Every year, PNC releases a faux economic report that calculates the real-world cost of the gifts from the 12 Days of Christmas, called the Christmas Price Index (CPI). It’s a fun idea, but ultimately it’s just a spreadsheet. We decided to transform the CPI into an actual experience got people interested in both economics and PNC.

So we created The Gingerbread Branch: a fully functioning PNC bank made from 2.5 tons of real gingerbread. Integrated into the Branch’s design, we brought the 12 gifts from the 12 Days of Christmas to life using hand-iced columns. Visitors could tour the branch and get a real PNC bank experience, while organically engaging with the CPI as well.

The process took close to 8 months. We started in April 2015, spending months prototyping different gingerbread recipes to find one that had the necessary structural strength, while also keeping gingerbread’s signature taste and scent. We also worked with professional architects to create a building that harkened back to classic, gothic bank designs, and incorporated edible elements in unique and surprising ways.

The design was finalized in late October. We shipped all the construction materials from Brooklyn, NY, to Philadelphia, PA, where we collected 2.5 tons of gingerbread from a local baker and went to work constructing the Branch. Even with rain delays, we built the entire structure in less than 4 days.

The Bank was situated in Philadelphia’s Penn’s Landing – a hot spot right off downtown that serves as a hub for young families in one of PNC’s biggest markets.

With no paid media, The Branch greeted over 5,400 visitors in 3 days, and earned over 525 million impressions online. It was featured on a variety of sites from various categories, including Yahoo, MSN Money, Thrillist, The Huffington Post, Food&Wine, and Curbed.