The Catalan lottery, La Grossa –literally, “the large one”– has been embodied since its creation in 2013 in the character of a sturdy middle-aged woman, dressed elegantly and always smiling, who is represented through a “capgròs”, a traditional carnival figure with an oversized head.
For this year’s campaign, we have seeked to move the spotlight from the prize to the social experience of playing the lottery. We have focused on the fact of sharing with friends and family, on the feelings of expectation and surprise, and on conceiving the purchase of the ticket as a social ritual which is connected with the people that surround us every day.
Along this line, we have chosen to build a wider sense of community by creating different archetypes with defined personalities who will depict the Catalan society in a more contemporary and diverse way. The space where these characters interact is a TV sitcom, also a traditionally light and fun format marked by an intelligent sense of humour.
To develop this, we needed to approach a television language for which El Terrat (The Mediapro Studio) was an excellent partner. As one of the most relevant production companies in Spain, and having produced a wide range of formats (among which numerous sitcoms) during more than 30 years of professional background, we immersed together in a process of script writing and characterisation, including costumes make up and styling for the actors, as well as the set design. For the set, we thought of the kiosk not only as the place where you buy the lottery tickets, but also as a space where you can have social encounters, reinforcing the social component of the campaign.
“The first idea was turning La Grossa into a sitcom such as Friends, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air or Camera Café. Then we asked El Terrat for production, which was indeed the perfect partner in crime. Once these two decisions were made, 90% of our proposal was already defined, even without explaining or showing much to the client – everyone involved understood what it was all about.”
Rafa Martínez, Founding Partner & Business Development Manager at Folch
“The contribution we have wanted to make from El Terrat has been to seek for the simplicity in the message and the script so we could have a direct connection with the audience.”
Agustí Esteve, Executive Director of El Terrat
We seeked to send a simple and cheerful message, making enjoyment the center of our claim: “Gaudim La Grossa” means “Let’s enjoy La Grossa”. The claim is accompanied by different subclaims, all marked by a light-hearted tone and a social, collective motive.
The graphics have been adapted to all formats within social media. We specifically created a range of videos for Instagram Stories presenting each character and showcasing different situations they might encounter between them in the sitcom.
“We have taken the current codes of the brand to a present context through its communication in new channels and audiences, counting both on media where it has a bigger imprint as well as new platforms with a transgenerational approach.”
Elena Qureshi, Studio & Design Manager at Folch
“We designed a customised lettering that would allow us to thread audiovisual and graphic content through a simple and direct aesthetic.”
Adriana Pons, Graphic Designer at Folch
We adapted the campaign to the different communicative moments of the lottery year: Sant Jordi, summer, and New Year’s Eve, which are the big annual raffles of La Grossa. Besides, there is a weekly raffle on Fridays. Coinciding with these moments, we have designed different episodes of the sitcom that will be released gradually.
“Transforming a classic TV genre into a communication piece has been a genuinely enriching challenge.”
Rebeca Muñoz, Public Affairs Project Manager at Folch
Besides social media, the campaign has been spread offline through a large number of mass media –TV, paper and radio channels–, as well as on the streets through print on banderoles and posters.