As part of its Secret Santa festivities, Santander leveraged its McLaren/Mercedes (now McLaren/Honda) partnership and its ambassador relationship with driver Jenson Button to hand out free Christmas cash to surprised customers.
The stunt revolved around Button hiding inside a tricked-out in-bank ATM machine.
The driver then surprised (and shocked) customers using the machine by appearing from behind the digital screen and handing out £100 cash ‘secret Santa gifts’ and a Christmas Hamper to those who succumbed to pressing the screen’s mystery ‘Press The Jenson Button’ button.
Thus far the spot has earned 1,535,871 YouTube views.
The seasonal initiative, which was developed in partnership with agency WCRS, was rolled out primarily across the bank’s own YouTube channel and its other social platforms.
Creative came from Howard de Smet, the director of technology was Dino Burbidge, while account handling was dealt with by Archie Tollast, Georgia Bishop & Pumie Msengana and planning by Stuart Williams.
The production company was Drury Lane Films and the directors were Marcus Liversedge and Chris Faith (c/o Fat Lemon), while the DOP was Olly Wiggins (c/o S&O Media), the producer was Sally Balkwill and the editor Shaun Dyos.
The stunt added to the wider Santander secret Santa campaign which ran with the hashtag #SecretSantander.
It echoes Button’s role in the banks 2013 Secret Santander initiative.
and also follows Button’s 2014 Christmas hometown surprise stunt when he drove his McLaren through the streets of Froome.
Comment
What better way to surprise (and shock) customers than by delighting them with a celebrity meeting and a wallet-full of free cash?
As the festive season began there were very public doubts as to whether Button would continue driving for the team next year.
Indeed, from a marketing perspective Santander must be delighted that McLaren/Honda recently announced he had been retained for the 2015 season.
Especially considering this is the second year Button has played the role of Secret Santa for Santander and considering the post-campaign comments from WCRS executive creative director Billy Faithfull:
‘The two best things about Jenson Button himself, aside from being a unique talent and a national icon, is that he’s genuinely a decent bloke who likes to have a laugh, so he jumped, or rather crouched at the chance to get involved with a light hearted bit of fun with Santander’s customers.’
‘The second is his name, what an absolute gift! It wasn’t easy though, a military-style operation, a master mind sting that pulled off some well-deserved Thank You’s to unsuspecting customers adding a comedic edge to Santander’s Secret Santa campaign.’
Santander is a high-profile international brand presence in Formula 1 and it has primarily used its F1 rights to try and make significant inroads in major European markets outside its Spanish HQ and particularly in the UK market.
Santander has been a corporate partner of the McLaren Mercedes team since 2007 and under the terms of its 2014 renewal Jenson Button continued his role as ambassador for the bank which sees him play a significant role in Santander campaigns
It is the title sponsor of the British, German and Italian Grands Prix and the banking brand also has a significant partnership presence at the Spanish, European and Brazilian Grands Prix.
Links
Santander YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/user/UKSantander
McLaren Santander Website
http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/partners/Santander
McLaren Honda Website
http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/
Jenson Button Website
http://www.jensonbutton.com/
