Why simply go from the same old drudgery of A to B, when you can get to the fun and mystery of C?
That goes for work days, weekend days and workout days – although Dark Horses’ first work for Santander Cycles, Side Quests, has Saturday in its sights.
TfL’s Side Quests is now 15 years old. Dark Horses and Santander Cycles have created the next stage of its evolution, adding fun and adventure to its list of routes to London’s hidden gems, with Santander and TfL aiming to make Santander Cycles an integral part of Londoners’ weekends, their leisure activities and their lives outside of the commute.
Londoners can go now to the Side Quests site and be served various pre-existing, spontaneous and randomly generated maps to some of the Capital’s most interesting, but maybe less well-known, attractions and areas. Every month more and more maps will be added to represent the unique and multifaceted nature of the city.
Each route has its own theme, from top food spots to movie filming locations, curated to take people around the best experiences the city has to offer. Themes include The Thrift Store Tour, Park Life and The Brutalist.
Supporting the website, that uses the main Santander Cycles brand colours of white text on red alongside a bold visual style, is dark Horses’ campaign across a variety of channels including branded takeovers of bikes and docking stations around London, supporting influencer activity, print, digital takeovers and direct mail.
Dan Sherwood, managing director at Santander, stated, “Side Quests are all about people veering off from their main story and going on their own adventures. Our audience is both visitors and locals in London, who are hungry for new and authentic experiences of the city. It’s about encouraging them to explore the unexpected, never following the mainstream. And this campaign does that brilliantly.”
Josh Pearce, creative director at Dark Horses, added, “At some point, we’ve all had the ‘what should we do today?’ conversation on a weekend, and ended up endlessly scrolling for ideas. Side Quests was created to cut through that indecision and offer something spontaneous, fun, and local. The routes are themed around both popular and offbeat interests, helping Londoners break out of their routines and rediscover their city, and its hidden gems, from a fresh perspective.”
Credits:
Creative Agency: Dark Horses
Chief Strategy Officer: Matt Readman
Strategy Director: Cristina Diago
Creative Directors: Josh Pearce & Sean Johnson
Copywriter: Hannah Rendell
Art Director: Lara Hallam
Designer: Jordan Dicks
Producer: Leah Wattley
Business Director: Alex Nixon
Account Manager: Nancy Barrett
Client: Santander
Senior Communications Manager: Siobhan Beddow
Head of Sponsorship & Events: Melissa Noakes
Brand Content & Social Media Manager: Georgia Cross
Media Relations Manager: Emily Osborne
Senior Media Relations Manager: Hannah Schraer
Public Affairs Manager: Ani Cara
VP Brand & Sponsorships: Sam Inskip
Campaign Partner: TfL
Partnerships Marketing Manager: Adam Campbell
Head of Commercial Partnerships: Harriet McDonald
Social Media Portfolio Manager: Harriet Reynolds
Customer Marketing & Behaviour Change Manager: Daniel Bratt
Press Officer: Amelia Holgate
Head of Press Desk: Mika Murray
Business Development Manager: Jonathon Lyons
Head of Business Development – Sponsored Services: Joe Scheinkonig
Photographer: Emmanuel Cole
Experience Agency: dotdotdash
Chief Innovation Officer: Adam Paikowsky
Technical Lead: Katie Blocker
Senior Creative Technologist: Art Longbottom
