We stand at the edge of uncharted territory in our country. Neither advertisers nor television stations have been showing much initiative due to the restrictive nature of existing legislation. As a result, they currently operate under the risk that any Branded Content activity that is not perceived to be wholly respectful of the audience might be construed as advertising, which could in turn cause the television station to exceed hourly advertising limits set by the CEE (12min/h), and result in a very steep fine.Brands and concepts that aim to be transmitted via content integration must appear in such a way as to be almost subliminal. Furthermore, it is essential to work shoulder to shoulder with the advertiser in order to clarify exactly what is permissible, what restrictions may not be exceeded, and what the best methods are to optimise awareness of the product and its attributes within the content without causing the audience to reject it.

We created a 60´ television program, hosted by Lourdes Maldonado, one of Spain´s most reputable newscasters, about 6 “unlearners” who had reinvented themselves:Martin Berasategui, the Spanish chef with seven Michelin stars; Pepu Hernandez, basketball coach for the World Champion Spanish team, Maya Hansen, former model and designer of the famous Lady Gaga corsets, etc.We succeeded in conveying the advantages and main attributes of the new banking model by telling the story of Carina Szpilka, ING Direct´s CEO in Spain.In Radio, we developed a segment to interview entrepreneurs on the leading morning program hosted by Carlos Herrera, the most widely recognised Spanish radio personality, inviting the protagonists from our television spot. On the Internet, the content was viewed again thousands of times on the station’s online platform, and on Twitter, #desaprender made the term trendy in just a few days, with TT as the program broadcast date.

The television and radio stations took on promotion of the program, and the effort generated 270m contacts—impacting 32,303,810 individuals and achieving 77% coverage.Later research revealed that more than 54% of those surveyed recalled having seen the content. Moreover, 1 out of every 1 people associated it with ING Direct and 75% of respondents agreed that the endeavour appeared to be a total success because of the way the program reinforced perception of the Bank’s qualities by conveying innovation, openness, security and trust.ING Direct sales grew by 21%, achieving their best Q4 results ever in Spain.The “unlearning” concept turned fashionable in Spain, becoming a Trending Topic on Twitter and was even later adopted by young university students meeting up to have a beer with friends after class. Time to unlearn!