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Just as Martins Bank’s 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.
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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 eaflet, and on many of the other special guides
produced by the bank:
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“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 did the KGB write in to obtain information?
Wish you were here…
  Martins’ Show and Exhibition Branches Department looks after the fleet
of Mobile Branches, which together attend around eighty shows and
agricultural events in the UK each year. The post card show here on the right
is one of a set that features a number of
different images of the mobile branches, and is used to invite
visitors to shows, and important local business people to visit the mobile
branch to see what Martins Bank is all about.
In addition to the fleet of Mobile Branches, Martins regularly attends
Trade Fairs all over the United Kingdom.
Show and Exhibition Branch Department creates a variety of imaginative
stands, and Martins Bank Magazine carries a large number of images of these,
many in colour, over the years. To
learn more, and see the Bank in action at a variety of trade shows, please
visit our TRADE STANDS feature.
Not just holiday money…
 Martins
Bank European Travel Guides are extemely popular, and perhaps this is because
they are quite simply small, handy and very useful. Produced from around 1959 until the
Barclays takeover, the guides change their look occasionally, but essentially
remain as a quick reference guide for the countries you want to visit. A special edition is 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. Now how’s that for convenience?
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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 produces 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. Within six years, Martins
will have two major computer centres and the ability to transmit data from
one end of the Country to the other…
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An Account at Martins Bank
  What we
know today as “products” are just about getting off the ground by 1959. The power of ITV, which is now four years
old, to sell everything from toothpaste to white goods on hire purchase,
cannot be underestimated. At Martins,
“The Housewife” is enticed by the simple but powerful image of a cheque
produced from a handbag, giving housekeeping money a whole new kudos. It has never been so easy to open a banking
account, and forgive them, for the knew not what they were doing, the modern
day evil of personal credit is just finding its wings thanks to the newly
packaged “Personal Loans”. It is
frightening to think that the Consumer Credit Act, giving protection to the
borrower, is still fifteen years away!
A 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. Most of these leaflets are
featured in full elsewhere on the site, so by clicking on your choice below,
you will be taken to the relevant page. 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 don’t have, or more importantly don’t trust a bank account, considering
the idea to belong to a higher social class.
As the full power of branding and marketing hits
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 doesn’t just
bring safety, and perhaps a bit of interest.
No, having a bank account is responsible
– you owe it to your family to have your financial affairs safe and in
order. Having a bank account is practical - you can start one with
only a small amount of money. Having a
bank account is, perhaps most of all, a source of that highly prized 60s
financial commodity – “FREEDOM”.
The new BANKERS CARD makes your account portable, and with payment by cheque now AUTOMATED, fledgling CASH MACHINES are appearing on street corners
The newly created direct debits and credit cards make it easy to spend,
borrow, obtain cash AND make
payments quickly and safely. In fact
freedom and a bank account go together very well indeed. Whilst already under part merger with
Barclays, Martins has one final stab at independence with the issue of three
leaflets designed to recruit new current account customers. (See the first
three leaflets below). The campaign uses an “all walks of life” gallery
helping to widen the appeal of a bank account. Sixites fashions aside, these leaflets look
almost as if they were produced yesterday, or at least only the day before
that… Choose your favourite, and enjoy!
For your information…
It is easy to forget that Martins Bank’s branches
themselves - along with the staff that work in them - are all advertisements
for the Bank, and at Martins Bank of course, the staff always go to extremes
to be helpful. However, there is also
one more method of letting customers know about services and any special
events that might occur, and that is through the use of in-branch displays.
Official Notices, counter displays, helpful leaflets and Counter Plaques
to remind you of those vital services…
Images: Martins Bank
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