Fan's Best Friend

It feels like everything these days gets sorted into sides, and nowhere is that more true than sports, where team loyalties run deep. This football season, the North Carolina Education Lottery is finding the friendship beneath the rivalry in a new campaign, “Fan’s Best Friend.”

Developed in partnership with its lead creative and media agency of record, Cactus, the campaign celebrates two passionate fan bases through a pair of four-legged fans. The hero spot follows a golden retriever and black Lab, one sporting a UNC jersey and the other wearing NC State gear, in a setting familiar to many throughout the fall: the football tailgate. From playing between their owners' trucks as puppies to reuniting each game day, the pair builds a friendship that transcends their team loyalties. Through their relationship, the film brings a warmer perspective to rivalry, showing that cheering for opposing teams doesn’t have to stand in the way of friendship.

The work was developed to support the launch of the new North Carolina Education Lottery UNC and NC State scratch-off series, which features three ticket designs for each school. It launches today across TV, streaming, radio, social, and point-of-sale.