The Seattle Seahawks weren't the only Washington institution to make a debut at this year's Super Bowl.
This year's NFL championship game featured a single 30-second television spot touting the benefits of credit union membership on Northwest affiliates of ABC, this year's Super Bowl network.
The commercial featured Seattle's Groovology, a local hip-hop duo, singing the praises of credit unions and shared branching in a rap song entitled TogetherBetter, the name of the ad series Washington's credit unions have been running for the past six-months.
The ad, which can be downloaded off the Internet at togetherbetter.com, was produced by Seattle firms Fueled Creative LLC and the Steenman Associates ad agency.
The half-minute spot represented a major gamble by the Washington CU League, which coordinated the cooperative ad campaign. But the gamble paid off in a big way, enabling the credit unions to buy the spot for what amounts to a dirt-cheap $70,000, before rates went up-that's a discount of as much as 50% for local spots for the big game.
The credit unions had discussed what it would take to buy a spot for the Super Bowl as early as last summer, when the Seahawks were considered among the favorites to make the big game. Then, when things began to crystalize and the Seahawks emerged as one of the best teams in the NFL, the credit unions agreed to sponsor a spot in November, long before the teams were set for the championship game, according to Jamie Chase, spokesman for the league. "When it got to November and it looked like the Seahawks were going to be competing for the Super Bowl, we decided to go forward," said Chase
The bet paid off big when the Seahawks qualified for their first Super Bowl last month, thrilling local football fans and credit union advocates, alike. "This way, we can go to the Super Bowl with our team," said Chase.
The Super Bowl ad is part of Washington credit unions' $500,000, year-long ad campaign, which will continue to run through the middle of the year. The ads will also be run following the big game on local ABC and CBS TV and radio affiliates at prime time and during morning news through mid-year.
The TogetherBetter ad campaign was sponsored by 20 Washington credit unions, Financial Services Centers Corp. and the Washington league.
