Going Gaga over Loto-Quebec's New Card Game
Loto-Quebec's latest marketing strategy is to use pop sensation, Lady Gaga to attract younger players.
The corporation recently announced that it paid $300,000 for the rights to use Lady Gaga's number one hit song, Poker Face, to promote its new card game.
"We are looking for young customers in their 20s and 30s," said a spokesman for Loto-Quebec, Jean-Pierre Roy.
"Lady Gaga is more popular with this clientele."
The singer's face does not appear in the ad, although her anthem is heard in the background.
The new ad, featuring the 2008 smash hit, debuted on TV this Tuesday, promoting the new Lotto Poker game.
The six figure royalty rights are the highest fees ever paid by Loto Quebec in its 41 year history.
Idea Slammed by Gambling Critics
While the idea seems to be a good one, and is sure to attract players, it is also attracting criticism from gambling opponents.
"It's really, really unfair to go after that young market," said Sol Boxenbaum, who has been a gambling critic for decades.
He agreed that underage children won't be allowed to buy the Lotto Poker games that are being marketed by Loto Quebec, but said that young, legal-age Canadians are not immune to problem gambling.
"These kids that get into trouble with gambling at age 18, they are the ones that when they get to be 30, 35 and have responsibilities, find themselves being problem gamblers," he said.
Royalty Fees Recovered
While the $300,000 royalty fee paid to have the Poker Face song playing in the background of the ad may seem excessive, Loto Quebec assured its critics that the fees were recovered almost instantly once the game went live.
Lotto Poker earned $440K after only two days of operation, and $2.4 million in the first week.
