Forget your wallet, and your phone can still get you cash / RBS "GET CASH"

The problem

Many RBS and NatWest customers found themselves leaving their cards or wallets at home after work or on nights out. Research showed people wanted to carry less, worried about theft or loss, but there was one thing nobody ever left behind: their smartphone.

The insight

You might forget your wallet, but you never forget your phone. That simple fact was the starting point. Research also picked up on the fact that people could get by with just their phone even without a card, and that it would be handy to be able to share a withdrawal code with family or friends. The team pulled this together around three ideas: peace of mind, speed, and the freedom to head out with just your keys and your phone.

The idea

The mechanism is wonderfully simple. You choose an amount to withdraw in the app, and it instantly generates a one-time six-digit code. The code stays valid for three hours and works at any of the more than 8,000 RBS, NatWest and Tesco ATMs. This isn't an ad or an in-store campaign — the core of the idea is that the app's actual function became the advertising itself.

What happened

In the first year after launch, there were more than 160,000 requests, with a total of £5.5 million withdrawn. For this work, SapientNitro won a Gold Lion in the Mobile category at Cannes Lions. The feature later expanded to the Apple Watch, letting people call up cash straight from their wrist.

Afterthought

We tend to think of advertising as something you watch, but this is a rare case where the advertising was simply making people use something. That awkward moment of realizing you've left your wallet behind gets wiped away by a single six-digit number. No flashy footage, no clever copy — just a feature woven into everyday life, proving that sometimes the strongest creative idea is the one you actually use.

Awards

• Cannes Lions Gold 2013

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