On a recent low budget city break, we visited Sofia. The unexpected joy of a leisure trip without any particular reason is a priceless feeling.

Speaking about unexpected joy, I can’t help thinking about the category of instant lotteries which works exactly in this way. During my trip, I experienced two cases of clever market practices in this category.

Little after take-off, Ryanair’s hostesses announced the offering of an instant lottery ticket with a top prize of a million euros and several other prizes. There was also a charity flair in the ticket offer, as the hostesses communicated that with the purchase of the ticket, you contribute to health institutions. However that was not the hook in it. The hook to me was rather the introduction of a ritual (that of scratching a ticket) during a flight. I guess we would all agree, that during a flight (especially that of a low cost airline) there is lack of stimulation points, since all airlines offer more or less the same stuff with a similar procedure. Ryanair, with the offering of the instant tickets, didn’t just add another item to purchase (similar to duty free items), but rather introduced a ritual to the bored passenger. Adding the ritual of scratching, coupled with the anticipation of winning appealed to a lot of travelers who bought the tickets and got into the ritual of scratching while on board. Clearly a success!

While in Bulgaria, I also visited a kiosk offering mainly instant lottery tickets. Although I didn’t have many leva at hand I asked, out of pure professional perversion, about the range of instant lotteries offered. The salesperson then suggested “Let me show you something new that you don’t have in Greece” and he handed over a ticket with an uncluttered design at the shape of a chocolate bar. That really clicked with me as it combined the ultimate impulse product (a chocolate bar) with an interesting product category (that of instant lottery tickets). However the best was mentioned last, as the salesperson prompted me to smell the ticket which had a distinctive cocoa odor! When scratched, the ticket would reveal more of its aroma, thus enhancing the scratching ritual at its core. I purchased the ticket right-away and scratched the first positions.

I didn’t win any money but surely found both rituals relevant and interesting to me.

Next time…