Desert Schools FCU Puts the Wraps on New Promotional Vehicle

PHOENIX – Desert Schools FCU has ratchet-up its visibility with a new kind of vehicle–30 pint-sized cars wrapped in promotional messages bearing the credit unions blue-and-white colors. The tiny Toyota Scions, wrapped in adhesive-backed messages by a local graphic design company are changed on a regular basis to promote the changing credit union products or services or community events the credit union may be participating in. “It’s just great when there’s a parade or community activity in town; it really raises the visibility of the credit union,” Desert School public relations director Jason Meyers told The Credit union Journal. The practice is known as guerilla marketing because these marketing vehicles keep popping up on an arbitrary schedule. “We’re constantly hearing from our members that they’ve seen one of our vehicles out on the freeway or at the supermarket or around their neighborhood.” The small fleet is apportioned out to employees, most of them to the credit union’s marketing and promotional staff, who drive them to community events. One of the promotional vehicles has a message in Spanish that targets the growing Latino community. Unlike television ads or Internet promotions, vehicle wraps have a captive audience, among motorists stuck in traffic or parked nearby or passing pedestrians. “We’re always looking for a creative way to get our brand name out there,” said Meyers.