Just as Martins’ advertising changes radically from the early 1960s onwards, so too does the style and content of the leaflets and guides it publishes for customers. We look at the changing face of cheques and other bank slips in our CUSTOMER STATIONERY section, and at the move to a modern hi-tech facility for printing it all at STATIONERY DEPARTMENT. Here though, we take a brief look at some examples of the leaflets and guides from the 1950s and 60s, many of which are also shown elsewhere on the site as part of other features.
1957: The Treaty of Rome
	At the height of discussions as to whether or not Britain would join the Common Market, Martins Bank Information Department decided to produce this handy leaflet to weigh up the pros and cons of membership. It is a good example of the department’s thoroughness, dealing with nine different topics about the Common Market, and providing a number of statistics regarding population sizes, national incomes and industrial production details for the six common market countries, the UK and the USSR. The following statement appears on the back of the leaflet, and on many of the other special guides produced by the bank: “The Information Department will be pleased to receive through the manager of any branch of the Bank, enquiries of an economic, industrial or commercial nature, concerning the United Kingdom, the Common Market or other countries overseas…” We wonder just how many times the KGB wrote for information…
1960: Wish you were here…
Martins’ Show and Exhibition Branches Department looks after the fleet of Mobile Branches, which together attend around seventy shows and agricultural events in the UK each year. This post card is one of a set featuring different images of the mobile branches, and is used to invite visitors to shows, and important local business people to visit the mobile branch and see what Martins Bank is all about.
1959-1969: Not just holiday money…
				Martins Bank European Travel Guides were extemely popular, and perhaps this is because they were quite simply small, handy and very useful. Produced from around 1959 until the Barclays takeover, the guides changed their look occasionally, but essentially remained a quick reference guide for the countries you wanted to visit. A special edition was produced for those using one of the Bank’s major customers – British Eagle Airways. The guides are just the right size to keep handy in a wallet, or to wrap around foreign currency and travellers cheques. How’s that for convenience?
1959: The future is here - today!
When you are at the forefront of innovation and new technology, you want people to know about it, so Martins produced these customer leaflets to help customers understand two wonderful new developments: “Martins Drive-In Bank” gives practical advice on using the special counter and getting the best out of this new way to bank. “Pegasus” explains just how your details will be handled by the amazing new computer that is the first to offer current account data processing.
1959: An Account at Martins Bank
								What we know today as “products” were just about finding their feet in 1959 – Housewives were enticed by the image of a cheque produced from a handbag, it was easy to open a banking account, and personal loans were newly “packaged” too…
1968/9: Co-Ordinated Campaign
Our final set of examples of Martins leaflets is from the “Martins go to extremes to be helpful” period, a year or so before the takeover. Sadly, the Liver Bird has been dropped from all promotional material by this point, and the grasshopper is left to fly the flag as Martins final days tick by. It is hard to imagine that in the apparently enlightened 1960s, millions of Britons still didn’t have, or more importantly didn’t trust a bank account. As the full power of branding and marketing hit the banks, they in turn hit the public with advertising campaigns and leaflets designed to woo even the most “cash only” individual, that putting that cash in a bank didn’t just bring safety, and perhaps a bit of interest. No, having a bank account was responsible – you owed it to your family to have your financial affairs safe and in order. Having a bank account was practical - you could start one with only a small amount of money. Having a bank account was, perhaps most of all, a source of that great 60s commodity – FREEDOM. The new CHEQUE GUARANTEE CARDS made your account portable, and with payment by cheque now AUTOMATED, fledgling CASH MACHINES appearing on street corners, and the newly created direct debits and credit cards making it easy to spend, borrow, obtain cash AND make payments quickly and safely, freedom and a bank account went together very well indeed. “How a bank account could help you” (right) is one of a number of leaflets that Martins has put together in 1968 to show just how easy it all is, clever use of an “all walks of life” gallery helping to widen the appeal of a bank account. As for the two stunning colour examples below, (if you discount the appalling fashions and furnishings in “Everyone Needs a Bank Account), these leaflets look almost as if they were produced yesterday, or perhaps the day before that…						Image – Barclays Group archive: Ref A70 (retouched)
Image © Barclays Ref A69 (retouched)						Image © Barclays Ref A70 (retouched)
There is a further colour example of a leaflet for students on our LANCASTER UNIVERSITY page.
For your information…
It is easy to forget that our branches themselves - along with the staff that work in them - are all advertisements for the Bank, at at Martins our staff always go to extremes to be helpful. However, we do also have one more method of letting customers know about our services and any special events that might occur, and that is through in-branch displays.
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Official Notices, counter displays, helpful leaflets and Counter Plaques to remind you of those vital services… Images: Martins Bank Archive
That’s it from our editorial and advertising department for now, if you have any images to contribute to the archive, please send them to the usual address: gutinfo@btinternet.com .
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