A woman breaks free from her bank in Starling's fantastical spot

Work from Wonderhood Studios was filmed on location in Kiev

Published On
Oct 01, 2021

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A woman breaks free from her old bank by bursting through a glass dome in a fantastical new commercial from U.K. challenger bank brand Starling.

In the spot by Wonderhood Studios, the protagonist is standing in line at a dull-looking corporate bank when she sees some birds flying above its glass dome. She starts to levitate and then whirls through the air to the amazement of the other customers and fury of the bankers, before punching through the glass and soaring above the rooftops to the soundtrack of Cream's "I feel free." The tagline is "set yourself free from your old bank."

The commercial, part of a wider platform titled "Here to change,." follows an earlier campaign by Wonderhood for Starling, which focused on small business owners and, like this spot, featured some eye-catching craft with a business owner working in a shed taking flight.

This time, the bank is targeting mainstream consumers, by tackling a common preconception that changing banks is difficult.  “When people see the campaign, we want them to feel inspired to make the change to a fairer and smarter alternative to traditional banks," said Anne Boden, CEO at Starling Bank, in a statement. 

The spot was filmed on lcation in Kiev, Ukraine by Sam Pilling of Pulse, and although some CGI was involved, the lead actor was actually filmed punching through a (sugar glass) dome and flying through the air on a zip wire.

“When I first read the idea I absolutely loved the playful, surreal tone and knew I could have a lot of fun coming up with moments of Peter-Pan magic and mischief for our character," said Pilling in a statement. "It was integral that we filmed our actor in camera, to ensure the effect felt believable. Anna Sari (our hero) was an absolute trooper - enduring several days on wires - swooping down through the space at speed, bouncing around high in the sky on a zip line, and generally spinning every which way."

The campaign is breaking on U.K. TV tonight (Oct. 1), as well as in cinemas and digital media.

Credits

Date
Oct 01, 2021
Client :
Starling Bank
Agency :
Wonderhood Studios
Creative Team :
Sofie Saietz
Creative Team :
Simone Weilborg
Creative Director :
Harv Bains
Chief Creative Officer :
Aidan McClure
Director of Data Strategy :
Jack Colchester
Strategy Director :
Joe Harris
Chief Strategy Officer :
Jessica Lovell
Account Manager :
Darcy Gilbert
Account Director :
Victoria Turner
Chief Operating Officer :
Alex Best
Producer :
Nikki Holbrow
Production Company :
Pulse Films
Director :
Sam Pilling
Executive Producer and MD :
James Sorton
Producer :
David French
DOP :
Franz Lustig
Production Design :
John Stevenson
Local Service Company :
Radioaktive Film
Editor :
Ellie Johnson
Editing House :
Tenthree
Post Production :
The Mill
Colorist :
James Bamford
Sound :
Sam Ashwell
Sound :
750
Music Supervision :
Theodor Music
Music Additional Production :
Luis Almau
Music Additional Drums :
Alex Thomas

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