Lotto brief sparks agency scramble

TAIPEI: Taipei Bank is putting its NT$300 million (about US$8.7 million) National Lotto account up for pitch ahead of the launch of the island's most sophisticated lottery and gaming brand next January. Taipei Bank, which recently beat out four competitors to win a five-year government contract to run the lottery, will begin setting up 8,500 computerised betting centres across Taiwan from next month. By late January, it hopes to have the entire system up and running, accompanied by the launch of a major branding and awareness campaign. However, word that the bank is on the lookout for an advertising agency has triggered a scramble among recession-starved agencies for the business. With the Taiwan economy reportedly in its worst shape in three decades, at least four agencies have already started pitching for the business, with several others joining the queue, sources close to the pitch said. One agency brought a 20-man team and turned what was supposed to be a credentials presentation into a full-blown creative and strategic presentation, the sources added. Until now, the island has what some Taiwanese have nicknamed as the 'earthquake lottery', which was set up and run by the Bank of Taiwan to help victims recover from the 1999 earthquake. However, the licence for this lottery is set to expire and Taipei Bank was recently awarded a new permit. While the National Lotto has no competitor on the island, it has to compete with online gambling, which is difficult to legislate against. One of the tasks which the winning agency will have to work on is how to enhance the local offering and highlight the fact that a significant proportion of the expected US$3.6 billion in annual ticket sales will go to Taiwan's National Pension Fund, the National Health Insurance and other public initiatives.

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