Concern raised over bank challenge in Shrewsbury
Concerns were this morning raised on BBC Radio Shropshire’s Jim Hawkins show over the branding and presence by Santander in Shrewsbury during a recent three day challenge.
Callers, including shropshirelive.com editor Chris Pritchard, phoned into the show unhappy at the amount of marketing being carried out by the company during the three day challenge, which some felt had distracted away from the street festival.
The challenge was filmed as part of an upcoming national TV advertising campaign and was a partnership with the Shrewsbury Town Council and Shropshire County Council, taking place alongside the Shrewsbury International Street Theatre Festival to whom the bank also made a contribution.
Whilst some callers to the Jim Hawkins show were concerned over the amount of marketing carried out by the bank and the way it was achieved, others said it has brought life to the town and would help put Shrewsbury on the map.
Speaking on the show, Shrewsbury Town Council Clerk Helen Ball said the council had not received payment for the branding to be displayed around the town but hoped the national TV advert would raise the profile of the town.
A Santander spokesperson said: “When Santander set out their three-day challenge to try and save the people of Shrewsbury £1million using our current account and credit card calculator, the local council highlighted the dates were the same as Street Festival.
“Since then Santander have worked in partnership with the Council and Street Festival organisers to ensure our challenge could run alongside the festival to the satisfaction of all parties. In fact we all agreed that the activity would only serve to augment the atmosphere and activities over the Friday and Saturday.
“Santander contributed to the Street Festival costs and worked closely with Bill Ferguson, the organiser of the event. And the Santander 'challenge party' on Saturday evening was a great success with lots of families who attended enjoying free food, music and fun activities.
The £25,000 donation to Hope House will be used for a special project to upgrade access to the internet and social media for patients.
The advert is set to air during the autumn.
