For the second year in a row, Community Choice Credit Union, a $736-million institution based in Farmington Hills, Mich.,is creatively using April Fool's Day as a way to teach the public about the differences between credit unions and banks.
In April 2015, CCCU held a marketing campaign called "We Found Your Shirt." The credit union hired 15 actors to appear shirtless in front of a member center. This gimmick, of course, prompted stares and questions from passersby—which led to the actors explaining that their message was "Don't Be Fooled By The Banks…they'll take the shirt off your back."
"We wanted to find a way to appeal to a younger generation and make credit unions exciting," said Alan Bergstrom, chief marketing officer of CCCU. "'We Found Your Shirt' appealed to both new members who are tired of 'losing their shirts' to their bank, and current members who appreciate belonging to a credit union that isn't in business to make money by stealing the 'shirt off your back'."
Bergstrom explained that the impetus behind last year's promotion was linked to the fact that banks rank among the least trusted institutions by the public. "Yet an overwhelming number of Americans still belong to one of these institutions," he told CU Journal. "Our goal with the 'We Found Your Shirt' campaign [was] to let people know that there's a better option out there. As a credit union, we're looking out for our member's best interests, not making a profit for shareholders like a bank."
Credit unions, Bergstrom added, are generally misunderstood by many consumers. "This campaign gives us a platform to talk about the differences and advantages that credit unions have over banks," he said.
Now for April Fools' 2016, CCCU is running the "next evolution" of the campaign – wherein the message will be "Now that we have found your shirt—you know…the one you lost to the banks—let's get together and find a fit you'll love."
This year's campaign features a play on the words' "teller" and "tailor." "[CCCU] is getting into the 'tailoring' business…we've replaced our tellers with tailors," Bergstrom said. "The idea is that now that 'we found your shirt' let us help you 'find the perfect fit.'"
CCCU is hoping that this year's "Let's Find Your Fit" promotion is as successful and as well received as last year's campaign.
The "shirtless campaign" from 2015, which was staged in New Hudson (about 15 miles west of Farmington Hills) created "buzz" and "people from the area are still talking about it to this day," Bergstrom said. "They come into the member center and comment on how funny and attention-getting it was, asking if we're up to something for this year. No complaints, just accolades."
In tandem with that promotion, CCCU also ran related videos on Gas Station TV, as well as YouTube. "We housed the videos on our YouTube channel and promoted through social media, website and email," Bergstrom noted. "The videos had over 90,000 organic views on YouTube within the time-frame of a couple of months from their debut. This year, they will also be running on local cable and in movie theaters, in addition to the other channels."
Bergstrom also said that for this year's April 1 events, CCCU has purchased ads to run on radio with metro traffic, as well as a special one-day Pandora buy and Page push-downs (digital ads) on some of the local news media websites.
"After April Fool's Day, we'll continue promoting with Pandora and radio ads," he added.
But do these marketing ploys work? Bergstrom said the campaign from last year boosted the credit union's bottom line. In fact, in 2015, CCCU saw membership grow by 33%, making it one of the fastest-growing credit unions in the state of Michigan. "Our advertising effort, which was primarily the 'We Found Your Shirt' campaign, was a significant factor in contributing to that growth," Bergstrom cited.
Launching the campaigns on April Fool's Day was a fun way to leverage a day best-known for pranks and the fact that people are naturally on guard to prevent being fooled on this day.
"We wanted play on that and draw people's attention to the fact that they've already been fooled – by the banks," he said. "The campaign's tagline, We Found Your Shirt, communicates [our] main point that while for-profit banks will take the shirt off your back, credit unions, which are non-profit, will give you the shirt off of theirs. We felt an April Fool's Day kick-off would be more memorable than launching on any other day."
