ONTARIO, Calif.-A digital media and video service rolled out by the California League Services Corp. is now prepared to create everything from podcasts to TV spots for client credit unions, with an emphasis on media targeting younger consumers.
"We built the studio from the ground up, from the walls to the lights and camera," said Joe Keller, the CCUL's VP of digital media, who heads up C-Sun Studios. "With the digital age we are in, to get information out to our membership in a quicker manner it was necessary to use video-especially with the younger generation. The second piece was to generate income for the league and the California League Services Corp."
C-Sun Studio's focus is on credit unions. To be profitable and to keep costs low for CUs, however, it also offers services to other companies. Keller was at WesCorp for 20 years and has an IT degree and background, but at the corporate helped to transform its marketing function, including video functions. Prior to joining the league it did not offer such a service.
Full Production Studio
"We have a full production studio here in the league building," he said, noting it just finished making a video for CUNA's "Don't Tax My Credit Union" campaign with Bob Arnould, CUL's SVP-government affairs.
Other non-CU clients include the RMJ Foundation, which had C-Sun Studios put together financial literacy and awareness videos for its "Bite of Reality" series. Executive Compensation Solutions has contracted for 10 videos this year on results of its industry surveys on executive compensation. The National Youth Involvement Board used C-Sun to create teaser videos to promote its upcoming conference.
For the latter, Keller and a camera crew visited San Diego to film scenes of Petco Park and the Gaslamp District, he noted.
"We can help credit unions put together a simple podcast, a television commercial or live streaming," he said. "We are on a good path, slowly but surely getting bigger. We are working with CU Direct Corporation. We did a lot of interviews at its conference in Las Vegas last month. Another client is Western Payment Alliance, or WesPay, which does ACH education and consulting. We have done approximately 20 broadcasts for WesPay this year. We charge WesPay a flat fee, and then the company sells it to credit unions to watch for certification programs."
Word of Mouth
Keller believes the best marketing is word of mouth, so he and his staff are working to get videos up on credit union websites. It is currently working with Grossmont CU and Financial Partners CU. He added the "Don't Tax My Credit Union" video was ready for release at the time of this interview, "and hopefully that spurs some interest."
One other challenge, Keller continued, is to figure out how to use video to benefit the credit union. He said it is one thing to think a video is "cool" and want to use it, but then there are considerations such as the audience and the message that have to be worked out.
"We help with everything from the scripting to the shooting," he said. "A lot of people do not realize what we are doing here, so once word gets out it will be cool. We do 3D animation, on-site conference shooting, video streaming and more. If you can think of it and have the budget, we can do it."
