When Rodney Dangerfield surprised a local advertiser with an unexpected celebrity endorsement. For free.

This is the story of a community bank, a catchy jingle, and a serendipitous celebrity endorsement.

As you know, celebrities are paid handsomely for endorsing products and services; the bigger the celebrity, the larger the fee.

Whether a celebrity endorsement is worth the sizable extra investment is debatable. It's one thing to have a spokesman who is intimately, if not inseparably associated with a brand. For instance, Tom Bodett's decades-long association with Motel 6 has been a huge win for both parties. However, simply shelling out megabucks to have a well-known actor or sports figure attach their fame to your name doesn't guarantee that you'll recoup your investment.

But what if you could get that big celebrity endorsement at no cost?

Pullman's last independent community bank was Bank of Pullman, which long-time residents will recall was purchased by AmericanWest Bank, which was in turn purchased by Banner Bank. But 26 years ago, Bank of Pullman was still Pullman's community bank, and its president, Gary Schell, was proud to provide banking services to many local families and businesses.

The bank was a regular advertiser with us for many years. In the late 80's or early 90's, Gary invested in a catchy jingle package (one of my all-time favorites), We're Hometown People That You Know, to reinforce that special bond between the bank and its customers. Here's an example of one of Gary's radio spots at the time.

Then, in 1993, something unexpected happens. Gary's cousin Joan marries comedian Rodney Dangerfield. And one day, Gary gets this cassette tape in the mail with a nice note from his new cuz. Turns out Rodney had written and voiced a spot for Bank of Pullman, as a gesture of goodwill, and sent it to Gary to put on the air.

A big celebrity endorsement, no strings attached, completely free.

Gary told me the story, gave me the tape, and said he'd like to run it. I took it back to the studio and edited Dangerfield's voiceover to fit in one of the special cuts from the Hometown People jingle package. The result was this spot.

Evidently, it impressed a few people. Earlier this year, someone in the Remember Pullman When Facebook group posted that he could recall Rodney Dangerfield endorsing Bank of Pullman on the radio and wondered what that was all about. Someone tagged me in the post, which sent me down a rabbit hole in search of an old cassette tape. Months later, while going through some old minidiscs, I found the two spots above, along with some other vintage material.

Twenty-six years later, the spot still makes me smile. You might enjoy it, too.