Mission Education in Motion: Real People, Real Impact

By the California Lottery Public Affairs & Communications Team

Published October 21, 2025

The California Lottery’s campaign to educate people about its mission is built on a simple but powerful idea: actually show Californians how Lottery dollars support public education by highlighting the very programs and people who benefit from it. From the beginning, the strategic, multi-channel communications campaign has centered on real students, educators, and community members. This human-first approach has made the campaign familiar in format, but unique in scale. Production teams initiated a “smile and dial” campaign, contacting hundreds of schools across California to learn how Lottery dollars are leveraged, recruit willing program advocates, and establish filming locations.

Through this outreach, authentic storytelling became the campaign’s heartbeat, capturing unscripted moments, genuine voices, and lived experiences that bring the Lottery’s impact to life. The campaign leans into authenticity, allowing real stories to showcase how schools implement Lottery dollars in ways that reflect their communities’ distinct needs across California, communicating the value of the Lottery’s contributions in a way that feels both relatable and inspiring.

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Over six paid advertising waves so far, aligned with educational seasons of back-to-school and graduation, the campaign has evolved from a broad awareness initiative into a data-informed, audience-responsive campaign. Each phase has refined the message, sharpened the audience targeting, and deepened the emotional resonance of the stories being told.

The California Lottery’s initial audience segmentation study – conducted by its vendor partner Ipsos – identified key target groups for the mission education campaign by analyzing attitudes toward the California Lottery and its role in supporting public education. The research revealed that Hispanic adults aged 18 to 49 experienced lower levels of awareness and were particularly receptive to messages about the Lottery’s educational mission, especially when those messages were delivered in culturally relevant formats. Additionally, Millennials and parents of school-aged children emerged as high-priority segments due to their lower levels of awareness as well, along with their strong interest in education funding and their high engagement with digital media. These insights informed the campaign’s early media strategy, which prioritized social platforms and storytelling formats that could authentically connect with these audiences.

With the initial advertising flight launched in January 2024, the first wave introduced the bi-lingual campaign with a focus on foundational awareness. The campaign targeted Hispanic adults and Millennials, using a media mix that leaned heavily on social platforms, supported by CTV/OTT, radio, and streaming audio. Like all great adventures, the campaign kicked off with a scroll and a voice in the air.

The results were strong. The campaign delivered 193.4 million impressions and reached 86% of its target audience. Social placements achieved a cost per thousand impressions (CPM) of $3.35, outperforming the $5.01 benchmark by 33%. Video completion rates were also high, with CTV placements averaging 98% and OTT placements averaging 65%.

The initial advertising established a solid foundation and validated the campaign’s creative direction, which featured real Californians sharing their connection to California public education.

English translation: Thanks to the California Lottery, I can pursue my dream of becoming a firefighter.

March and April 2024: Expanding the Reach

From the second wave through the fourth, the campaign maintained momentum while expanding into new channels. Print placements were introduced in African American publications such as the Los Angeles Sentinel and the Sacramento Observer. With the addition of print, the campaign had all channels covered, from pixels to paper, not only broadening its reach but also reinforcing the California Lottery’s commitment to inclusivity.

These middle waves served as a bridge between the initial awareness push and the more performance-driven strategies that would follow.

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May 2025: Turning the Corner with Optimization

The fifth wave, which ran from May to June 2025, marked a turning point. The campaign introduced new creative formats, including Instagram Reels, Stories, and Carousels, and began testing Career Technical Education (CTE) themes, showcasing even more Lottery-funded public education programs for adults. In the fifth wave, sentiment tracking became a critical metric focus.

The results were impressive. The campaign achieved a 318 to 1 positive-to-negative sentiment ratio, a 212% improvement over the previous wave. Spanish-language ads generated more than 71,000 clicks, with a cost per click (CPC) of $2.49. English-language ads achieved a CPC of $2.94. The introduction and testing of a new adaptive carousel ad unit significantly improved the campaign’s performance. Optimized carousel ads outperformed manual placements by 34% in engagement and 28% in clicks.

With the carousels spinning, the algorithm firing, and clicks climbing, the fire cadet and the engaging basketball hopeful came along to steal the show. A still image ad featuring cadet Edgar Ramirez, from Glendale Community College (GCC), became the top performer among Spanish-speaking audiences. A basketball-themed first-person vertical video featuring basketballer Dahnte Russel, also from GCC, resonated with English-speaking viewers. These stories were not abstract. They were personal, local, and deeply relatable.

August 2025: Precision, Performance, and STEM

The recently completed wave, which ran from August to September 2025, built on the success of the previous wave with several strategic enhancements. The campaign adopted regional geotargeting, replacing county-level targeting with broader zones such as NorCal, Central, and Southern California. It also introduced STEM-focused messaging and launched YouTube Shorts as a new media channel. The messaging evolved to remind Californians that the way schools spend their allocated Lottery funds is largely discretionary and up to local school budget decision-makers.

The campaign delivered 106.6 million social impressions, a 13% increase over the previous wave. Negative engagement dropped by 93%, even though the positive-to-negative sentiment ratio dipped slightly to 263 to 1. A grand total of three negative comments were registered directly related to the mission material.

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Optimized carousels continued to outperform manual placements, delivering 84% more engagements and 42% more clicks. YouTube Shorts emerged as a high-performing format, achieving the highest click-through rate among all YouTube ad types.

Scroll-stopping science gave the campaign its most engaging creative, featuring Biology Professor Javier Gago, whose video ad drove 53% of total engagement across both English and Spanish campaigns. STEM content outperformed CTE themes, signaling a shift in audience interest and message resonance.

Once again, the campaign’s strength came from its focus on real people. Javier Gago’s story was not just about science. It was about opportunity, mentorship, and the ripple effect of public education.

What We’ve Learned

Across six waves, the campaign has demonstrated the value of continuous testing and optimization. Spanish-speaking audiences consistently engage at higher rates, and regional targeting has improved both efficiency and relevance. Authentic messengers, especially educators and students, have proven to be powerful voices for the campaign.

Creative formats matter. While Instagram users respond best to 9x16 Reels, Facebook users prefer 1x1 in-feed videos. Optimized placements consistently outperform manual ones, and short-form video is emerging as a key driver of engagement.

The most important lesson is simple: people connect with people – a truth reinforced by the data, our most valuable creative partner. The campaign’s success is rooted in its ability to tell real stories from real Californians. These are not actors or spokespeople. They are students, teachers, and community members whose lives are touched by the Lottery’s mission.

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Looking Ahead

As the campaign prepares for future waves, the focus will remain on refining creative based on message testing, expanding the use of high-performing formats like YouTube Shorts, and deepening regional storytelling with local messengers. Sentiment tracking will continue to guide real-time adjustments and ensure that the campaign remains responsive to audience feedback. Most importantly, and likely not mentioned enough, all of this would be impossible without the massive multiplayer environment of Lottery researchers, partners, creatives, media buyers, and strategists working together toward a shared mission to share the mission of the California Lottery.

From its launch in early 2024 to its most recent performance in late 2025, the California Lottery’s mission-centric communications campaign has grown into a sophisticated, data-driven initiative. It continues to evolve in its mission to inform Californians about the Lottery’s contributions to public education and the positive impact its making on the state. By centering around real people and real stories, the campaign has built trust, driven engagement, and delivered results at scale.

The mission continues. So does the momentum. And who wins? California Public Education – always the real winner of any California Lottery game.