TOTO going from ‘strength to strength’ after successful ‘King TOTO’ campaign

Chief Marketing Officer at Nederlandse Loterij Arno de Jong has argued that the Dutch lottery’s TOTO brand is ‘alive and kicking’ due to the success of the ‘King TOTO’ campaign.

TOTO recently received a Golden Effie award at the Effie Awards Europe 2020 in the Media, Leisure and Entertainment Category as a result of the campaign, garnering further international recognition for the brand.

The jury described the marketing campaign as ‘mind-blowing’ due to the significant rebranding of TOTO’s traditionally old-fashioned image.

In addition, the jurors stated that the campaign demonstrated ‘strong insight translated into strong execution, that it was ‘simple and consistent,’ and concluded that ‘the results were outstanding and also extremely well presented’.

Speaking to Lottery Daily, de Jong said: “It feels great. Last year we won two Golden Effie awards for TOTO in the Netherlands. It was the first time that one campaign received two golden awards. And now the Golden Euro-Effie. It underlines that we did something truly special with our TOTO brand.

“It was quite a challenge to explain such a culturally bound Dutch campaign to an international jury, but we succeeded.”

He continued: “Historically, TOTO was just going through the motions & wasn’t delivering on its obvious potential. Now TOTO is alive and kicking and going from strength to strength.

“The brand and also the sportsbook are unrecognizable compared to just a few years ago. The improvements made in terms of our player base & financial results are exponential.”

Various sporting personalities have participated in the King TOTO campaign, which revolves around the titular monarch who challenges potential players with the slogan: “Do you know it better? Then come on!”

The most recent campaign featured former Sparta Rotterdam midfielder Nathan Rutjes as King TOTO, and focused on a gaming responsibility theme with the message ‘Keep calm, play consciously’. Rutjes will be replaced by former ex-Ajax, Inter Milan and Dutch international Andy van der Meyde for the next installment in the camapign.

Previous sports personalities to have taken on the role include former Real Madrid and Everton winger Royston Drenthe, former players Sjaak Swart and Johan Boskamp, whilst Dutch rapper Donnie has also starred as the King.

We will continue developing the brand equity of TOTO with King TOTO. Next week a new campaign starts, again with our current King TOTO former football player Andy van der Meyde,” de Jong concluded.

“2021 is an exciting year for us with the European Championships and marketing opening in October this year.”