Members are Listening
The economic crisis has created a perfect time to tell the credit union story

By Lisa Hochgraf

March 11, 2009

"Use the news to make the news," quips CUES member Gary Easterling, CCE, about his credit union's new publicity campaign.

$850 million United Federal Credit Union launched in early February an "edgy" campaign designed to tell the credit union story during these tough economic times—times that make consumers interested in the difference between credit unions and banks, and in working with responsibly run financial institutions, according to Easterling, president/CEO of the St. Joseph, Mich.-based CU.

As a credit union that has been managed well financially and didn't contribute to the economic crisis, "we have a real story to tell here," says Easterling. And the current environment "is a perfect setting to tell the story," since people want to know about viable alternates to banks.

The campaign includes print ads that point to a Web site, which features video clips of Easterling answering such questions as "What are TARP funds?" and "What is the UNFCU difference?"

One of the print ads features a picture of a brain with a lot of "common sense" sections—and one for "pizza." The text under the picture reads:

"You're looking at the typical brain of an employee of United Federal Credit Union. Notice it's not filled with greed or gluttony. You can tell that it's grounded. It's about being sensible. It's about doing what's right even when it's not easy. That's how we view things. Hmmm, maybe that's why we didn't need bailout funds. Or maybe it's because we have your best interests in mind. Learn more about what makes us so unique and so secure by visiting UNITEDfcu.com/commonsense."

CUES member Donna Rohrer, the CU's VP/marketing, says the print ads are running in newspapers in all the markets the credit union serves—in Michigan, Arkansas, Ohio, and North Carolina. "We feel we've got a good story to tell when there isn't a lot of good news out there," she adds.

See three more ads from the campaign at the very bottom of the UNITEDfcu.com/commonsense site.

Easterling says the edginess of the campaign stems partly from the fact that the CU had been working with bvk, Milwaukee, to reach out to Gen Y, telling the agency, "We know if you don't make us a little uncomfortable, we're probably missing the mark" with this young set.

In all, "We were working on something else, and awareness of this opportunity (to tell the CU story in an edgy way) kind of popped," Easterling says. But he thinks the approach translates well to demographics other than Gen Y in the current times.

"Our research supports the idea that receptiveness for Gen Y ¿edginess' has gone up the age group spectrum" in the current environment, he says.

Easterling notes that the new campaign isn't the CU's first effort to reach out as tough times came along. Rather the CU's focus on public relations in this vein "started at the beginning of last year, when we saw early signs of stress" in the economy, such as the Fed starting to reduce interest rates.

At that time the CU started sending open letters to members about what was going on, and Easterling started doing a local radio discussion spot every Monday morning. These efforts were designed to "calm people down, to talk about the news and what does it really mean to the mainstream," he says.

Like United FCU, Meridian Trust Federal Credit Union has been laying the groundwork for current public relations efforts right along, according to CUES member Kim Withers, president/CEO of the $190 million CU in Cheyenne, Wyo.

Meridian Trust FCU has participated in CU CARES, a group of local CU marketers who got together to do such things as host a citywide carnival and jointly present financial education seminars.

This group now will send a joint release sometime after final guidance is released on how to book entries related to corporate stabilization. The message?

"Credit unions' solid performance over several decades is why the industry can withstand the current economic crisis," Withers says. "All the hard work of building capital and going the right things for the right reasons will pay off during these times."

While Desert Schools Federal Credit Union, Phoenix, hasn't launched an all-out campaign in response to the economic crisis, it has several initiatives designed to keep the good news about the credit union in front of members and the public, says Jason Meyers, director of marketing/PR at the $3.1 billion CU.

For example, when the National Credit Union Administration increased its insurance on deposits to $250,000, the credit union used the plasma screens in its lobbies to bring that message to members. "We really made sure that was prominent," Meyers says.

Desert Schools FCU also is leveraging 2009 as its 70^th year in business to focus on the fact that the CU has been around for a long time, has local roots and is stable.

"We're posting losses like everyone else," but CUs also are better off than everyone else, Meyers says. The right kinds of PR messages help to boost member confidence.

The CU's newest department, the loss mitigation department, works with members to deal with the fact that Arizona is one of the hardest hit states in terms of real estate, with one out of every 149 homes in foreclosure and Desert Schools FCU's main market of Maricopa County at the center of the crisis. The loss mitigation department promotes the message, "Talk to us early before it's too late."

Finally, Desert Schools FCU has created a "Money Matters" series of booklets about financial fitness, plus a separate guide called, "Living Better in Today's Economy." The CU's staff distributes Money Matters booklets to members who might need more information about "Making Sense of Money," "Managing Your Checking Account," "Understanding Credit" or "Protecting Yourself From Identity Theft." "Living Better in Today's' Economy" is freely available in the CU's branch lobbies.

Desert Schools FCU reintroduced the booklets to the public on Feb. 25 in this TV spot it sponsored.

Today's economy is "a really great opportunity for CUs to tell their story and to educate people about the system in general," Meyers says.

Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES editor.

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