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 The 1960s is the most important
decade in the history of Martins Bank.
Four hundred years after the establishment of a banking business at
the sign of the Grasshopper in Lombard Street, the Bank has come a long way. The decade that begins with the Berlin
Wall and ends with a man on the moon sees huge advances in technology that
will change the gentle ways of banking forever – Computers allow the
manipulation of information and the streamlining of services. The CASH MACHINE arrives and, sadly for some people, the era of
competition for custom begins to take on its now familiar cut-throat
approach.Advertising is therefore crucial to the success of the
organisation, and Martins suddenly seems to find its true identity in the 1960s,
with a series  of novel, clever, and sometimes groundbreaking campaigns
which show that this particular very old bank, is still very much young at
heart. The traditionally staid and
middle class newspaper and magazine adverts are soon transformed to
eye-catching copy that shows how the Bank is in tune with young people, and
before the end of the 1960s, Martins will be the FIRST bank to
advertise on television in England. Key to the success of this decade of
innovative ads is the historic appointment in 1963 of BERYL EVANS to the role of Assistant Manager, Advertising Department.
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Using images
(many of which are from Beryl’s personal archive), we will look at the
legacy of her work, but our
look at Martins’ 1960s advertising begins in 1961, where we find two
campaigns with the same theme, but quite
different aims. The purpose
of the first one is to recruit new female staff to the Bank – we are still
at a point in employment history where women are treated as second class
citizens. They must leave work when
pregnant, and give up their career, however promising. Equal pay actually does exist in Martins
up to a certain age, and then male salaries soar up and away through the
glass ceiling, leaving the women, the majority of whom work as hard if not
harder than their male counterparts, earning peanuts:
Calling nice
people, everywhere…
  “The Nicest People” (image © Barclays) shows us
an ordinary girl who is lucky enough to have landed a job at Martins Bank,
and what is refreshing here, is that although the ad is aimed at female
staff, there is no attempt to paint a glamorous picture either of bank
work, or bank employees themselves.
The advertisement is straightforward and states only facts, right
down to the pay being “quite good” (it was actually quite bad). The wording of the advert can also be
adjusted for each region of the bank, so that nice people everywhere get
the chance to work at Martins Bank. See also
A
CAREER WITH MARTINS BANK
Your average kind of
bloke…
Our second campaign is
aimed at attracting students to the Bank.
Martins is amongst the first to recognise and pioneer the opening of
branches on campus at British universities.
A lot of work goes into pricing up what it is worth spending now on
attracting student business, compared to what the return will be once the
student has graduated into a highly paid job, and can start paying for
their banking services.
 “My Bank’s Martins” appeals to your average 1961 student,
again with a no nonsense advertisement that does exactly what it says on
the tin – student banking couldn’t be simpler, and you can’t find a better
bank than Martins to help you make sense of the money. (Oh to be back in the days when students
were paid to go to university… Or perhaps not.) Students are the high
earners of the future, and the competition amongst the clearing Banks to
open branches on or near the next and newest in Britain’s burgeoning
portfolio of universities is acute. This is illustrated by the story of
Martins’ Branch at Lancaster University, told in our STUDENT BANKING feature.
The
World is your market…
  In 1963 Martins Bank’s information Department is
in full flow, publishing guides, lists, answering endless queries and
correspondence about banking facilities in other countries, and providing a
number of successful guides for farmers, exporters and those wishing to
start a business in Britain. These
are covered separately in our INFORMATION
DEPARTMENT feature.
One of the most popular guides is “The World Is Your Market” and it
is interesting to note that it warrants its own newspaper advertising. With
Britain still able to manufacture and export a wide variety of goods,
Martins is keen to be of service by providing advice and paid for services
to those existing and new exporters.
