Your best friend
As BMO’s barkivist, I take my duty of digging up archives from our past seriously. Dogs are known for having a nose for sniffing out other canines. It’s no surprise then that I came across this vintage advertisement from the 1950s and thought I would share some advertising history.
BMO has a long history of connecting with our customers and creating lasting relationships that help them make real financial progress and achieve their financial goals. Following the Second World War, the world economy was changing, and BMO introduced an advertising slogan in 1946 to represent the post-war growth: “My Bank to 1 million Canadians.” This slogan was simple and literal. With time, we expanded upon this campaign to celebrate our ever-growing customer base and updated the slogan to read: “My Bank to 2 million Canadians.”
It was at this time that a marketing employee (clearly a fan of the silky Cocker Spaniel) came up with the concept of the advertisement “man’s best friend,” perhaps today better referenced as “human’s best friend.” The advertisement, developed to encourage saving, was popular and we find references to it being published on bus cards and in newspapers in 1955. “Man’s best friend” continued to be displayed at tellers’ wickets and in branch windows into the 1960s. While an excellent advertisement, I wonder how much more compelling it would have been had it featured a sturdy Boston Terrier. Of course, I’m not biased.
BMO’s customer base continued to grow with time, and the slogan once again had to be updated in 1961 to “My Bank to 3 million Canadians.” This slogan remained in use until 1967, when we celebrated BMO’s 150th anniversary and introduced the iconic M-bar. The M-bar was most recently updated in 2002 to become the roundel, which we actively use today.