Great Western Bank may be about to end its 14-year relationship with former "Gunsmoke" and "McCloud" television star Dennis Weaver.
Newly hired marketing director Dennis Alan Shirley said Great Western let Mr. Weaver's contract as company pitchman expire on June 1.
The Chatsworth, Calif., thrift will review its advertising and marketing tactics to decide whether to try to renew the relationship.
"We're basically going to be rethinking the positioning of Great Western, and that may or may not entail Mr. Weaver," Mr. Shirley said.
Mr. Weaver may have had the longest tenure ever as an advertising spokesman for a financial institutions. The actor was a fixture of television and print advertisements in Great Western's operating territory in Florida and California.
He also continued a tradition of using western stars as Great Western pitchmen. John Wayne was the company's first; he'd had the job for a year and a half when he died, in 1979.
"Any campaign that's lasted as long as this one has got to have done something right - otherwise it would never have lasted that long," said Cary Sacks, president and creative director of Sacks/Fuller Advertising in Los Angeles. "Therefore, changing it becomes a very hard decision for everyone involved."
Sacks/Fuller is the advertising agency for City National Bank, one of Great Western's biggest competitors in the Los Angeles area.
Mr. Shirley, who managed advertising for First Interstate Bancorp. before leaving in the wake of the merger with Wells Fargo & Co., came to Great Western.
He said he plans to make several changes in Great Western's marketing and advertising activities, including developing more sophisticated direct mail and data base marketing systems.
