The changes keep on coming at the Northstar Lottery Group, the private management entity Illinois governor Pat Quinn selected in the fall of 2010 to run the Illinois Lottery. Northstar is a consortium comprised of Gtech and Scientific Games, both of which are also Lottery vendors.
Perhaps the most telling change at Northstar is the installation of a new CEO — a very Italian gent named Marco Tasso. He formally takes over this month from Connie Laverty O’Connor, a former Gtech chief marketing officer, who headed up Northstar’s pitch to win the Lottery private management contract and then continued to run the private manager consortium.
Laverty O’Connor is returning to her previous role with Gtech to make way for Tasso, who comes to Northstar from Lottomatica, a Lottery manager in Italy. Gtech is a subsidiary of the giant Lottomatica Group.
Prior to joining the Lottomatica Group some six years ago, Tasso, who holds a doctoral degree in mathematics, worked for Bain and Co. in Italy, consulting with various clients ranging from Fiat to Telecom Italia.
When the announcement came down that Tasso would take over for Laverty O’Connor, Northstar took great pains to suggest the new CEO’s arrival was all part of a larger, preexisting game plan. “When she (Laverty O’Connor) accepted the appointment as CEO of Northstar, we agreed that it would be for the ramp up period and the start of Northstar operations,” said Gtech CEO Jaymin Patel in a statement.
Jones’ arrival a factor in O’Connor’s departure
But our sources report Laverty O’Connor wasn’t, in fact, expected to depart Northstar quite so soon. Rather the game plan began to change recently for a couple of significant reasons. First, Northstar wasn’t making the revenue numbers it had indicated the consortium would generate when it won the Lottery private management contract.
A second — and perhaps more important — factor in the decision was the arrival last fall of Michael Jones as superintendent of the Illinois Lottery. In recent months, it became increasingly apparent Laverty O’Connor and Jones had different and wildly conflicting ideas about how the Illinois Lottery should be managed.
And too often the two executives weren’t on the same page about new and aggressive efforts to market the Lottery to a broader base of potential players.
It’s also worth noting that Laverty O’Connor had installed Energy BBDO/Chicago as her advertising agency of choice. Northstar’s severing of ties with Energy BBDO was one of the first things that happened after Jones was named Lottery superintendent.
Jones and Tasso in sync with Lottery objectives
Now, with Laverty O’Connor out, Jones appears to have in Tasso a kindred spirit who believes a menu of innovative Lottery products, coupled with smart, well-researched marketing initiatives, can dramatically improve the revenue Northstar generates.
Though he has officially only just taken over, Tasso was actually part of the internal review panel Northstar assembled last November to select the new ad agency Downtown Partners/Chicago that replaced Energy BBDO.
So it’s safe to assume Tasso is quite comfortable with DP/C’s approach to marketing and advertising in general and to promoting the Illinois Lottery in particular.
But Tasso, in conjunction with Jones, also is moving quickly to buttress Northstar’s entire internal marketing operation. Northstar has just hired Mark Waskelo as the new manager of marketing research — the first of what are likely to be additional changes in Northstar’s marketing department in the weeks to come.
Waskelo previously worked for Itasca-based office products company Fellowes Inc. as director of market research. Prior to that job, Waskelo was a marketing analyst for the Follett Software Co.
Market research will have greater importance
Our sources report Tasso and Jones want market research to play a larger role than it previously has in determining exactly what products and marketing strategies Northstar should use to expand the player base and boost the money the Lottery takes in.
Tasso, we’re told, also wasn’t interested in hiring a research person who only knew the Lottery industry backwards and forwards. Rather Tasso wanted to bring in someone with more of a general consumer products background to provide a fresh perspective, much as Tasso brought to the lottery business in Italy when he joined Lottomatica.
So what kind of approach to marketing the Illinois Lottery might we expect with Tasso now in charge at Northstar? Well, for starters look for him to be vigilant in ensuring the Illinois Lottery delivers a consistent and appealing message every time the brand touches current and potential customers.
The Lottery’s new marketing tag line is “Anything’s Possible,” and that will be readily apparent in all the advertising Downtown Partners produces going forward.
Tasso to push all aspects of Lottery experience
In fact a new commercial (and online video) for the Lottery’s recently introduced baseball-themed instant game neatly dovetails with previous “Anything’s Possible” Lottery spots — all of which downplay notions of big cash winnings and simply talk of some surprising possibilities in life, including playing the lottery.
Finally, pushing creativity in all aspects of the Lottery experience from product selection to game and bet card designs to marketing execution is what Tasso will focus on in hopes Illinois residents will at last begin to see the Lottery in a different and engaging light.
Contact Lewis Lazare at: LewisL3@aol.com
