The Santander Cycle of Success

This year there were an unbelievable number of Santander Cycle hires – 1,280,280 June 2022. 🎉 This wasn’t only the 10^th month in a row of record hires for the scheme, but it was the highest number of hires in one month in the scheme’s entire history.

Record-breaking. Award-winning.
A monumental success not just for Santander, but for Londoners too.

Santander Cycles

From the very beginning in 2015, the sponsorship gave the brand (quite literally) a vehicle to showcase their mission in action – to help people and businesses prosper.

It’s accelerated success since then has had astounding halo effect for Santander. Research carried out last year by PHAR’s Insight division shows the impact that the sponsorship has had on public attitudes and behaviours towards the brand.

The cycle hire scheme has stronger associations than any other London landmark or event with values including Environmental Sustainability, Good for Society and Valuable Community Asset
The sponsorship resonates at a national level, with twice as many non-Londoners aware of Santander’s sponsorship of the scheme as Londoners
Most of Santander’s brand image statements are higher amongst those aware of the sponsorship
Users of the scheme are 80% more likely to own a Santander product than non-users

‘Whilst the cycle hire scheme clearly delivers exceptional exposure for the Santander brand 52 weeks a year, there’s always a question as to whether sponsorships such as this actually work.  From this research it’s very evident that the sponsorship has not only helped build awareness and image for the Santander brand from already strong levels but has made a difference to people’s actual purchase choices.’

– Alistair MacDonald, Managing Director, PHAR

Londoners

The record hires of Santander Cycles present its value to Londoners and visitors. With the joint investment alongside TfL, the scheme has evolved over the years to continuously improve, safety, experience and sustainability.

This positivity spreads far beyond the brand:

40% of riders are now women vs 29% of cycling in general
We’ve also saved 20.5k tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of lighting over 3,500 homes – each mile someone rides on a Cycle vs a car, £1 of CO2 is kept out of the atmosphere
Discount codes offered to NHS Staff which were redeemed more than 150,000 times in the month of June alone

‘Rather than just writing the cheques, we were ready to roll up our sleeves up and grab the opportunity to display our commitment to improving people’s lives daily. If we could activate our purpose in a public forum like the Cycles, it would show people exactly the type of brand we are when it came to looking after their money.‘

– Santander