With a bit of drama Tuesday, lottery chief Tom Shaheen whipped away a towel and revealed a new logo for the state's $1 billion-a-year lottery.
A roomful of people at the lottery commission meeting stared, for the most part, in puzzled silence.
They studied the boxy blue and green figure, billed as the symbol of the state's games. It would be on posters. Billboards. Tickets.
Finally, Jim Woodward, a lottery commissioner and former chancellor at UNC-Charlotte, wondered about its dominant feature: streaks of green billowing out amid colorful stars. "Does the plant symbolize anything?" he asked.
Shaheen dropped his head.
"It's fireworks," he said.
"Oh," said lottery chairman Charles Sanders, "I thought that looked like a palm tree, myself."
The commission had just agreed to hire a full-service ad agency for the lottery, but Shaheen said his staff designed the logo. He liked it.
His staff said it depicted an exciting explosion of fireworks against what might be a blue sky.
But by the end of the day, the lottery had scrapped the logo, and officials wouldn't release any image of it, despite protests by lawyers for The News & Observer that it is a public record under state law.
Lottery spokeswoman Alice Garland said a check of trademark and copyright issues had brought bad news: They can't use the image.
Why? The artwork was borrowed — from a source of stock images familiar to kids, grade school teachers and desperate neighborhood newsletter writers.
Leave it to the lottery commission to create something ridiculous and cheap looking. This just keeps getting worse. They had better make up for this with no computerized drawings and better get the Pick 3 AND Pick 4 and Pick 5 up and running PRONTO!
Hey, when they get it rolling they can pay to have a better logo designed and add more frills. They need to do it on the cheap for start up to keep from offending people with too much ostentacious display because people know that costs big $$$$.
Here some Georgia players, including me, were terribly offended when our former lottery director had a series of very expensive known personality glitzy television commencials when it was revealed that the Georgia Lottery receipts were way down. Wonder why????????????
Ms. Defrancisco seems to have cut the advertising budget with generic tv adds which succinctly get the point across. Mission accomplished and everyone is much happier with our lottery's more frugal image. It's after all ... all about funding the Hope Scholarship not sending some ad execs kids to an ivy league college.
Expect more of these kinds of misfires from Shaheen & Co - how many hundreds of expensive man (& woman) hours went into the logo I wonder? I mean, come on - you always make sure you have the rights to use what you propose to use.
He has "Lottery Directors disease" - the malady that comes to people who all of the sudden became "somebody" because they knew someone and next thing you know they think they are infallible - and lose their common sense.
Hopefully they'll do better with the bigger issues.
I had heard some grumblings before Shaheen was named to this top post that he was not the man for a job like this. And when the rumors kept flying around that he was going to take it over, I was a little disappointed that a relatively conservative state like ours would entrust this very large undertaking/launch of a new lottery to someone who may not be all that qualified. I continue to hear grumblings, but maybe that is just the growing pains of the lottery that I'm feeling, and maybe we'll come out of this okay.
T T T T Tacky! When the logo was presented with such fan fare, I know the room thought, 'Okay, the elevator does not go to the top floor with this one (director).' And this one will be making decisions . Not on my dollar!
Hey, when they get it rolling they can pay to have a better logo designed and add more frills. They need to do it on the cheap for start up to keep from offending people with too much ostentacious display because people know that costs big $$$$.
Here some Georgia players, including me, were terribly offended when our former lottery director had a series of very expensive known personality glitzy television commencials when it was revealed that the Georgia Lottery receipts were way down. Wonder why????????????
Ms. Defrancisco seems to have cut the advertising budget with generic tv adds which succinctly get the point across. Mission accomplished and everyone is much happier with our lottery's more frugal image. It's after all ... all about funding the Hope Scholarship not sending some ad execs kids to an ivy league college.
K,
I agree overall, but did think that the GA lottery Fantasy 5 commercials were cool, especially the one with the puny guy in the gym with the bodybuilders "working on his traps and pecs".
Hey, when they get it rolling they can pay to have a better logo designed and add more frills. They need to do it on the cheap for start up to keep from offending people with too much ostentacious display because people know that costs big $$$$.
Here some Georgia players, including me, were terribly offended when our former lottery director had a series of very expensive known personality glitzy television commencials when it was revealed that the Georgia Lottery receipts were way down. Wonder why????????????
Ms. Defrancisco seems to have cut the advertising budget with generic tv adds which succinctly get the point across. Mission accomplished and everyone is much happier with our lottery's more frugal image. It's after all ... all about funding the Hope Scholarship not sending some ad execs kids to an ivy league college.
