A Cuckoo Clock Bird Finds Love in Dutch State Lottery's New Year Campaign

Cuckoo, Fritsie, is the new hero in Staatsloterij’s (Dutch State Lottery) campaign for the 2021 New Year's Eve Draw called ‘Share Your Luck’. Where last year the black kitten Frummel brought New Year’s joy to Holland, it’s now Fritsie, an authentic cuckoo clock bird, who plays the lead role. Fritsie's story is as heart warming as it is uplifting, with the message that happiness is even more meaningful when you share it with others. The commercial premieres on television and online tonight. The music that frames the story comes from a special collaboration between the Dutch band HAEVN and the British singer Birdy.

In recent years, Staatsloterij has won the hearts of the Dutch public with a series of appealing end-of-year commercials, starring the dog Frekkel (2018), the hedgehog Freddie (2019) and the cat Frummel (2020). These TV commercials have been awarded the Gouden Loeki public prize three years in a row. This is unique in the history of Dutch advertising. "The Staatsloterij New Year's Eve Draw is a wonderful tradition that has become part of the December month. It is the cosiest time of the year when we celebrate love and spend time together. Sharing love and happiness isn’t about money and that’s the feeling we want to convey in the Netherlands," says Michael Kastelijns, business director of Staatsloterij.

"Following up with the same big idea as previous years, we all managed to give it a surprising new creative interpretation," says Patritia Pahladsingh, managing director of TBWA\NEBOKO. Darre van Dijk, chief creative officer at TBWA adds, "This time we took it a step further and chose an almost Disney-like approach in which the cuckoo clock bird is a living creature, beautifully captured by director Martin Werner from CZAR. For the first time, we have given the music an explicit narrative role. The song 'Open Hearts' (freshly released on Spotify), which arose from a special collaboration between the British singer Birdy and the Dutch band HAEVN, strengthens the storytelling. The stakes were high, so we even brought in British producer Francis Anthony 'Eg' White. Eg White has previously worked with international artists such as Adele and James Morrison.”

In the video titled, 'Share your luck', we follow an elderly man who has just left a bookshop where he has purchased a New Year's Eve lottery ticket. At home, in the living room, the clock on the wall strikes and a cuckoo bird emerges. The man shows his New Year's Eve lottery ticket - "Look Fritsie, on New Year's Eve we’ll find out!" - but the cuckoo’s eyes and demeanour are sad. The man begins to do everything in his power to make his little Fritsie happy again. Next, we see him walking through the city with the clock under his arm. He walks into a clock shop, but the clockmaker doesn’t know how to help the little bird. The repairman where the man goes next also has no idea what to do with Fritsie. The man continues his journey and arrives at a veterinarian who examines Fritsie, but she can’t help him either. Finally, the man decides to warm up in a café. At 6.00 PM., a cheerful, female cuckoo sounds from a clock behind the bar. Fritsie pops his head out and is suddenly revived. The waitress who sees it happen, takes her clock from the wall, and with a smile gives it to the man saying, "I believe these two belong together." He is grateful to her and walks out happily with the two clocks. The man leaves his New Year's Eve lottery ticket with a tip for the waitress, who is pleasantly surprised by the gesture and as he leaves, the words ‘share your luck’ appear on the screen.

The 105” TV commercial will premiere on December 10th, at 7:30 PM on all Dutch television channels. Between 10th and 31st December, the campaign will be rolled out omnichannel to social media, online, radio, out of home, and on the retail channels where New Year's lottery tickets are sold.