As it turns out, you can put a price on Christmas spirit. Gold-Cube winner “There Is No Bigger Prize Than Sharing” at the 94^th Annual Awards also takes home a Silver award in the Advertising/Direction category and a Merit award in the Motion/Direction category.

In a way, the team at Leo Burnett Madrid won a lottery of their very own. “This was probably the most inspiring process of our careers” says Jesús Lada, ECD of Leo Burnett Madrid. “It was a team effort from start to end, and every piece of the team added their unique talents to the mix, creating one of the most successful campaigns in Spain’s advertising history.”

Particular to Spain, The Christmas Lottery campaign is one of the biggest of the year. It is the second longest continuously running lottery in the world. This includes the years during the Spanish Civil War.  As measured by the total prize payout, the Spanish Christmas Lottery is considered the biggest lottery worldwide. Even if you are not a regular gambler, if you live in Spain, you definitely buy a lottery ticket at Christmas time because the lottery unofficially marks the beginning of the holiday season.

In spite of its historic popularity, there was still a decline in sales and participation in recent years. But who wasn’t game? The National Lottery wanted to get everyone playing if you were a citizen over the age of 18 with a few dollars to spare.

Sell. More. Lottery Tickets. Sounds like a greedy slant, even a bit much for advertising, given the Christmas-ness of the matter. However, Jesús and the team found another angle that would be their silver – or rather, gold toned – lining. “We kept hearing the action ‘to share’, so we decided to take this approach. We discovered this insight has never been used before. It was a unique way of looking at how the Christmas Lottery is played”.

We kept hearing the action ‘to share’, so we decided to take this approach. We discovered this insight has never been used before. It was a unique way of looking at how the Christmas Lottery is played.

Think of it like this: Each number is divided into tenths and people usually share the same number with friends or work colleagues. So, if your ticket wins, you all win – together. It seems that simple math and sharing really do have a real-world sensibility, given the right variables.

But what was not so simple was the initial campaign execution. In 2013, Leo Burnett bombed the National Lottery, with a campaign that failed to connect to people like you and me. But with that experience and those learning curves behind them, Jesús and team decided they needed a new, more human story that people could relate to.

Enter “There Is No Bigger Prize Than Sharing” the moving spot that warms the head, heart and fingers, even on the coldest of winter days. A man is reluctant to head to the local neighborhood bar, where he knows he’ll see the smiling faces of his friends – newly minted lottery winners. Troubled, he goes anyway, orders a coffee and tries to explain to the bartender, he just can’t believe his bad luck, that he did not play this time around. What happens next makes you believe that humans are inherently good.

“First we decided on the strategy to follow and then we kept throwing scripts in that direction and we got the main one. It still wasn’t quite working, so we got the whole team in a room to brainstorm, and eventually we got the final script. When we had it, we contacted Santiago Zannou, Andrés awarded Spanish filmmaker, and a master on actor direction. He did an awesome job, and we couldn’t be happier with the final result.”

Christmas is not that far off. Whether you live in Spain or elsewhere, consider yourself lucky and play the lottery this year with family and friends for the chance of a lifetime.

Oh, and don’t forget to share.

Full Credits: 

Client: National Lottery
Art Director: Arturo Benlloch, Zarik Ahuir
Copywriter: Ignacio Soria
Chairman: Chiqui Búa
Executive Creative Director: Juan Garcia Escudero / Jesús Lada
Creative Director: Juan García-Escudero / Jesús Lada
Production Company: RCR
Country: Spain