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Shanghai -- CHINA'S BANKS traditionally never had to work for customers. Instead, they were state-run companies that offered the same basic savings accounts.

Now, on the cusp of a wave of increased competition from foreign entrants, the nation's banks are ramping up advertising spending.

China's banks are rushing to promote themselves as the long-awaited opening of the banking market in December draws closer, when World Trade Organization rules dictate that foreign banks should start getting access to the market. Chinese banks worry they could lose customers to the new foreign entrants.

In most cases, their ads are different from the fuzzy, brand- building ads that Western banks often prefer. Chinese banks are spending money on detailed advertisements in the mainstream media, in part because of a lack of direct-mail advertising. To digest data and product specifications in a typical ad, it can even help to have a calculator handy.

In a series of two-minute infomercials on Shanghai TV, for example, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China customers are depicted weighing the profit potential of deposit options with their banker after an interest-rate increase. A China Construction Bank magazine advertisement, topped by a photo of a family enjoying Disneyland, uses hundreds of words to explain a credit-card promotion. China Minsheng Banking announces its "T Plan" savings account with a bold headline -- and a complex table that shows the maximum payout of 3.02%.

Just four Chinese banks split nearly 70% of the market's $1.9 trillion in individual deposits, so building name recognition isn't necessary. Bank of China alone has 118 million individual depositors, 200,000 employees and 11,000 branches.

Instead of brand-building by the banks, "we've seen more in China around products and specifics," says Oliver Stratton, head of the banking practice in Hong Kong at Bain & Co., a consulting firm. Bain estimates Chinese financial institutions are spending as much as $450 million annually on advertising -- much of it to promote credit cards, which bankers consider a way to get a foot in the door with customers. Television is estimated to account for 70% of the spending.

Some bank annual reports say the banks are lifting advertising spending by one-third from the previous year. A number of banks and advertising agencies declined to comment about their specific campaigns.

In addition to fending off new competition, the banks are trying to boost revenue from consumers. The challenge for deposit-flush Chinese banks is to prove their own financial savvy and nudge customers into new products -- from credit cards to foreign-currency accounts -- that generate fees.

Tom Doctoroff, chief executive at WPP Group's JWT agency in Shanghai, says Chinese customers respond to "tools to help you succeed."

But Chinese banks are thrusting inherently complex products at people who a decade ago couldn't even get a home mortgage from their bank. Also, product minutiae are pumped into mainstream media like newspapers and magazines because Chinese banks often don't send monthly statements, eliminating a favored U.S. marketing channel: direct mail.

In a fact-crammed, 15-second TV spot, Bank of Communications shows restaurant diners flying through the air with a credit card to pay their bill -- and a chance to win in a marketing promotion. ICBC also pushes specifics of various products with colorful ads on a big Web- site portal, sina.com.

Even some global players, such as HSBC Holdings, known for more general image-building campaigns elsewhere, have added detail to promotions in China.

To be sure, some Chinese bank marketing focuses more on image than financial details, such as Bank of China's sponsorship of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and its pick of skater Yang Yang as Image Ambassador.