By Diane Franklin

Editor's note: This is an unabridged version of an article by the same name in the August issue of Credit Union Management.

How far can $150 take you in broadening awareness for your credit union? At first blush, the answer might seem to be "not very." But in the case of $670 million TruWest Credit Union, Scottsdale, Ariz., a modest $150 investment helped put the organization on a path of renewed membership growth. As a result of doing so much with so little, the credit union was the recipient of the GMA Golden Shoestring Award, presented during the Golden Mirror Awards honors ceremony at CUES Nexus Conference in San Diego in April. The award recognizes creative efforts on a limited budget.

TruWest CU received the Golden Shoestring for "Fee Friends," a humorous radio commercial. The ad depicts a man who can't seem to shake an annoying foursome he met at the bank—transfer fee, annual, fee, over-the-limit fee and late fee. Tagging along with these four is another loathsome character, high interest rate. The man encounters a friend who is not familiar with this obnoxious group of fees. Why? Because he's a member of TruWest CU. At the CU, he reports, he was able to get a Platinum Visa with a great low rate, no transfer fee, no annual fee and fantastic airline rewards.

The marketing team at TruWest CU wrote the copy for the radio ad, then turned to radio station 101.5 KZON. For $150, KZON provided the voice talent and also produced and recorded the ad. Using humorous, pitched voices for the fees and emphasizing the differences between the credit union and area banks, the radio spot did its job effectively.

Last year's winner, Sarah Ermatinger (left), and CUES Chairman Gary Irvin, CCE, were on hand to congratulate TruWest CU's Lenore Froehlich.

 "In just 60 seconds, we were able to get across the fact that we had a very competitive Visa card with low rates and no annual fee or transfer fee," reports Lenore Froehlich, TruWest CU's VP/marketing. "We wanted to attract the non-member."

The radio ad certainly did its share of attracting non-members, reversing a negative membership growth trend that occurred in the aftermath of substantial layoffs at Motorola, TruWest CU's key employee group. After a net loss of 75 members over a three-month period, TruWest CU had a net gain of 197 members for the month in which the radio ad ran. That was 16.5 percent over the credit union's goal.

"It was an economical ad for us, and when you look at the results, it was really worthwhile," Froehlich reports.

In addition, the radio spot helped TruWest CU in its goal of building brand awareness. This is especially important, given the fact that TruWest CU changed its name from Motorola Employees Credit Union-West and also expanded its field of membership in the past couple of years. "We're still making people aware that they are eligible to join," Froehlich reports.

Being able to accomplish marketing objectives in a budget-conscious manner is a high priority at TruWest CU, according to Froehlich. "You have to have strong negotiation skills in order to get the most for your money," she says. "Fortunately, I have a good relationship with the radio station, and they were willing to work with us."

Dan Desmond, TruWest CU president/CEO and a CUES member, praises Froehlich for her ability to create cost-effective yet successful campaigns, especially with the dual challenges of transitioning to a new name and an expanded field of membership. "Lenore is a remarkably creative individual and has demonstrated an unbelievable ability to stretch her marketing dollars," Desmond says. "Her ingenuity and clever resourcefulness have made both her and TruWest Credit Union highly successful."

Froehlich points out that her success is made possible by her entire marketing team, which includes a marketing manager, a media specialist, communications specialist and a member relations specialist. Collectively, they have the in-house talent to develop creative and effective campaigns. "I couldn't have done this without them," she says. "When we get in a room and all of us are brainstorming, we come up with a lot of great ideas."

Humor is quite frequently a major component of this marketing team's best and most effective campaigns. That certainly was the case with "Fee Friends."

"We ask ourselves what are the commercials that people remember, and most often it's the commercials that use humor," Froehlich reports. "Humor can be very effective for us, so long as it's done professionally. Humor is what gets people talking about a particular ad, and if they're talking about it, that means they remembered it."

Diane Franklin is a free-lance writer based in Florissant, Mo.