Capital FM banks on new-style Birthday slot

London radio station 95.8 Capital FM is to overhaul its 14-year-old Birthday Bonanza competition, and is launching a &£350,000 ad campaign to promote the new competition, called Birthday Bank.

Birthday Bank will be publicised from next Monday through ads in the Evening Standard and Metro, and from October 8 on 1,000 six-sheet poster sites in London.

Ads will also appear on London cash machines, to tie in with the competition’s bank theme.

Designed by Delaney Lund Knox Warren, the ads emphasise that the station is the worst bank in the world because it gives away money.

The decision to change the Birthday Bonanza was part of the agency’s strategy when it pitched for the business earlier this year.

Birthday Bank will adopt a new format and run every day across all shows, not just once a week on the Breakfast Show like the old Birthday Bonanza competition.

A day, month or year will be chosen at random on a show and if a caller’s birthday matches this they will be put forward to answer a question. If they get the answer wrong, the jackpot continues to climb. One ad execution features a taxi wiping away money from its windscreen while cash is raining from the sky. Media buying has been handled by Zenith.

The competition starts on October 1 and will run for four weeks. The station will open the competition with a &£5,000 jackpot, but an extra &£5 will be added to the total every minute.