The Story

I write this blog with apologies to Jeff, our CEO here at CBC, who is about as far away from a science-fiction fan as Romulus is from Earth. I just can’t resist going where no CBCer has gone before for this post. I was recently watching a documentary about the making of the first Star Trek TV show and was so impressed to find out the origins of the famed transporter device. Apparently, “beaming” was never written in the original script for the pilot. A shuttle ship had been designed and was scheduled to arrive on set before filming began. On the day of the first shoot, the shuttle still hadn’t arrived so producers had to think of a quick way to get crew members from the Enterprise to the surface of other planets. Thus, the transporter was born. The original effect was created on-the-spot using agitated glitter in water and a special-effects camera. What has become one of the most referenced cultural moments was created out of necessity and with quick thinking.

The lesson here is that it’s never too late for innovative thinking. Some of the best non-traditional and guerrilla marketing tactics have been the result of crunched time, money and resources. Whether you are a bank marketing professional or a teller, no matter how under the gun you might feel, don’t hesitate to roll up your sleeves, get messy, and get creative. You might be surprised at what you’ll come up with! Many banks and credit unions with small marketing departments feel limited by a lack of resources. However, it’s when conditions render innovation mandatory that the most creative marketing ideas are born.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 3:43 pm and is filed under Other, Kick Ass Ideas & Musings, Bank Marketing, Experiential Marketing, Branding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.