The expertise of the Bank is seen as a valuable commodity in its own
right, and another key market for Martins Bank is Agriculture. The bank has branches at a large number of
Auction Marts and Cattle Markets in England and Wales, and the main weapon
in its armoury is the annual publication – “Finance for Farmers and
Growers:
Finance
for Farmers and Growers…
From
1955 until the 1980s, FINANCE
FOR FARMERS AND GROWERS is a hit
publication. The advertising message
is suitably underplayed, and the real meat of this annual booklet is found
in details of just about everything a Farmer or Grower will need to help
them succeed. The Ministry of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food works closely with the Advertising and
Information Departments of Martins Bank to supply up to date details of
agricultural finance available, and the latest effects of changes in
taxation and allowances are provided, and clearly set out.
For many
years, Finance for Farmers and Growers is edited by Beryl Evans’ husband,
Ray Creer, who is also Manager of the Bank’s Southport Ainsdale
Branch. As each edition of the
booklet builds on the last, the back copies become a useful historical
record of how agriculture in Britain is run and regulated from the mid
1950s onwards. No advertising is
allowed within the pages of this publication, save for two standard ads for
the Bank itself, within or near to the inside front and back covers…
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This
selection of advertisements from Finance for Farmers and Growers shows a
simple approach, but a strong message
which includes two tag lines that continue in other Martins advertisements
in the early to mid 1960s: “My Bank’s
Martins” and “I’m Glad I use Martins Bank”.
(The young man clutching a pig will appear later in this feature, in
a variation to this original 1963 copy).
Each edition of the booklet starts with a “typical farmer”, and ends
with a reminder of Martins’ other strong connection to agriculture, the
fleet of MOBILE
BRANCHES that visits more than eighty
shows and events throughout Britain every year:
Image
© Martins Bank Archive Collections
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1963
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We’re glad we use
Martins Bank…
 It’s not all about Farmers and Growers – Businessmen and
“career chaps and gals” all over the country can also enjoy what the Bank
has to offer. The “I’m glad I use
Martins Bank” campaign has these people firmly in its sights, so that the
newly employed can be shown the benefits of a Bank that understands them,
and have their wages or salaries paid into the bank. Business people will
appreciate the convenience of having a “local bank”, with staff and
managers that know and understand them and their business needs. They can
also take comfort from the fact that Martins has decentralised District
Head Offices – no waiting around for decisions on those tricky business
propositions, someone to take you seriously, and of course a friendly
service to all. This idea is
revisited in the 1990s by Barclays who set up Local Business Centres in
larger branches.
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1960-63 Campaigns –
“ordinary” people…
A parade of “ordinary
people” arrives in the early sixties to highlight and serve the everyday
financial needs of the “average” person…
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Advantage, Martins…
It was always going to be
an advantage for any bank to have a branch at the centre court at
Wimbledon, and Martins Bank doesn’t disappoint. You can see the branch shortly after
Barclays has re-branded it on our branch page for WIMBLEDON CENTRE COURT. This advertisement (right)
runs for nearly ten years, right up to the Barclays takeover.
Image © Martins Bank
Archive Collections
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Image © Martins Bank
Archive Collections
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All in all, the Bank’s
Advertising campaigns of the early 1960s break new ground in attracting new
business from people in all walks of life, and also recruiting the kind of
staff who will later go to extremes to be helpful. By the mid 1960s this policy has gone
further, with the idea that “ordinary people” should be able to have a bank
account. The theme of the 1965
campaign is that whether “ordinary people” work rest or play, Martins Bank
can help them with a bank account, and tailor made advice for their own
particular situation…
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1965/6 Campaign – some more
“ordinary” people…
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Images © Martins Bank
Archive Collections
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The fact that you only
need to look at the picture and a couple of words to know exactly what the
advert is about is typical of Martins’ new approach to advertising. The 1950s image of a stagecoach outside
an old tavern struggles, in comparison, to get its message across. The
swinging sixties gives Martins the opportunity to cash in on the youth
market.
‘Counting up’ is one of a
number of newspaper advertisements in the Autumn of 1965 that are aimed at
what Martins refers to as ‘the wage earner’. ‘Going Away’ takes every
opportunity to sell the bank’s overseas services to non-business customers,
providing solutions that enable you to travel abroad confident in the
knowledge that you have both access to and control over your money.
