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In 1965 the
first of the more radical changes to Martins’ advertising begins to be
noticed. The young and carefree girl
clutching a bundle of Pound notes, the lady jetting off on holiday with a man
trying to get her luggage into the car, even the upside down school girls
talking about savings, are all causing a stir. This leads to people from the (shall we
say) more traditional parts of society to question the value of spending so
much money on what appear to be a few pictures, and even fewer words. In an attempt to convince staff of the
power of this type of advertising, Martins Bank Magazine publishes the
feature below, and poses the question:
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 before
seeking
to answer this question it is well to consider the purposes of advertising in
general. An advertiser may wish to promote or increase his business or he may
wish to make an announcement to the public. He may achieve the former by
making his name more widely known or by persuading the public that his
product is as good as if not better than that of his competitors. Either way
he hopes to obtain new business and to maintain the confidence of existing
customers. An announcement will aim to tell people about a new product, a new
service, a change of address, the opening of new premises, the beginning of a
new venture. Before the last war
the only bank advertisements comprised the display of half-yearly balance
sheets and occasional support for certain professional journals. In the last
decade the banks have become increasingly advertising-conscious, realising
that a potential market for new business exists among those not previously
banking-minded but who are now enjoying increased incomes.
 Because it is harder to
sell a service than a product bank advertising poses its own problems. In particular
there is the need of the banks to popularise themselves in order to attract
this vast new market while at the same time retaining their dignity and the
respect of existing customers. For this reason a bank's advertisements may
not appeal to its staff but then it is not intended that they should. Many
erroneous pre-conceived notions regarding banks have had to be dispelled, for
example that one had to be wealthy to have a bank account and that bankers
were staid and unapproachable. The process is slow but great strides are
being made, primarily by the design of new premises and the introduction of
new services but also by the bank's 'new look' advertising. The best way to reach these potential
customers can be the subject of much discussion but, acting on the
information provided by their advertising agencies, the banks are today
concentrating a considerable portion of their advertising budgets on one form
of mass media —the popular press.
 Half-page advertisements in national daily and Sunday newspapers
are not uncommon and recently one bank took a whole-page space in the Daily Express which, for the one
day's edition, would have cost more than Ł5,000. A glance
through the newspapers at the size and frequency of a bank's advertisements
gives an idea of the cost of its advertising. One bank at least is reputed to
have an annual advertising budget well in excess of half-a-million pounds. Although the national press absorbs the main weight of our
Bank's advertising the field is considerably wider. Our advertisements appear
in more than 600 publications of infinite variety, the number of insertions
in each publication varying from one to twelve in any year. Over thirty
different advertisements are in current use publicising services to
exporters, farmers, commerce, private individuals and students; to announce
the opening of new branches, the attendance of our mobile branches at shows
and exhibitions, changes of address and business hours, staff vacancies; and
to support special supplements and souvenir brochures.
Most of the publications in which we advertise are chosen when
the annual campaign is planned. Although the ultimate decision is that of the
advertiser all banks and indeed most advertisers use agencies to advise them
and to conduct their campaign. An agency is essential: once the advertiser
has stated what he wishes to achieve, a good deal of research has to be
carried out 'in the field'; sales psychology has to be applied in planning
the type of advertisement, its presentation and copy writing; and expert
advice is required about where the advertisements are to appear—the selection of media, about which the agency has to maintain
up-to-date records, and the necessary machinery for booking space where and
when required. Once the preliminary discussions
have taken place the agency can plan the campaign in detail. The proposals,
usually covering twelve months, are then presented and when agreement is
reached the agency begins further preparation.
 For newspaper advertising artists
who are skilled in drawing and have a wide knowledge of typefaces, layout
design and photography, join with copy writers to prepare the actual
advertisements. Then follows the technical task of producing the blocks for
distribution to the newspapers and periodicals. The administrative link between agency and
advertiser is, in our case, Advertising Department at Head Office which is
additionally responsible for press relations. This work includes preparing the
special features which appear in one or more newspapers every time a new
branch opens or premises are modernised. The size of the space allocated by
the newspaper for the features varies from a third of a page to a whole page
and sometimes more. Other forms of
advertising include counter plaques, the mobile branch showcard and display
material for our stands at exhibitions—advertising on home
ground, as it were. External advertising includes the individual
advertisements appearing on notice boards which are installed at many
universities, technical colleges and similar establishments throughout the
country.
 Last but by no means least
of our methods of advertising the Bank and its services are the forty-five or
so booklets and leaflets produced by or through Advertising Department.
Keeping the contents accurate and up-to-date can be as time-consuming as
preparing a new publication. Many a story could be told of the difficulties
encountered in trying to achieve a particular photographic effect for a
publication. Is it worth it ? Is
the time and money well spent ? How can one know if advertising is increasing
business? These questions and many more have been asked by advertisers and
the public at large since advertising began and will continue to be asked
while it exists. The advertiser with a product to sell can find comfort if
his sales rise but a bank selling only service has no such yardstick; a man
will not put on his hat and rush down the street to open an account at our
Bank merely because an advertisement suggests that he should do so.
 However, many requests for the Bank's
publications are received every day in response to our advertisements, and
any magazine advertisement incorporating a cut-out coupon requesting a copy
of An Account at Martins Bank brings
constant letters. If these examples can be taken as a guide then they may
well account for the fact that all banks are tending to increase their
expenditure on advertising. What of
those forms of advertisement over which Advertising Department has no control—the
Bank's premises, its staff, its signs, letter-heads and cheques? They all
play their part, particularly the staff who are largely responsible for the
follow-up to any advertisements. Seeing that a newly-advertised booklet is
displayed in a tidy counter dispenser at the earliest opportunity is just
one of the ways in which the staff helps to corroborate the claim of the
Bank's advertisements that Martins Bank provides a service second to none.
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