LAS VEGAS — An eye-catching, and somewhat controversial, campaign to promote its suite of checking products did not bring home the bacon for $692 million One Nevada Credit Union, as new account openings were flat during the promo period.
But Greg Barnes, SVP of marketing, the campaign called BACON — an acronym for Bad A$$ Checking from One Nevada — has been a success overall due to a remarkable amount of publicity, including segments on local news and a spotlight in one of the popular weekly magazines here.
"The campaign ran for eight weeks, Aug. 19 to Oct. 18," Barnes noted. "We had goals to meet as far as new checking accounts. We did not meet them — no more openings than a normal month. But engagement, especially on social media, and interest in the credit union were at an all-time high. People made more comments on our You Tube page than anything we have done. Some hated it, some loved it, but lots of people were talking about it, which is good."
A teaser campaign began on Aug. 1 with digital billboards along major freeways and roadways in Las Vegas showing a single piece of bacon. One Nevada later modified the lone piece of bacon to include a shark, in honor of Discovery Channel's "Shark Week," and still later with a trendy mustache.
Print ads also ran in the local newspaper showing only a single piece of bacon with the designated hashtag #baconcu.
TV Commercials
A series of
The bacon-crazy mother suddenly has time for bacon in the morning, making bacon sandwiches for her husband and bacon burgers for dinner for her son and his friend. Both the father and son are shown explaining how bacon crazy she is for her new checking account at One Nevada to questioning co-workers and friends.
Other promotional mediums included a larger-than-life-sized bacon cutout where members visiting a branch could take a photo with the bacon and post to One Nevada's social media sites for a chance to win $250, and a Facebook contest where those who "like" the One Nevada Facebook page can enter for a chance to win a new grill and a year's supply of bacon.
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"The first commercial got 21,000 views, which is a record for us," said Barnes. "We also got quite a bit of local news coverage. Because of the tease with the bacon billboards, people were interested in who was behind the ads. The local CBS affiliate did a long segment that included the entire commercial."
The PR for the credit union was "great," Barnes continued, offsetting the lack of direct response in checking accounts.
Asked if the campaign will help the credit union in the long run due to increased visibility and reputation, he replied, "I think it already has helped."
"We are running an auto refinance campaign for the holidays right now and have had a great response, so we think BACON has been successful in other ways."
About That Word A$$
While it should be noted the word "ass" is allowed to be said on prime time television, One Nevada went so far as to bleep it during its TV spots for BACON, and spelled it with dollar signs in print. Still, there were some complaints.
Barnes said the credit union's response was to point out trailers for the movie "Kick Ass 2" were out at the same time, without bleeps or dollar signs.
Visitors to the YouTube page engaged in a lively debate, with some defending the spot while others complained.
Will One Nevada do something similar in the future?
"We are always looking to push the envelope and break out of the clutter with unique marketing campaigns," Barnes said.