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In the days before the
cash machine, this is not an easy task, and exchange controls make things
even more difficult. ‘I’m saving up’ appeals to the younger saver. Many of Martins 750 branches are situated
in agricultural areas. The Bank is
heavily involved in local events from flower shows to agricultural events
where invariably one of Martins’ fleet of MOBILE BRANCHES will pitch up to offer service
and advice. ‘It can be a Pig of a
Problem’ highlights farmers’ uneven cash flow and the bank offers further
help and advice through its free booklet ‘Finance for farmers and growers’,
one of the most popular product publications in Martins’ history.
It’s a JUNGLE out there!
Images © Martins Bank
Archive Collections and Barclays
These iconic and
innovative ads are an instant hit for Martins, between 1966 and 1969. You can read about the little girl who
got to work with an elephant AND a camel in our special advertising
feature: ANIMALS AND CHILDREN. This
particular advertisement is copied in real life, when a Yorkshire zoo takes
Martins at their word, and takes an elephant and small girl to YORK branch to open an account! The
Zebra, who is the friend of the student seeking banking advice, is called
Socrates. Penelope the Hippo is the focus of the worried looking man, who
wants to leave her everything in his will (!), and as for the cows, well they
seem to be sealing some kind of deal at the bank counter. The chickens are
a dab hand (or should that be CLAW) at helping with the
paperwork. Arnold the Seal is happy to be out of water, and Percy the
Wallaby is helpfully carrying his mistress’s banking bag. Just how psychedelic WERE those 1960s???
1968/9 Martinplanning
gives you the key, and thrifty children are a bonus!
“THE SECRET OF ALL
SUCCESSFUL MONEY MANAGEMENT IS WRAPPED UP IN ONE WORD… MARTINPLANNING”
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  It’s the end of the sixties, and the lady sitting on the car above is
being encouraged, to SAVE, not borrow, in order to buy the car of her
dreams. Saving throughout the year enables the family
above (right) to afford Christmas and more, and the two girls on the right
use Martinplanning to have a great holiday, and cash to spare. In the twenty-first century we are
constanly being channelled towards more and more debt – how refreshing then
to find a bank that openly and vigorously promotes living within your
means! Whilst parents are urged to
SAVE for the things they want, this model of thrift is also drummed into
their children through the new GRASSHOPPER
SAVINGS ACCOUNT. In the 1970s the rise in competition
between banks for their customers’ money leads inevitably to the need to
grab the customer’s attention,
no matter what. What were once seen
as institutions that sold SERVICE, must rapidly become shops for financial
products. Of course none of us knows
at this stage that it will all come crashing down and that people’s trust
in their Bank will all but evaporate under scandal after scandal… Besides in-branch promotional materials,
the main campaign ground in 1968 is still newspaper and magazine
advertising, although some banks do venture on to Television despite the
distaste for this medium often shown by the stuffier banks. What makes Martins’ 1960s
advertising stand out is the fact that the Bank is not afraid to match the
mood, look and feel of the Swinging Sixties. The concept of Martinplanning buys into
the idea of the “must have” generation, and then turns it on its head – not
live now pay later, but SAVE now, BUY later.
This is precisely the kind of genius
marketing that British banks could do with today, reversing the
decades-long trend of living on credit… Whilst the Martinplanning
campaign is in full swing – helped in no small measure by cartoons and
characters from national treasure of the day, artist Bill Tidy – Martins’
savings plans are on the march in other areas, too: The humble home safe money box is about
to undergo a revolution, with the introduction of the short-lived but much
loved Grasshopper Money Box. You can read more about this on our CHILDREN’S SAVINGS page.
Selling a takeover…
 By 1969 the use by both banks of similar fonts and
less subtle devices such as “a member of the Barclays Group” heralds the
Barclays takeover, and the end of a brand, as the grasshopper gives way to
the spread eagle. Although Martins Branches do not change until December
1969, the Bank has been owned by Barclays since November 1968, and appears
in Barclays’ audited accounts as a subsidiary company. You can read much more about some of the
more subtle ways in which the name of Martins manages to continue afterwards,
in our major feature BEGINNING
OF THE END , which looks in depth at the
merger of Barclays and Martins…
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