30 years that Shook the industry.

• Author: Albro, Walt
• Position: Brief Article

In recent decades, bank marketing has grown from a peripheral function to become a valued part of senior management.

Two respected industry teachers trace the history of this change and venture some guesses about what the future will look like.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This year marks the 30th anniversary of involvement by two teachers--Dr. James "Jim" Donnelly Jr. and Dr. Laird Landon--in the ABA School of Bank Marketing and Management (formerly known as the BMA School of Marketing). Bank Marketing magazine took advantage of their unique industry views by asking them a few questions about bank marketing trends--past, present and future. The questions and their answers are on the following pages.

What were the big bank marketing issues 30 years ago?

DONNELLY: The big issue was bank marketing itself. It was just being recognized as a distinct bank function. In fact, the Financial Public Relations Association, which had changed its name to the Financial Public Relations and Marketing Association in 1963, finally took the plunge in 1970 and became the Bank Marketing Association. The ABA Banking Journal published its first "special report" on marketing in August 1973, and the American Banker introduced a marketing management column in 1976.

Back then, attracting deposits, planning branch openings and managing premium programs (used to attract the deposits and open branches) were very important issues to bank marketers. At that time banks were just beginning to emerge from an environment of protected markets, regulated pricing and exclusive product lines into an environment of intensified competition, geographic expansion and product-line deregulation.

Marketers had a very tactical focus back then. Today, of course, they must also operate at the level of bank strategy. They must ask different kinds of questions. The two most important strategy questions every business must continually ask and answer--I call them the "what" questions of the business: What products should we make? What markets should we serve? These questions never change, but the bank marketer must now be involved in the answers, as well as in the tactical implementation.

LANDON: Another issue was how to market ATMs. ATMs were brand new. The goal was to create usage. Marketers gave cards away en masse. They put coupons for merchandise in the machines like a slot machine.

Package accounts were the Holy Grail of cross-selling. The reasoning was: If households use only one or two services, we will package a bunch of services. The trouble was households still didn't use more services. It did make a...