Open Academy

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.