Weber Shandwick is supporting the U.S. Treasury as it runs out the clock on paper savings bonds.
The Treasury says the move – halting paper bond sales as of Dec. 31, 2011 after 76 years -- is part of a multi-pronged effort of “going electronic” aimed to save $120M over five years.
As the transition mounts, the federal agency is running a PR effort, including an online timeline launched this week, to mark paper bonds’ past while touting the benefits of digital.
“We wanted to step back and remember how savings bonds came to symbolize the events, people and places that shaped our nation through good times and difficult periods over the past 76 years,” said U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios.
WS has worked with the federal agency in the past, including its 2004 campaign to urge employees to use direct deposit over paper checks.
The Bureau of Public Debt said in July that financial institutions would stop issuing paper savings bonds on Jan. 1, 2012, a bid to save $70M over the first five years.
Bonds are now sold via the treasurydirect.gov website.
President Franklin Roosevelt kicked off the savings bond program in 1935.