ADVERTISING

Santander

Open Academy

Agency: House 337

Description

The CEOs from the Bank of Antandec are back in a new iteration of the hugely successful brand campaign, created by House 337, this time raising awareness of the innovative, free online learning platform Santander Open Academy.

In this instalment, the Bank of Antandec CEOs demonstrate their all-too-familiar ineptitude when they discover that Santander is helping people unlock their potential with Santander Open Academy and decide they need to compete.

Their response is to do the exact opposite – which means quite literally locking their potential away in a Bank of Antandec safe that just happens to be large enough to fit two adult humans, so that Santander can’t steal it.

Santander Open Academy delivers bite-sized, video-led content—all accessible on the go— to help over-18s make up the gap in their professional training, which typically happens 20% less now than a decade ago. Training is provided for the skills that will power the UK’s economic growth - including digital, net zero and professional leadership - as identified by The Rest is Money presenter Steph McGovern in the introduction of the bank’s new report, Tomorrow’s Skills, released on Monday, 7 October.

House 337’s latest campaign for Santander, produced by Mitre Studios and created in partnership with Carat and IPG Studios, features a 30-second spot, a 20-second cutdown, and 15-second social media assets. These showcase Santander’s belief in helping individuals grow through accessible education. The national campaign breaks on October 7, running across VOD, CTV, display, social media, email communications and in-branch.

The campaign further underlines Santander’s position that education and skills are critical for empowering people and, at a wider level, powering productivity, financial resilience and economic growth.

The bank has urged the government to focus its new National Plan for Skills on addressing the UK’s productivity dilemma and equipping British workers for the future.

In the report, it identifies three societal shifts (changing attitudes to work, the rise of artificial intelligence, and climate change) the British workforce must address to tackle the UK’s productivity problem.

Dan Sherwood, Marketing Director, Santander UK, said: “We’re proud of our nearly three-decade-long commitment to education, skills and employability to help people unlock their potential. That’s why we’ve recently invested significantly in Santander Open Academy. Our online learning platform allows people across the UK access to on-demand training and skills, led by experts in their field. The best part – this platform is open to everyone for free, not just Santander employees or customers”.

Leon Jaume, Executive Creative Director at House 337, said: “Ant and Dec’s unfailing genius at grasping the wrong end of the stick makes them ideal candidates to promote Santander's online learning platform, Open Academy. It exists to help everyone unlock their potential. Everyone except Ant and Dec who manage to get their potential and themselves very thoroughly locked in.”

Gemma Nightingale, Head of Entertainment at Mitre Studios said: "We are delighted to have worked with Santander and House 337 to bring to life yet another joyful campaign featuring the antics of those hapless CEOs. Ant, Dec and everyone at Mitre Studios are passionate about creating content that connects audiences through warmth, humour and a measure of mischief, and this creative underlines that."

House 337 introduced the Bank of Antandec, starring beloved British TV presenters Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, in 2019. Over five years, it has become one of the most-loved advertising campaigns in the country, winning two Effies (in 2020 and 2023) for its contribution to the bank’s growth.

This professional campaign titled 'Open Academy' was published in United Kingdom in October, 2024. It was created for the brand: Santander, by ad agency: House 337. This Integrated medium campaign is related to the Finance industry and contains 2 media assets. It was submitted about 1 month ago.

Credits

Client: Santander
Marketing Director, Santander UK: Dan Sherwood
Head of Brand Strategy & Marketing Communications, Santander UK: Tina Boyle
Senior Marketing Communications Manager, Santander UK: Sam Westwood
Marketing Manager, Santander UK: Nita Barchha
Social Media Manager, Santander UK: Katie McGarrigle
Media Strategy Manager, Santander UK: Lia Carvetta
Marketing Executive, Santander UK: Sat Mistry
Marketing Executive, Santander UK: Emily Hymus

Campaign Credits
Agency: House 337
Executive Creative Director: Leon Jaume
Senior Creatives: Kenny Meek, Mary Johansen, Paul Hancock, David Newbold
Strategy Director: Nicola Dyball
Senior Strategist: Abbey Gaunt
​​Client Managing Director: Nick Pawlak
Senior Account Director: Nick Cooper
Account Manager: Pia Bhatt
Agency Producer: Trent Webster
Production Assistant: Kimoy Mais

Production Company: Mitre Studios
Director: Dan JohnstonDirector: Jamie Deeks
Head of Entertainment/Executive Producer: Gemma Nightingale
Director of Production: Nadia Afiari
Line Producer: Poppy Hampson-Ragg
Art Director: Lucy Fyfe
Director of Photography: Roy Estabrook
Head of Creative Services: Georgie White
Editor: Bradley Morey @ House 337

Post-Production & Sound: Creative Outpost

ADVERTISING

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