Back to basics, Banking style.

• Position: Marketing News - First Community Bank, Olympia, WA - Brief Article

They tell us to sell the sizzle and not the steak. Good advice, but it doesn't hurt to mention the steak now and then, too. Since 1997, First Community Bank (FCB) in Olympia, Wash., has been doing just that.

As a bank, First Community's product is, of course, money, and the bank has worked hard to associate its name with money.

When it opened new branches last fall, the bank displayed billboards sporting the image of a roll of dollar bills, with the bank logo superimposed on it. The headline read: "We're On a Roll." The picture of George Washington that appears on the dollar bill--the actual picture scanned at 4500 dpi--now graces FCB ATMs, and an eight-foot-tall image decorates the drive-through facilities. And there are ashtrays, billboards, canvas tote bags, brochures and even an Intercity Transit bus.

They've had some success with this approach: assets have grown from $176 million at the end of 1996 to $376 million in 2001.

"Part of the appeal (of the campaign) is the fact that we had a fun and entertaining way of letting people know that we had money to...