The Last Jedi Commemorative Note

The UK government's GREAT Britain campaign needed to engage film fans and industry executives around the world. The most effective way to do this was to use film itself, their passion, to spread our message. Star Wars is the biggest movie franchise in history and all nine films have been made in the UK. It was the perfect platform to engage the largest film fan base in the world along with key industry executives at Disney, one of the most powerful studios and a significant investor in UK film. But what could we do that would get their attention? Well, we knew that Star Wars fans were avid collectors and we knew that government liked to showcase success, whether that’s Churchill on the £5 note or Jane Austen on the £10 note, in a way no brand can replicate: banknotes. So we partnered with Disney and UK currency house De La Rue to produce a limited edition run of Star Wars Commemorative Notes and made them exclusively available on eBay. Together we produced 1,000 commemorative notes, available at a fixed price of £100 plus a further 50 unique premium notes up for auction. The notes were crafted with 100% cotton cylinder mould paper, securitised and printed in De La Rue’s high security proofing department. The fans then had a host of elements to discover: the notes incorporated an original light side/dark side artwork composition and several special features including serial numbers; pattern work of the First Order and Resistance emblems; hidden scenes (discoverable under 365nm UV light); hidden messages in microtext (discoverable with an eye glass); two messages in Aurebesh, one of the languages of the galaxy; and the signature of Director/Writer Rian Johnson. The 50 unique, premium notes also included an intaglio (a raised, hand-engraving of Rey) produced by the expert engraver who produces the Queen’s portrait on British banknotes, and a unique, sequenced serial number. The results were impressive: the first 1000 notes sold out in just 15 minutes, 750,000 people visited the dedicated eBay hub and earned media coverage reached 1 billion people worldwide with our key message. The principal cast and filmmakers for The Last Jedi also participated by signing the notes at a special press junket; and the film’s writer and director Rian Johnson even agreed to contribute his signature to the design of the note, an emphatic endorsement of his support. In addition, the project raised £186,754 with 100% of this going to UK charity Together for Short Lives, helping them provide 7,400 hours of specialist nursing for children with terminal illnesses, giving them and their families the most fulfilling lives possible in the time they have together.