business

Jeffrey Schweig:

A Detroit success story.

KARLEIGH STONE SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

O

ak Park native and Alchemy3
President Jeffrey Schweig
found success in the lottery
industry.
Named for alchemists turning
metals into gold, Schweig’s company
takes ordinary lottery games and
promotions and turns them into
golden games.
While his journey
took him to Chicago and
then Atlanta, he credits
much of his success to
his Detroit-based Jewish
roots.
“Growing up in a
Jewish community, there
were basic lessons that
always surrounded me,”
Schweig says. “Family val-
ues, education, working
hard — and I’ve learned
throughout my career
that you can’t accomplish
what you want to do with-
out that force behind you.”
Lisa Taylor, longtime friend of
Schweig, says she knows his Jewish
upbringing played a large part in
who he is today.
“I think it helped him develop a
wonderful sense of community and
of belonging,” she says. “I know he is
proud of his heritage.”
His college education took him
to the University of Michigan and
then to Northwestern University in
Chicago for a graduate program in
integrated marketing communica-
tions. After finishing his formal
education, he settled into a career in
advertising in Chicago — a place, he
realized, that presented a wealth of
opportunities for young profession-
als, something Detroit didn’t have at
the time.

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February 22 • 2018

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“I would marvel at the develop-
ment and construction going on, and
it made me sad it wasn’t happening
in Detroit,” he says. “Our parents,
who spent so much love and time
raising us had to lose us because we
had to move to find opportunities.
When I went to Chicago I smelled
opportunity up and down the street.
I felt I could do it on my own.”
Nowadays, Schweig is a resident
of Atlanta, but travels back to Detroit
often to visit with family. He’s thrilled
about the city’s resurgence.
“I love it. I’m so excited for my
family and friends and all the people
[of Detroit]. It’s been a long time
coming. Detroit has the most loyal
people, they’ve waited and now
they’re reaping the good. People are
going into shops, stopping for coffee,
checking out restaurants. People are
embracing it; and when you embrace
it, more opportunity will come.”

LUCKY LOTTERY
Professionally, Schweig moved from
advertising to gaming. The advertis-
ing agency he worked for won the
Illinois lottery account and the firm
put it under his supervision. In that
moment, he found his calling.
“I quickly fell in love with the
industry,” he says.
He later transitioned to market-
ing for the Illinois lottery itself and
then took a job with a company that
created branded games. In 2007,
Schweig and a couple of his associ-
ates decided they had a different
vision and founded Alchemy3.
Gweneth Dean, director of the
Division of Lottery for the New York
State Gaming Commission, works
with Schweig and sees this as a natu-
ral fit for him.

“Jeffrey is passionate about pro-
viding solutions to the lottery indus-
try,” Dean says. “His lottery career
began nearly a quarter century ago
as director of marketing/director
of creative services for the Illinois
Lottery, so he understands the
unique challenges lotteries face from
an insider’s point-of-view.
“While in his role with the Illinois
Lottery, Jeffery seized the opportu-
nity to establish partnerships with
big brands to attract new players. He
saw the need for carefully crafted,
customized solutions designed to
meet specific goals and objectives.”
Alchemy 3 has provided custom-
ized marketing solutions to state and
jurisdictional lotteries and industry-
wide promotions for the past 10
years.
“I look at it more from the enter-
tainment side, not so much from
the gaming/gambling side,” Schweig
says.
Alchemy3 represents the rights
to 35 high-profile brands including
Home Depot, Bass Pro Shops, Tiny
Homes, Royal Caribbean, Hotels.com
and StubHub, to name a few.
“We take brands and turn them
into themes for lottery games, and
we tie amazing experiences to them,”
Schweig says.
He gives the example of a $1 mil-
lion dream home makeover for a
Home Depot-themed game and win-
ning a Tiny Home.
“Every potential winner could
have a different vision of what a tiny
home means to them,” Schweig says.
“They could use it as a primary resi-
dence, up north as a vacation home,
a man cave or a she shed.”
He also highlights a recent experi-
ence involving Michigan winners,

the Powerball Power Cruise — a
five-day cruise across the Caribbean
featuring a $2,000 prize every hour,
a $50,000 grand prize at the end and
private concerts by Flo Rida and the
Goo Goo Dolls. This experience was
awarded to 1,000 winners from 26
different states.
Taylor believes Schweig possesses
many qualities that have made him
successful in his career.
“His strengths are his ability to
problem solve and persevere, to
envision his goal and make it hap-
pen, regardless of the impediments
in his path” she says. “He works well
with many different segments of his
industry by having a deep under-
standing of their needs and finding
a way to fulfill those needs creatively
and passionately.”
Schweig says he’s not going any-
where for a while. He loves his job
and, at 56, he’s got more to give
Alchemy3.
“The company is still in a growth
phase. We get larger every year. It’s
a wonderful group of people; they’re
like family to me,” he says. “Until I
reach retirement, my focus is grow-
ing the company. I want to continue
to do what we do.”
But when he does reach retire-
ment, what’s on tap?
Schweig’s hobbies include travel,
reading and interior design, so the
future looks good.
“My job is all-consuming, but
right now, I have two to three inte-
rior design clients at a time. I was
inspired by my mom when I was
young,” he says. “I think about retire-
ment and I think about how I can
be productive — but on my own
schedule — so I think interior design
would be a good fit.” •

