GREENSBORO, N.C.-After discovering how few citizens in this state know that credit unions are federally insured, the North Carolina Credit Union League is trying to hammer home that message.
A group of 22 Triad-area (Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point) credit unions have joined forces to reassure credit union members-and let prospective new credit union members know - that credit unions are federally insured, and the guarantee is every bit as strong as banks.
The participating credit unions have purchased advertising space in seven local publications, and created a website-www.triadcreditunions.com - to share basic information about the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund.
"We recently asked North Carolinians whether credit unions are federally insured, and only about half of them knew for sure," said John Radebaugh, president/CEO of the League. "With so many people nervous about the financial system, those credit unions understand that this is an important message to deliver. The main purpose of the campaign is to educate the public."
In addition to offering reassurance that credit union deposits are insured, the credit unions also wanted to send consumers another message: credit unions are working together in this challenging time, Radebaugh noted.
"Credit unions work together in good times and tough times to provide the best benefits to their members," he said.
In all, it's an $86,000 campaign. The League emailed the credit unions in the Triad-area asking them to participate in the campaign. Depending on their sizes, credit unions had to contribute between $26 and $30,000 to participate.
Radebaugh said that it came together very quickly, after "about a week of nonstop action."
The campaign, which began Sunday, Oct. 19, is planned to run for a total of four weeks, in seven local newspapers -five dailies, and one weekly Hispanic publication, and one weekly African-American publication. Radebaugh said it may wind up running a little bit longer than four weeks. There are several ads designed to attract different ethnic groups and age groups. At CU Journal's press time, the bottom of the advertisement referred people to look at the website for more information. However, Radebaugh said that may be changed to suggest non-credit union members interested in joining to call a telephone number.
The creation of the campaign went smoothly, Radebaugh said, because the message was generic to all the credit unions.
"Everyone agreed with the message," he said.
One credit union participating is the 52,000-member Members Credit Union in Winston-Salem.
"This campaign clearly describes the credit union difference, as well as the safety and soundness that our collective conservative approach to financial services has afforded," said Matt Davis, director of public relations for the $200-million credit union.
For More Information
www.ncleague.org
www.pidemonttriadnc.com
www.triadcreditunions.com
www.memcu.org
