The iconic “It Could Be You” advertising tagline, which was used to launch the UK’s first ever National Lottery in November 1994, is making a comeback this Autumn.

The slogan, along with the giant gold hand, have not been seen on screens together for more than 26 years. They have been reimagined to reach new audiences to support the nation’s millionaire-making game, Lotto.

As The National Lottery’s flagship game, Lotto has created over 3,500 millionaires since the first draw in November 1994. Allwyn, the operator of The National Lottery, will be using the ad to showcase real people winning and support an optimistic nation that is longing for a bit of hope and ‘what if’ belief moments. The campaign features real Lotto millionaire winners from across the years in cameo roles declaring “We won, and you could too!”.

The campaign supports a study of more than 2,500 people by The National Lottery that Britons would like more hope in their lives and that we are, at heart, a nation of believers. They have found that 98% of people say that as a nation we could all do with a bit of hope right now. A further 89% of Brits have their fingers crossed for something good to happen, with 41% hoping to win the Lotto. Underlining how we are a nation of optimists, the majority of public (53%) consider themselves to be lucky, with 72% believing that being positive or hopeful can change the outcome of events. While 40% of the nation don’t believe they are lucky, 61% of people do feel most optimistic when they have something to look forward to.

Steve Parkinson, Brand & Marketing Director at Allwyn UK, operator of The National Lottery, said: “The original tagline ‘It Could Be You’ has always struck a chord with our players and it has never left us. We know our players still use the phrase when they buy tickets and enter the draw and there is a great amount of nostalgia attached to it. But there’s also a new generation of players that want those ‘what if’ magic moments that Lotto provides. People win Lotto week in, week out, and we all have a chance if we buy a ticket. We wanted to embrace that and involve some of the real winners from across the years to demonstrate that anyone can win.”

The ‘It Could Be You’ advertisement was used to launch the nation’s very first National Lottery game and the tagline became instantly recognisable. It was coupled with a giant pointing hand descending dramatically from the sky indicating that anyone could win.

With media planning and buying by Hearts & Science, the new campaign has a peak Coronation Street spot on 1^st September, and will initially run across VOD, large format out-of-home, social media and national print including cover wraps. VCCP’s content creation studio Girl&Bear also produced elements of the integrated campaign, including design.