Power plug: A Wisconsin community bank wanted a low-cost but effective marketing campaign to promote its new internet banking service.

• Author: Linsley, Clyde
• Position: Feature - State Bank of Cross Plains, Wisconsin

Customers at the State Bank of Cross Plains, Wisc., know Jack. In the last several months, in fact, they've grown to know him well. Jack, who is a "personal banker, bill payer, loan officer and teller," was the "star" of a media campaign to promote State Bank's new Internet banking service.

Jack is a cute little cartoon character. His head is the plate of a telephone wall jack. The hole where the wire plugs in is Jack's nose. Two eyes are located above the nose and smiling lips beneath it.

State Bank's success with the Jack promotion is an example of how a small community bank can creatively market a new high-technology service in a simple, relatively low-cost way.

The bank's Internet service, known as eBank!, was introduced in May. By August, the bank had exceeded its original year-end projections for new customers.

To understand how State Bank formulated its campaign, you have to understand a little about the community in which it is located. Cross Plains was established in 1847 at the intersection of two major roads across the prairie. It soon flourished as an agricultural and retailing center. In 1920, the village absorbed two neighboring communities into a single municipality, the Village of Cross Plains, which, today, totals about 2,600 people.

The State Bank of Cross Plains is the big fish in this small pond. The bank came along in 1908 and has been there ever since. Today it boasts assets of about $230 million and is the second-largest employer in town.

But times change. The small agricultural village of the 19th century became, in many respects, a bedroom appendage of the city of Madison, the state capital and home of the mammoth University of Wisconsin. As the larger city to the east continued to expand, Cross Plains residents found employment in the Madison metropolitan area, and Madison residents found new homes in Cross Plains.

With this growth came new competition for State Bank. So far, says assistant vice president Janis L. Vandermeer, the community bank has managed to compete successfully for mortgage loan and commercial accounts, but retail banking is "a bit more of a challenge."

Many customers have Internet access

Changing times led to changing demographics. As the computer age began to flourish, Madison successfully wooed technology firms to the area. State Bank of Gross Plains discovered that it had more than the average number of computer owners in its retail base, and that a substantial number of those computer owners...