IRWINDALE, Calif.-SCE FCU's "People Powered Banking" branding campaign features 10-foot tall images of its members all around the Los Angeles area, along with a cheeky message.
Annette Coronado, director of marketing for the $497-million credit union, said pictures of members will be placed on freeway billboards, street billboards, bus tails, bus wraps, bus shelters, mall kiosks and credit union vehicle wraps.
"All of the advertising leads to a microsite, not our website," she said. "The microsite is geared toward non members in a nice, conversational style. It tells people what SCE FCU is and what's in it for me."
There actually are two microsites-one in English at www.sce4me.com and the other in Spanish at www.sceespanol.com. People Powered Banking is in the second year of a multi-year campaign.
"We refreshed the images and the messaging every three months. This term we are using 'Banking You'd Set Your Sister Up With.' All of them say, 'Join Us' from members to consumers to join their credit union.
The roots of the People Powered Banking campaign are in the financial crisis and tightening of credit. Coronado said SCE FCU management realized consumers were having a tough time getting credit at the time they needed it most.
"We were not a victim of the subprime crisis, so we were in a position of helping people. We know a lot of people do not know what credit unions are, so we thought the slogan 'People Powered Banking' was the best way to explain it. The financial instability with banks means we need to communicate with consumers and let them know we are not unstable."
Members from a variety of different financial backgrounds were selected to be models for the campaign, including high school students, local city officials and people who started a business during the recent recession, she said.
No Easy Measure
Although SCE FCU is happy with the feedback it is getting, Coronado acknowledged results have been difficult to measure. She said mechanisms were set up when the campaign began that were designed to allow employees to note when new members talked about the campaign.
"But it didn't work," she recalled. "So we created a 'Spot us and win' contest. People simply took pictures of the campaign ads and sent them to us. There was a winner of a Flip video camera at each branch."
In a continuing effort to gather information on the success of the campaign, SCE FCU's Net Promoter Score survey now includes questions about seeing the ads. Coronado said management has received "many meaningful stories" about how much people like the campaign, including by people who are in the ads.
"They got their family members to join," she noted.
One measurement that is working: microsite visits. In July, the English site received 134 visits. In the beginning of the campaign the English site averaged 100 visits per week, Coronado said.
"We have gotten a lot of great verbal feedback on the 'Sister' messaging. People think it is very humorous."
