Members Credit Union Ramps Up Football Promotion

Kudos to Members Credit Union for coming up with a creative, low-cost way to showcase its annual "Football Pick ‘Em" promotion. As mentioned here last week, Matt Davis and a few other credit union staffers … including CEO Jack Braswell … videotaped and produced short segments aimed at showing a more human side of the people who work at Members Credit Union.

Davis has bought Internet advertising on three outlets where Members has locations: WXII-TV in Winston-Salem, where Members is headquartered; the Sandspur, a Hope Mills newspaper; and the Hickory Daily Record. People logging on to these web sites can click on banner ads to view the videos.

The contest costs nothing to play and you do not have to be a member of the credit union to compete. The credit union selects weekly, monthly and grand prize winners in the contest. Weekly prize winners get a cap and a tee-shirt, while the grand prize winner gets to select a gas grill, a high-def television or a desktop computer for their prize.

Davis says about 600 people each year play Football Pick ‘Em, and he’s hoping to grow that number to 2,000 this year with the videos and advertising oomph. Since Matt is a video whiz, the videos didn’t cost them a dime to produce, and the Net ads set them back $1,500.

Matt says the point of the videos is to show the crew at Members as human beings that like to have fun. People you’d want to invite over to the house and surf the ‘net with, or grill out with … or (well you get the idea). It’s great to see people at a credit union having a little fun and not taking themselves too seriously. Way to go, Matt and Members!

Short Takes and Teases for A Friday

Ever seen those inane television 6 o'clock news "teases" that seemingly come on while you're around the dinner table? Stuff like, "A new study says a popular food may kill you, and you may be eating it now ... we'll have the story at 11." Well, this serving of CU Communicator won't kill you (and hopefully it's not inane), but it is going to leave you hanging just a bit. There's good stuff happening out in NC CU Land, and I thought I'd give you a peek at what's happening (without playing spoiler).

First, a short take ... as you stock market watchers know, the Dow gave up more than 300 points yesterday ... part of a rout in the global equity markets. The culprit, in part? Our old buddy, the subprime lending issue. Of course, daily movements in the markets are usually about expectations, not reality. Still, 300+ points is a big number on one day. Which leads us to our first tease ...

Foreclosure is about reality, not expectations ... Kudos to State Employees' Credit Union, which is about to roll out a big number of its own very soon, perhaps even today. About six weeks ago the credit union rolled out some products aimed to help members trapped in risky subprime mortgages. Well, SECU is working up a press release that will share the dollar figure of mortgage refi's in these products so far.

How big a number is it? Well, there's six zeros at the end, and two crooked numbers leading the train. Like I said, it's a big number.

Better than "the big number" though is the fact that hundreds of families in NC will keep the keys to their slice of the American Dream in their pockets, and won't have to turn them over to an auctioneer. Hundreds helped - in just six weeks.

Again, kudos to SECU for really being about "people helping people." If you've taken a pass on this issue so far and you could be helping, you might want to set aside some time today to take a look in the mirror.

Tease #2: another credit union that gets it ... Carolina Postal Credit Union. In this space last week, we chatted about CPCU's Priority Payday Checking, and the credit union's intense focus on serving the member, not the bean counters. Yesterday, the Marketing Diva of CPCU (and world renown) blogged an update about the product ... and the credit unions that are looking at adopting this program.

What the Diva won't tell you (yet) is that the credit union is about to roll out one heck of a great product and promotion. It's one part loan, one part slang, and one part duct tape (I'm not kidding). Best of all, it's a great fit with their members. More to come ...

Tease #3: are we having fun yet? Wow, the folks at Members Credit Union sure look to be! The credit union is putting a new spin on its annual "Football Pick 'Em" contest this year. Click here to go to the Credit Union Warrior blog to view some videos about "Football, not Futbol."

The CU Communicator especially enjoyed Office Destruction and Face Paint ... although the keen acting abilities of CEO Jack Braswell are on display in Management Meeting.

More on how the credit union plans to use these videos next week on CU Communicator. In the meantime, be careful what you eat for dinner. :)

We Pause to Give Thanks for This Server Meltdown ...

There seems to be a lot of pessimism in credit union circles these days. Member growth seems to be a lot less than we'd like, and surveys show that people who don't know about us really don't know about us.

Meanwhile, new competitive threats seem to emerge weekly in the tech-happy world we live in. Companies and concepts such as ING and microlending seem to be like the Prius to our credit union Yugo.

But anyone who saw Liz Pulliam Weston's column titled "Ditch Your Bank for a Credit Union" in MSN Money this week had to feel a little better. Weston wrote a simply GLOWING article about the positives of credit unions, written to those in her large audience who might just be a little sick and tired of their fee-happy, money-grubbing bank.

And apparently, more than a few folks were receptive to the message. Weston included a link to the California Credit Union League's national CU Matchup web site in her column.

In the wake of the column's release online, the ensuing rush to CU Matchup crashed the site's server!

This episode tells us a few things ...

• Credit unions need to continue telling their story to reporters. Advertising is nice, but how much would you have to pay to get the reaction a column like Weston's sparked?
• A lot of people simply hate their bank, and many banks have spent millions in advertising to address it and build a more customer friendly-image. But as the late Molly Ivins once said, "You can put lipstick on a pig and call her Monique ... but she's still a pig."
• If you're emulating banks with your branding and messaging, see point # 2.
• Weston's column includes an important piece of shorthand that connects with people. Weston wrote: "Banks hate -- hate -- credit unions." To many consumers, the resulting logic goes ... "I hate my bank, and my bank hates credit unions ... h-m-m-m-m credit unions must be pretty good." When you talk about your credit union, whether it's with a reporter or in the quarterly newsletter - always, always ... always contrast yourselves with banks.

So let's cheer up, keep doing great things and start talking about those great things more!

I leave you with this lovely commercial produced by WaMu. Funny stuff, but it'd be funnier if it weren't so true. :)

In Praise of Simplicity

In credit union circles, we often praise the "Grow or Go Away" mode of thinking and we seemingly chant the mantra of "Bigger is Better" without much thought as to whether for each and every organization that saying rings true.

Today, we're going to spend a little time praising simplicity and flexibility, two words that not only can lead to growth ... but more importantly, lead to building a strong brand and member loyalty.

Put another way, there's nothing wrong with being large, but it's better to be relevant. A good case in point is Carolina Postal Credit Union down in Charlotte. The credit union recently announced the roll out of a "Priority Payday Checking" product.

It's a simple concept ... the US Government makes its ACH salary deposits for postal employees early Wednesday morning for payment two days later. CPCU immediately deposits this money into the accounts of postal employees who have checking accounts at the credit union.

While getting paid two days early is nice, the real member benefit is that postal carriers can transact their business at the credit union on Wednesday or Thursday instead of just on Friday, which according to the credit union is a particularly busy day for postal employees.

For front line staff at CPCU, this also means that postal paydays are a little less hectic. In short, everyone wins.

This new product has already created new checking accounts at the credit union and has no doubt generated great word-of-mouth among members (which of course is the best kind of PR you can get).

Innovative ideas like this come from credit unions that have more homogeneous member bases, and it helps when the trip from the CEOs office to marketing to compliance to member services is a few short steps ... not a crushing journey of paperwork, bar graphs, turf wars and legal consultations. Kudos to CPCU for seeing an opportunity to serve its members and going for it!

Being a large credit union can have its advantages, but big ships not only have a hard time steering away from icebergs ... but also have a harder time steering toward opportunities.

So buck up smaller credit unions, and remember that knowing your member's needs and designing products to suit them is far more important than asset size.