NS&I
Celebrating a life of surprises
Challenge
Every month, NS&I’s Premium Bonds generates nearly two million prizes ranging from £25 up to £1 million. But here’s what most Bond holders don’t realise; 88% of the total prize fund is shared among winnings less than £100. That’s rather a significant amount of small surprises!
NS&I’s Facebook page was devoted to the millions of Premium Bonds customers who enjoyed the anticipation and excitement of winning a prize each month. For many years, only the £1 million jackpot winners captured the limelight. But we thought it was about time we celebrated the millions of other smaller prize winners, too.
Process
We began by looking for ways to help NS&I’s customers celebrate these little surprises. But not just their wins on Premium Bonds. We also wanted to celebrate life’s everyday little surprises.
We collaborated with a ‘surprise’ psychologist who helped us to comprehend the science behind the ‘what, why and how’ of this brief mental and physiological state.
Solution
Our campaign idea ‘Life of surprises’ formed the basis for a series of 26 slow-motion video clips of different ‘surprises’. Some were seasonal, some were more every day. We called these ‘surprise’ scenarios an #ERNIEmoment.
The clips were compiled into a short film — ‘The Psychology of Surprise’ —and laid to a poem that not only described the psychology behind the physical and emotional reactions to surprises, but complemented the slow-motion footage beautifully.
Role
Creative Lead (creative direction, concept, art direction, storyboarding, script writing, design)
Collaborators
Chris Gane & Jake Wynne, Vince
Tania Luna, Surprise Industries
© Created at The Team
‘The Psychology of Surprise’ launched on NS&I’s owned channels to promote their dedicated Premium Bonds Facebook page. To capture real reactions, our cast were often kept in the dark about the surprise they were about to experience.
Premium Bond holders are encouraged to share their own #ERNIEmoment, building a warm and emotive community around this truly unique prize draw.
