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Comic Relief UK offers ATM users a little funny with their money

March 24, 2017

Cardtronics and its subsidiary, i-design, a developer of multimedia promotional campaigns for ATMs, are supporting Comic Relief, one of Britain's largest annual charity fundraising efforts, with interactive comedy on ATM screens across the U.K.

The goal of the promotion is to raise awareness for the Comic Relief fundraising campaign, which culminates March 24 with Red Nose Day, a company news release said.

Since the promotion launched on Feb. 18, nearly 3,000 Cardtronics ATMs across the U.K. have entertained customers with on-screen jokes while they wait for their cash to be dispensed.

After the punch line, the ATM displays a screen prompt asking customers whether the joke made them smile.

"Making people smile is the key to our campaign, and being able to bring that to people when they might not expect it, such as when at a cash machine, is something we're keen to champion again in 2017," Rosie Baker, marketing executive at Comic Relief, said in the release. "This year, we're hoping to have as many people interact with Red Nose Day as possible, and our activity with Cardtronics and i-design is a great step in that direction."

For Cardtronics U.K. and i-design, the utility of an on-screen questionnaire became apparent during the run-up to the EU (i.e., "Brexit") referendum last summer.

Ahead of the vote, Cardtronics gathered more than 85,000 yes-or-no responses from cash machines, polling that showed a 52 to 48 percent majority favoring Brexit. The accuracy of these findings was unmatched by the majority of publicized polls, the company said.