It Took 5,000 Pounds of Gingerbread to Make This Functioning Bank Branch

Last weekend, Penn's Landing in Philadelphia had a new structure, a 12-foot-tall PNC Bank branch made out of 5,000 pounds of gingerbread. Why? The bank's agency, Deutsch, wanted to get consumers excited about PNC's annual Christmas Price Index, which prices out each gift from "The Twelve Days of Christmas." "The Christmas Price Index was created to make learning about the economy a bit more fun," said Jeremy Bernstein, evp and group creative director at Deutsch. "For this to happen, though, we needed to grab people's attention. We are so inundated with holiday messages this time of year, we knew we needed to do something attention-getting and hard to ignore." A functioning bank branch made out of inedible gingerbread (it had to be treated for durability and weatherproofing) that provided actual banking services—customers could use the ATM (17 percent of the 5,465 visitors did) or open a new account (visitors did)—certainly fit the bill. Deutsch partnered with Design Compendium and Bredenbeck's Bakery in Philadelphia to create the gingerbread bank, which was in development for six months and took four days to build. The walls, ceiling and floor, as well as many of the interior and exterior components of the structure, were preassembled in Brooklyn. "We felt strongly that the branch read as bank, not a gingerbread house," said Bernstein. "Our design team geeked out on a ton of architectural and design references and honed in on an Art Deco style. Today's banks are mostly boring boxes, so they looked at great banks from earlier eras like the Williamsburgh Savings Bank in Brooklyn. They also drew inspiration from other great Art Deco buildings like the MetLife Building, Rockefeller Center and the Chrysler Building." Deutsch also created custom illustrations of each of the 12 gifts from the Christmas carol for the gingerbread branch's 12 columns. CREDITS Client: PNC Financial Services Group, PittsburghContact: Dorsey TobiasDeutsch:Chief Creative Officer: Kerry KeenanGroup Creative Director: Jeremy BernsteinSenior Art Director: Alex AvisSenior Copywriter: Justin LeeInteractive Design Director: Aliza AdamAssociate Design Director: Brian GartsideDesign Director: Juan Carlos PaganDesigner, Illustrator: Lynne YunInteractive Designer: Alex MillerIntegrated Production Director: Joe CalabreseArt, Experiential Production Director: Sarah MannaDigital Production Director: Suzanne MolinaroIntegrated Producer: Josh DeitelSenior Print Producer: Jeanette LuisTechnology Director: Kamran AslamAssociate Technology Director: Michael NicosiaDevelopers: Jeff Denton, Ryan MoylanLead Motion Designer: Matt SeverinLead Experience Architect: Dan MachlinUX Designer: Priscilla OsredkarQA Engineer: Charles HaileyProject Management Director: Clara KimSenior Social Strategist: Jessica YinSocial Content Manager: Gurbani ChadhaSocial Copywriter: Cristina Diaz BordaSocial Project Manager: Katie CasaresEvent Production: TH Productions, New YorkDesign Development, Fabrication: Design Compendium, Brooklyn, N.Y.Bakery: Bredenbeck's, PhiladelphiaFilm Production: Steelhead, New YorkDirector: Jeff MorganDirector of Photography: Pete SlifeEditors: Erik Emond, Pete Slife, Aaron SchillerPhotographer: Jeremiah WilsonShoot Location: Brooklyn, Penn's Landing, PhiladelphiaAdditional Deutsch Credits:Group Account Director: Barbara ChandlerAccount Director: Bennet KimAccount Supervisor: Trisha O'ConnorAccount Executive: Emily MaierIntegrated Business Affairs: Jaymie Lipman

Brand Genius

It Took 5,000 Pounds of Gingerbread to Make This Functioning Bank Branch

Deutsch built it for PNC

Kristina Monllos

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Kristina Monllos