Geosweep has a unique concept that is pulling the punters in.
The UK National Lottery could have a potential rival in Geosweep, an ingenious new hi-tech lottery game currently being punted to brand and media owners in Britain.
The game will be launched on October 10 this year, and has been developed using Google maps, reports the marketing publication Brand Republic. It allows users to ‘buy’ locations – called ‘geos' – on a map of the UK at a cost of 10p a geo. These geos can be the user’s house, a tourist destination or a place of personal interest.
Every day, one geo is selected at random – probably through a random software program – and the holder of that geo will win a million pounds sterling.
Geosweep claims that the odds of winning are 223 percent higher than the National Lottery, creating the potential for Geosweep to become a serious rival.
Geosweep has hired former head of marketing at News International, Kieran Moran, to lead the introduction into the market of the game, armed with a GBP1.5 million initial marketing budget.
Moran told Brand Republic that the opportunities for major retail and other brands, such as Tesco and Asda, to get involved with the game are "huge" as they could offer location specific deals and vouchers. He is also talking with media owners about the product’s capabilities to target markets on a local scale.
"With regional press, the readership is anonymous and it’s difficult to know who is buying the paper," he said. "However the localised data [inherent in Geosweep] means advertisers can target communities more effectively."
Moran is additionally talking to two major TV networks about creating content in the form of a quiz show.
Camelot, the operator of the UK National Lottery, has revealed that it attracted more online players than any other company over the past year. According to an independent UK Online Measurement (UKOM) survey the number of Britons visiting Camelot websites increased by 4.4 million to 9.4 million.
Camelot's recent online display ad. campaign in July 2010 for the Euromillions draw attracted 4.1 million new users to its site in one month, which is more than Facebook gained in the entire year, the company has revealed, illustrating the massive potential of the online market.