Nederlandse Loterij, the Dutch National Lottery, has named former professional footballer Wesley Sneijder as its ‘King TOTO’ for its new TOTO campaign ahead of this summer’s European Championship football tournament.
TOTO, the only legal provider of sports betting in the Netherlands, has created a throwback campaign filled with nostalgia where the retired footballer challenges the Dutch to defeat him.
Together with happy hardcore DJs Charly Lownoise and Mental Theo, Sneijder makes a new European Championship track in which Dutch sportscaster Jack van Gelder adds his famous commentary from an iconic Sneijder moment at the 2010 World Cup.
Arno de Jong, Chief Marketing Officer at Nederlandse Loterij, commented: “We had to wait an extra year for it, but with King Wesley, we are taking the campaign to a new level. With the Happy Hardcore music and the tracksuits, the nineties are revived, but the staging makes TOTO completely contemporary.”
The campaign was launched on June 2 with a long version of the TV commercial airing at halftime of the Netherlands-Scotland international friendly.
More than 25 years after the hit ‘Wonderful Days’, DJs Charly Lownoise and Mental Theo, together with Sneijder, turn the campaign into an old-fashioned happy hardcore party.
The campaign briefly revisits one of the most iconic moments of Sneijder’s career, his brace in the quarter-final against Brazil at the 2010 World Cup. One of his goals is brought back to life with van Gelder’s commentary.
Darre van Dijk, Chief Creative Officer of agency TBWA\NEBOKO, added: “Happy Hardcore is Dutch glory. Wesley came to our office and I asked him if he can sing at all? ‘I can do anything,’ was his reply. And he proves it now, Wesley is a real king!’
Back in January, Nederlandse Loterij and its TOTO brand received a Golden Effie and international recognition at the Effie Awards Europe 2020 for its ‘King TOTO’ campaign. Lottery Daily spoke to de Jong about the King TOTO character and how the campaign has impacted the brand.
