition to the new lottery Licence we will install digital media screens in every lottery retailer which will give players regular updates on Good Causes funding. Read more about our transition plans.

The National Lottery website

We have continued to invest in the online magazine – 'Good Causes Great Effects' – on the National Lottery website (opens in new window). It features a range of projects showcasing some of the very personal stories and outcomes of lottery funding. As well as helping to give our players a flavour of the breadth and depth of lottery investment across the UK, Godd Causes Great Effects also provides information about the distribution bodies and details of how to apply for a lottery grant.

We have extended the reach of 'Good Causes Great Effects' by working with the NLPU which also feature the stories on the National Lottery Good Causes funding website (opens in new window).

Employee awareness

To help staff understand more about the Good Causes and winning The National Lottery, we organised a series of visits to our main sites from major publicity winners and people or groups who have benefited from lottery funding. As far as possible we link these talks to key corporate events, so that our regional staff and sales force can attend. We also use our internal communication channels to run regular features on Good Causes funding.

Public involvement

Members of the public are often unsure how Good Causes funding is spent, so involving them more directly helps to reinforce the benefits of The National Lottery. We are involved in a range of activities designed to achieve this.

National Lottery Awards

The annual National Lottery Awards give the public the chance to nominate and vote for their favourite lottery-funded projects. This year they were shown live on a BBC One programme on 15 September 2007, "The National Lottery: Big 7".

Supporting TV campaigns

In recent years we’ve been supportive of a number of distributor-led popular lottery-related programmes on both the BBC and ITV.

In the hit BBC series Spring/Autumn Watch, for instance, the public were able to apply for funding from the Big Lottery Fund through the "Breathing Places" grant programme. The Breathing Places programme is a UK-wide small grants programme developed by the Big Lottery Fund in partnership with the BBC. It complements the BBC’s Breathing Places campaign by giving funding for small groups. In phase 1 and 2 of the programme around £5 million was distributed to projects that improves the local environment or created new open spaces.

We also supported to the Big Lottery Fund’s for their public involvement initiative, "The People’s Millions", broadcast on ITV1. Launched in 2005, The People’s Millions was originally a three-year scheme but has been extended to four years. The scheme gives viewers the chance to choose projects that improve the quality of life of local communities through transforming the local environment, or providing opportunities or facilities for enjoying it.

Grants available have included:

  • £50,000 - £80,000 grants through ITN regional news programmes. So far a total of £13.6million has been awarded to 229 community projects and more than 1.1 million people across the UK have voted
  • a £1.5 million grant through GMTV
  • a single grant of up to £50 million through ITV1 in 2007 – won by Sustrans’ Connect2 after more than 280,000 votes were cast.

During 2008, five awards of up to £50,000 will be available in each of ITV’s 18 regions – a total of 90 awards across the UK.

Useful Links:

For general information about the Good Causes funded by The National Lottery, please visit www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk (opens in new window) and for media enquiries call the National Lottery Promotions Unit on 020 7211 3991.

Lottery distributors and how to apply for funding:

If you wish to find out about which lottery grants are available or information about how to apply for funding visit www.lotteryfunding.org.uk (opens in new window) or call the Good Causes Helpline: 0845 275 0000 Textphone: 0845 275 0022.

Grants Awarded:

A central database of grants awarded by National Lottery Distributors can be found on the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport website (opens in new window).

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