K,
I agree overall, but did think that the GA lottery Fantasy 5 commercials were cool, especially the one with the puny guy in the gym with the bodybuilders "working on his traps and pecs".
DD
We didn't get that one here if memory serves me. However, we did get a blitz of big name people in very expensive settings which was way over the top in a post 9-11 economy. Meanwhile the former director and staff earned exceedingly high salaries, horse choking bonuses at the same time news stories stated sales were declining along with revenues. Exceedingly poor choice considering attendant circumstances.
Leave it to the lottery commission to create something ridiculous and cheap looking. This just keeps getting worse. They had better make up for this with no computerized drawings and better get the Pick 3 AND Pick 4 and Pick 5 up and running PRONTO!
Hey, when they get it rolling they can pay to have a better logo designed and add more frills.
They need to do it on the cheap for start up to keep from offending people with too much ostentacious display because people know that costs big $$$$.
Here some Georgia players, including me, were terribly offended when our former lottery director had a series of very expensive known personality glitzy television commencials
when it was revealed that the Georgia Lottery receipts were way down. Wonder why????????????
Ms. Defrancisco seems to have cut the advertising budget with generic tv adds which succinctly get the point across. Mission accomplished and everyone is much happier with our lottery's more frugal image. It's after all ... all about funding the Hope Scholarship not sending some ad execs kids to an ivy league college.
Expect more of these kinds of misfires from Shaheen & Co - how many hundreds of expensive man (& woman) hours went into the logo I wonder? I mean, come on - you always make sure you have the rights to use what you propose to use.
He has "Lottery Directors disease" - the malady that comes to people who all of the sudden became "somebody" because they knew someone and next thing you know they think they are infallible - and lose their common sense.
Hopefully they'll do better with the bigger issues.
Drive
Judging from all of the mishaps that have occurred thus far with this lottery, I'm not so sure they'll do better with the bigger issues.
CPS
I hope not for the lottery's sake and for the people in NC but I wouldn't bet against you
Drive
I had heard some grumblings before Shaheen was named to this top post that he was not the man for a job like this. And when the rumors kept flying around that he was going to take it over, I was a little disappointed that a relatively conservative state like ours would entrust this very large undertaking/launch of a new lottery to someone who may not be all that qualified. I continue to hear grumblings, but maybe that is just the growing pains of the lottery that I'm feeling, and maybe we'll come out of this okay.
cps10
T T T T Tacky! When the logo was presented with such fan fare, I know the room thought, 'Okay, the elevator does not go to the top floor with this one (director).'
And this one will be making decisions 
. Not on my dollar!
Hey, when they get it rolling they can pay to have a better logo designed and add more frills.
They need to do it on the cheap for start up to keep from offending people with too much ostentacious display because people know that costs big $$$$.
Here some Georgia players, including me, were terribly offended when our former lottery director had a series of very expensive known personality glitzy television commencials
when it was revealed that the Georgia Lottery receipts were way down. Wonder why????????????
Ms. Defrancisco seems to have cut the advertising budget with generic tv adds which succinctly get the point across. Mission accomplished and everyone is much happier with our lottery's more frugal image. It's after all ... all about funding the Hope Scholarship not sending some ad execs kids to an ivy league college.
K,
I agree overall, but did think that the GA lottery Fantasy 5 commercials were cool, especially the one with the puny guy in the gym with the bodybuilders "working on his traps and pecs".
DD
Hey, when they get it rolling they can pay to have a better logo designed and add more frills.
They need to do it on the cheap for start up to keep from offending people with too much ostentacious display because people know that costs big $$$$.
Here some Georgia players, including me, were terribly offended when our former lottery director had a series of very expensive known personality glitzy television commencials
when it was revealed that the Georgia Lottery receipts were way down. Wonder why????????????
Ms. Defrancisco seems to have cut the advertising budget with generic tv adds which succinctly get the point across. Mission accomplished and everyone is much happier with our lottery's more frugal image. It's after all ... all about funding the Hope Scholarship not sending some ad execs kids to an ivy league college.
K,
I agree overall, but did think that the GA lottery Fantasy 5 commercials were cool, especially the one with the puny guy in the gym with the bodybuilders "working on his traps and pecs".
DD
We didn't get that one here if memory serves me. However, we did get a blitz of big name people in very expensive settings which was way over the top in a post 9-11 economy. Meanwhile the former director and staff earned exceedingly high salaries, horse choking bonuses at the same time news stories stated sales were declining along with revenues. Exceedingly poor choice considering attendant circumstances.
It would appear that the NC logo used Lottery Tennessee as its model.