Cleese admitted he enjoyed making commercials and has starred in several of those including ones for Compaq, Sainsbury’s, a bank in Iceland, Schweppes, Sony and more. He said doing an ad is like solving a very complicated crossword – it is short and doesn’t take much time but poses many problems. Cleese revealed he checked out the products prior to advertising them and claimed he would never endorse a scam product, which is surely a great relief for WBK customers.

“The new ad campaign we are working on with John Cleese was prompted by the incredible success in sales we have experienced after the first one. We are sure that the new – also Monty Python-like – character by Cleese will be even more appreciated by our customers” Jędrzej Marciniak, the Brand Manager at WBK said.

When the TV commercial was screened the bank was selling cash loans worth PLN 10.33 million daily while the costs of the campaign were slightly over PLN 7 million. During the 38 days prior to the advertising campaign WBK sold PLN 296 million worth loans while in the follow-up period (47 days after the commercial) WBK sold loans for 485.6 PLN million.
According to a Pentor survey 93% of those polled saw the commercial on TV. The ad was very highly rated by its viewers who said it broke existing stereotypes.

During the press conference John Cleese met with Daniel Obajtek, the Mayor of Pcim municipality, who gave the actor a unique statuette honouring the new “resident” of Pcim. Cleese mentions that town in the commercial saying “My aunt’s from Pcim”. In colloquial Polish the town’s name stands for a typical backwater. But the town mayor turned this around. “I could not neglect the chance of promotion this commercial gave Pcim. Now our town is advertised by John Cleese himself” – Obajtek said.

The new Cleese ad will be shot in Warsaw next month in Hollywood Studio. Anna Przychodzka, Paweł Saładziak and Paweł Marszałek of the Man at Work publicity agency did creative work on the campaign produced by Opus Film and directed by Wade Sherman.