We Are Royale Wins Big with Washington’s Lottery “Go Full You” Campaign

Creative production company We Are Royale (WAR) recently produced a series of broadcast and digital spots for the “Go Full You” campaign for Washington’s Lottery. Conceived by agency Wunderman Thompson, and directed by Jason Cook, Executive Creative Director at WAR, the campaign is a humorous take on the dreams made possible after winning the lottery. 

“Cake” tells the story of a mother whose lifelong dream of becoming a baking master is a reality after winning the lottery. But this mom isn’t just serving up sweet treats; she’s serving up family pranks with her exquisite cake-molding skills. 

In “Cowboy,” a lottery winner trades the city life for ranch life, where he befriends a horse who turns out to be a smooth-trotting line dancer. They become a viral sensation. 

“Bringing to life narratives that push the boundaries of our targets’ imaginations is never easy, and these spots followed that tradition,” says Todd Derksen, Wunderman Thompson Group Creative Director on the Washington’s Lottery account. “Despite a sudden neverending hail storm, a feisty horse, and severely underestimating the durability of fondant, Jason and WAR stayed the course, bringing to life two great spots, and continued the story online with a unique cut of each for social.”

“As a big fan of absurdist humor, the stories Wunderman Thompson came up with for this campaign were not only in my wheelhouse as a director, but also the off-beat creative we like to take on at WAR,” remarks Cook. “We treated these spots more like short films, making them more cinematic than just straightforward comedy, and had a great time playing in this silly, wonderful sandbox with them.” 

The team aimed for a cooking show aesthetic for “Cake,” using locked-off shots to track the mom’s increasingly realistic cake creations coming to life over time. WAR commissioned local cake masters in Seattle to craft eight rounds of hyper-realistic cakes resembling everything from a soccer ball to a cup of coffee to a hairbrush, among many other household items. 

“With only two of each dessert to work with, we had to be incredibly careful with our delicate props, and land the shots with minimal takes,” says Cook.

To sell the viral video concept for “Cowboy,” WAR’s production crew constructed a music video set – complete with concert lighting and back-up dancers – inside a horse arena at a local ranch. They captured the footage entirely with handheld cameras to make the viewer feel right there in the corral with the horse.

“Training a horse to do a synchronized dance alongside his human companion comes with its own unique set of challenges,” concludes Cook. “We reverse-engineered the choreography, with the human actor following the horse’s lead to make it look like they were doing the dance routine together.” 

Client: Washington State Lottery
Titles: "Cowboy" and "Cake" (:30; :15)     

Agency: Wunderman Thompson
Creative Director: Todd Derksen    
Copywriter: Peter Trueblood, Jason Ferrell
Art Director: Andy Spieth
Account Director: Kristie Christensen
Account Supervisor: Madison Ellis
Executive Producer: Dax Estorninos
Associate Producer: Kym Kerawala
Sr. Project Manager: Scooter Churchill

Production Company: We Are Royale
CCO, Partner: Brien Holman
Managing Director, Partner: Jennifer Lucero
Director/Executive Creative Director: Jason Cook
Live Action Director: Jason Cook
Executive Producer: Rhys Demery
Lead Producer: Liz Lipka
Senior Producer: Lisa Laubhan
Designer: Alie Wu
Comp Supervisor: Tyrone Mckay
Compositor: Michael Bogon
Editor:    Ryan Frey
Line Producer: Mark Campbell

Music Company: Model Citizen Creative
Composers: Rory Doggett, Ben Freer

Color Company: Harbor Pictures
Producer: Elyse Robinson
Colorist: Billy Hobbs    

About We Are Royale (WAR):
WAR is a design-driven creative production studio with offices in Los Angeles and Seattle, bringing innovative solutions to forward-thinking brand partners. Whether through traditional media or interactive experiences designed for play, WAR champions boundary-pushing creativity and storytelling through a collaborative process that arms partners with the tools to turn passive audiences into brand advocates.