Postcode Lottery unifies global identity with first major brand refresh

Postcode Lottery, formerly People’s Postcode Lottery, has launched a new brand identity in the UK to align more closely with its European counterparts and emphasise the “warmth and relatability” of its positioning.

It marks the first major refresh for the wider group, which launched more than 30 years ago in the Netherlands and over 20 years ago in the UK.

The new identity, developed by the group’s in-house creative team, features two interlocking shapes representing ‘People and Planet’. The rebrand is designed to reflect the organisation’s core purpose of bringing neighbours and communities together to win collectively, while raising funds for social and environmental causes.

According to UK head of marketing, Anna Russell, the new identity is designed to be “warm, modern and versatile”, while aligning more closely with charity partners across ‘people and planet’.

“We did some testing of our distinctive brand assets. Even though we hadn’t launched the new identity yet, people weren’t misattributing it to other brands,” she explains.

“People automatically saw the P and the L as Postcode Lottery. That’s what we were keen to communicate.”

A new identity

Russell says the timing reflects the brand being “due” a refresh.

“We’ve come so far in terms of marketing and we’ve done a really good job of attracting new audiences,” she says. “It feels like a natural extension of that journey.”

The brand has also dropped ‘People’s’ from its name to align with its European stablemates, which now all operate under the Postcode Lottery name.

“The Netherlands previously used the National Postcode Lottery, so they’ve changed as well,” she explains. “We’re part of a group and are collaborating more with international colleagues than before.”

She adds this collaboration has been accelerated by technology and the ability to share resources.

“Having that shared foundation means we can be more nimble,” she says. “The pace of change is faster, so building one solution and rolling it out across markets is more efficient than having to build it five or six times.”

‘Deepening’ the emotional connection

Alongside the brand refresh, Postcode Lottery has also launched a new campaign, in collaboration with Leo UK, to increase the “emotional connection” with its players.

The campaign takes a documentary-style approach, following real players in the lead-up to and aftermath of their win. The creative underpins the brand’s always-on activity, anchored by the call to action – “Is your door in the draw?”

Two 30-second films feature real winners in their homes, telling their stories to help viewers relate.

“We saw an opportunity in this category to deepen emotional engagement with players,” Russell explains.

The brand identified “white space” in tracking around being more “warm, relatable and authentic”, which the new work aims to address.

This work supports a broader commercial objective to increase consideration and sales, with Russell noting that “the more tickets we sell, the more we raise for charity”.

In 2025, the group raised €1bn (£871m) for charities in a single year for the first time, alongside 5.1% growth and total revenues of €2.8bn (£2bn). More than €15bn (£13bn) has now been raised since the first Postcode Lottery launched in the Netherlands in 1989.

The new ads, running across TV, out-of-home, radio and social, build on the brand’s organic social content, showing behind-the-scenes footage of winners being surprised.

“If you show more of the story, the engagement goes up. We saw it in some of our social edits, where we’ve had the opportunity to do deeper storytelling,” Russell explains.

The changes also continue the brand’s “digital-first evolution”, with a focus on mobile. Postcode Lottery has significantly increased its digital investment in recent years, growing from around 8% to 25% of media spend over the past four years.

“That’s where audience growth is,” Russell says. “Authenticity and realness from the voice of the people is key. We’re seeing it with creators and influencers, and actually, there’s no greater influence than our actual winners telling the story in their voices. It’s just making sure that we captured those moments in a way that works really well digitally.”

The brand has also been expanding into other media formats over recent years to reach new audiences.

Last year, ITV aired its largest advertiser-funded programme to date with Postcode Lottery, an interactive primetime game show designed to blend entertainment and brand storytelling.

More than 345,000 people registered to play Win Win via the ITV and STV microsite. The campaign delivered the highest October draw sales in People’s Postcode Lottery’s history, while 240,000 people opted in to follow-up marketing communications, including 80,000 new contacts.