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The Need
In 2019 after a highly successful 7-year campaign, Santander decided to move-on from their iconic 1-2-3 campaign. The new campaign features well-known TV presenters Ant & Dec launching their own bank ‘Antandec’. The purpose of the campaign is to communicate that Santander helps customers realise their aspirations, in a light-hearted and engaging way.
Our Approach
We conducted an AdVantage creative effectiveness study on the first creative in the new campaign ‘Brick subscription service’. The ad communicated a service whereby first-time buyers were sent a brick in the post each week to build their own home. The real service offered by Santander was free events for first time buyers.
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The Outcome
Our results showed that the lead characters were very polarising (not helped by the launch coinciding with Ant McPartlin being fined for drink-driving). We had three clear recommendations:
1. Accept some degree of polarisation – better to divide opinion than make no impression at all.
2. Ensure media is targeted towards fans – use media placement to target the likely audience of their shows.
3. Give your key message greater oxygen – devote more time in the narrative for the real service so it isn’t drowned out by the characters or parody.
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