COLUMBIA, S.C.-Credit unions in the Palmetto State have launched a statewide campaign to spread good deeds and increase consumer awareness of CUs.
Known as MADTAG ("Make A Difference-Tag, you're it"), the campaign was the result of a brainstorming session by the South Carolina league's media committee that sought to both illustrate the CU difference to communities throughout the state, as well as involve credit unions that haven't historically been significantly involved with League projects.
For the inaugural MADTAG event, CUs throughout South Carolina provided a total of $8,000 in free or discounted gas to consumers. At Carolina Collegiate FCU here, VP of Marketing Helen Powell said cars started lining up outside the gas station at 4:30 a.m.-five hours before the promotion even started. By the time the first free gas was pumped, said Powell, the line of cars extended all the way around the building and into the street.
"It really spoke to me about the economy, honestly," said Powell. "Everybody was frantic, worrying about were they going to be able to get free gas. We told people that it's from the credit unions, because we want to make a difference. We said: let's talk to people where it really hurts right now, and what's going to make a difference for them?"
In addition to $20 in free gas (up to a total of $2,000), the CU gave each recipient a small flyer that said "MADTAG: You've been tagged, pass it on." That flyer included mention of the credit unions of South Carolina.
"Some of them were credit union members, but not many, so we felt like we reached a lot of potential members and opened their eyes to the fact that we do things differently," said Powell. Additionally, she said, "it opened a door to an opportunity to talk about credit unions in general and what we do and how we help people and how we really care."
According to Bo McDonald, a marketer who works with several CUs in the state and helped plan the MADTAG campaign, just the one event generated more than $200,000 in free media coverage (based the amount networks charge for 30 seconds of ad time and then multiplied by the amount of time the effort was covered on each network).
Social Media Takes The Lead
Much of MADTAG will be promoted through social media (including its own Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MADTAGSC) and tracked through Facebook analytics, which allows administrators to examine users that have interacted with the page by age group, gender, location and more.
The campaign has already achieved one of its primary goals. McDonald noted that some CUs in the state that had not been involved with larger marketing efforts have already begun contributing again, and others have indicated that they intend to do so in the future.
Powell noted that the simplicity of it is a major part of the appeal. "What (struck) me is that this in a very simplistic way to reach people in the community. If I'm at McDonald's, I can buy your coffee. I have my little MADTAG card I can give them and let them know I'm with the credit union and I can help them. It can be a very contagious campaign for all credit unions."
