St George campaign to vanquish size fear

But the dragon that was central to so many past campaigns has been relegated to a bit part.

Rather than focusing on Happy the Dragon, the campaign features a new slogan, "Big Enough: Small Enough", which St George hopes will appeal to customers looking for an alternative to the big four banks but who also want the security, distribution and products that they offer.

St George also hopes the slogan will tap the positive traits many people associate with small lenders, namely personalised service and being part of the local community.

St George chief executive Greg Bartlett said St George had a unique market position in that it took the best from both worlds. "Safety and security really matter, but customers clearly crave a bank that is local and in the community," he said. "So we're leveraging that: we're big enough, but sticking to our roots."

Mr Bartlett said the campaign the first from Ogilvy, which won the account last year is part of a new positioning for St George, which takes in the expansion of the bank's branch network and the appointment of state-based managers to allow it to be more responsive to local markets.

The "Big Enough: Small Enough" line has been used internally for years but this weekend it makes its first outing to customers. The bank's previous CEO, Gail Kelly now Westpac CEO first introduced it to shareholders in 2005, as a means of differentiating St George from the big four.

St George consistently outranks the big four in terms of satisfaction among retail customers and its small and mid-sized business customers.

Until its $17 billion merger with Westpac, St George ranked as Australia's fifth-biggest lender. At the time of the merger, the bank's senior staff were concerned that there could be fallout among customers uncomfortable at the prospect of being folded into a big-four bank.

The campaign comes amid renewed marketing activity by the banks. Commonwealth Bank has renewed its "Determined" campaign, while ANZ is in the middle of a rebranding exercise, launching its "We live in your world" line.

While the references to Westpac are limited to one ad, which points out to customers that they now have access to Westpac's ATM network, the television ads play up the size of St George.

In one ad, a semitrailer slams on the brakes, coming to a screeching halt, so an echidna can cross the road. The voice-over says: "Just because you're big doesn't mean you have to always act like it."

Although St George has previously played up Happy the Dragon, the logo is confined to the branding in this campaign. But Mr Bartlett denies that the dragon could be phased out.