Santander: From 'who?' to hero: How Santander became king of the switchers

At the end of 2009, Santander didn't exist as a UK high-street brand. Within six years, the bank had emerged as 'king of the switchers', taking share from competitors that had dominated the market for decades. This is the story of advertising's contribution to Santander's growth. By disrupting the usual retail banking communications model, deploying a media strategy that exploited a short window of opportunity, and developing a convention-challenging approach that featured ambassadors from sport such as Jessica Ennis-Hill, communications drove 27 per cent of the bank's account openings. The estimated net profit return from the activity was 2.22 for every 1 invested between March 2012 and March 2016.