To ensure 2008 kicks off with a real bang, Banco Sabadell, one of Spain's largest banking groups, has teamed up with global technology provider, Serverside Group, to launch Instantcard, an exciting new card customisation service.

The new service, which went live on 4 February, is initially being offered across three of Banco Sabadell's five brands: Sabadell Atlantico, its core banking arm, BancoHerrero, its northern Spain brand, and Solbank, a brand targeting non-Spanish people living in Spain. Future plans include rolling it out across ActivoBank and Banco Urquijo, its direct and private banking arms respectively. The card customisation service is being promoted in five languages: Spanish, Catalan, English, German and French.

Banco Sabadell has taken an extremely proactive, multi-channel approach to its marketing, and is promoting the new card design service to the Spanish public in quite some style. Among other things, it is:

• Sponsoring a TV talent show on commercial channel, Cuatro, called 'Tienes Talento'. There will be additional product placement across other TV programmes on Cuatro. Tienes Talento was chosen because there is a clear link between the talent and creativity on show in the programme and the creativity and imagination required to design your own card
• Running an online card design competition (technology provided by Serverside), the winners of which will go through to a grand final that will be broadcast live on the final Tienes Talento TV show. The competition will comprise user-generated voting and the overall winner will receive a Mini Cooper with the winning card design on the roof
• Providing images created by renowned graphic designers, Mario Eskenazi and Philip Stanton
• Running an integrated online advertising, direct mail, segmented email, outdoor and in-branch marketing campaign
• Using a selection of Serverside-created online marketing tools, including ShareMyDesign, a viral 'send-a-friend' tool, and TalkAboutMe, an interactive mini version of the AllAboutMe card designer that can be embedded within home pages and on blogs

In the weeks before the consumer launch, Banco Sabadell also ran a two-step campaign targeting its employees. In the first instance, a direct mail teaser was sent to more than 10,000 employees comprising a photo frame in which they were invited to "capture their most important moment". A week later, they received an email inviting them to capture the same moment, but this time on a card. For Banco Sabadell, this campaign was of key strategic importance, as its employees were effectively 'ambassadors' of the new product and would influence its success.

Instantcard is being offered across Banco Sabadell's entire MasterCard debit and credit card portfolio. Where personal images are used, they will be screened by Serverside's image checking facility based in New Zealand.

Manuel Tresànchez, Head of Payment Cards, Banco Sabadell, commented:"We're really excited about Instantcard and our comprehensive marketing campaign is hopefully conveying this excitement to the people of Spain. It's the first banking product we've offered that will enable us to establish an 'emotional bond' with our customers. By letting people design their own cards, we are engaging them and linking our brand to their interests. It is a unique product in Spain and is perfectly aligned with our corporate values of proximity to the client."

Nick Stammers, Sales Director, Serverside Group, added: "This is a fantastic and highly innovative marketing campaign, and we have no doubts whatsoever that it will be a huge success. Card customisation campaigns work best when they are marketed through multiple channels, and this is a perfect example. We're particularly excited by its Web 2.0 elements, for example, the user-generated voting within the online card design competition. Enabling customers to actively participate in your product and brand is a great way to engage and retain them for the long term."