ORLANDO - Fairwinds Credit Union is partnering with the National Basketball Association’s Orlando Magic to raise awareness and attract new members, with a special focus on checking accounts.
The $1.7-billion Fairwinds has signed a one-year corporate sponsorship with the Magic that includes radio ads from Orlando Head Coach Stan Van Gundy, ATMs inside Amway Arena, ads on stadium electronic message boards, and the first debit card to be branded with the team’s logo. The credit union had been interested in partnering with the Magic for years, according to EVP-Marketing Dianne Owen, because of the NBA team’s strong community image.
“The Orlando Magic is a great organization and promotes family values through their work with children in the local area,” Owen said. “They are a great fit for us…We decided to sign the agreement last October because we’d finally grown to a size that makes the sponsorship workable for us.”
While the advertising drives CU awareness, the debit card is aimed primarily at new members. The card launched Feb. 8 behind the theme “Real Fans Carry Blue”–the dominant color in the Magic’s uniforms. Existing and new checking account holders get the card free, and Fairwinds hopes to issue 2,500 of the cards by the end of the NBA season, with 75% going to new members–something Fairwinds expects will help the credit union at a time when margins are being squeezed around the country.
“We are looking, number one, at attracting that primary checking relationship,” Owen said. “And it is a low cost of funds. We had good growth last year, but it’s getting tougher to maintain margins. I think we are going to see a lot of credit unions and banks going after checking accounts.”
The card was introduced first using POS marketing inside its branches and on its website, attracting 700 takers in the first 12 days. Owen says most of the activity has been from existing members, but is forecasting that will change when the full campaign begins running. Fairwinds will run a billboard ad along a main highway, print ads, radio spots from Van Gundy during Magic broadcasts, and special promotions at home games.
Fairwinds already had a presence at Magic games, sponsoring a glass booth emblazoned with its name in which fans could grab wind-blown cash in a period of time. It is now seeking additional exposure inside Amway Arena. Between the third and fourth periods at selected games, Fairwinds will pick fans from the stands to assemble large puzzle pieces that create an Orlando Magic debit card.
“We want to draw attention to the card,” Owen said. “So we created a giant cardboard replica of it and broke it into puzzle pieces. We’ll pull fans out of the audience and give them a few minutes to put the puzzle together. We’ll end up with a giant Magic debit card on the court for people to see, and then we’ll encourage everyone at the game to stop by the nearest Fairwinds branch.”
Orlando has been a successful NBA franchise, which Fairwinds believes will make the investment–including an NBA licensing fee–worthwhile. In addition to tracking new members generated by the card, the CU will measure the campaign’s effectiveness by having front-line staff ask new members how they learned about the CU. Fairwinds is also donating $2 to the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation for every Orlando Magic debit card issued. “Whether the Magic continue to win or if they have a losing season,” Owen said, “we’ll stay with the sponsorship for at least three years. We see the value of what the organization does in the community. You go to any game and see all the kids who love the Magic no matter what the result is on the court. That’s what’s really important to us. Even if they have bad season we won’t be a fair-weather sponsor.”
