MIRAMAR, Fla. -
Eastern Financial Florida CU and the Michigan Credit Union League are joining others in the industry in taking on CUNA's "Little Guy."
CUNA first introduced "Little Guy" this past spring in an advertising campaign aimed at members of Congress. The intent, according to CUNA, was to "poke fun at bankers and their attempt to confuse consumers-and Congress-about what credit unions really do for people."
"Little Guy" is a character that illustrated the real-life little guys who credit unions serve, including teachers, construction workers and small business-owners.
"It's certainly an initiative we support," said Mark Holmes, vice president and marketing director for Eastern Financial FCU, which has more than 200,000 members and assets of $1.9 billion.
It's a sentiment echoed by Gary Lanier, senior vice president of the Eastern Financial FCU.
"Banks are spending millions and working overtime to persuade Congress to scrap the benefits we provide," Lanier said in a written statement. "We want the Little Guy campaign to draw attention to this fact so that our members mobilize and join the fight to protect what they have."
The original Little Guy introduced by CUNA is dressed in brown pants and a light-blue collared shirt. Eastern Financial FCU personalized Little Guy, dressing him in light blue shorts, a yellow and pink flamingo shirt, and beach sandals with white socks. He also holds a sign that reads "I Love My Credit Union."
"We took Little Guy and gave him a Florida makeover you might say, so that our members here in the state could more readily identify," Lanier said in a written statement.
Eastern Financial FCU has distributed comment cards, Little Guy-shaped, throughout its 32 branches. The cards invite members to support credit unions by writing to their legislators. The cards will be collected and sent to Capitol Hill. The cards also invite members to donate money to CUNA.
In Michigan, about 40 Michigan credit union staff and volunteers met with lawmakers earlier this month in a trip sponsored by the Michigan Credit Union League and CUNA designed to highlight how credit unions are fulfilling their social mission.
During the trip, dubbed "Michigan Hike the Hill," the participants presented a 17x20 Little Guy to 17 Michigan lawmakers and their staffs. Attached were two social mission reports-one a congressional district report and the other a statewide aggregate report containing credit union financial literacy, affordable financial services, high-risk lending and community outreach statistics-all part of the MCUL's Community Reinvestment Initiative designed to document credit union social mission activities that are hoped to strengthen Michigan communities by offering services to the underserved.
The two social mission reports were sealed in envelopes and affixed to each Little Guy with Velcro. The league also personalized Little Guy, creating two versions of the character-one sporting a "Thank you for co-sponsoring CURIA" button, and one sporting a "Please co-sponsor CURIA button."
"We did it because it's something that's recognized," said Mary Davis, director of public affairs for MCUL. "And then we personalized it."
At this point, MCUL is not going to be using Little Guy as a marketing tool for new members. "It was for the trip," she said. "We haven't discussed yet if we are going to do anything else with it."
And for the trip, the Little Guy was just what they needed, according to David Adams, MCUL president.
"The Little Guy proved to be a good communications tool for talking about how credit unions are different from banks, and for discussing how CURIA is going to benefit 4.4 million Michiganians who are credit union members," Adams said in a written statement.
Like the MCUL, Eastern Financial FCU does not plan to use its version of Little Guy for marketing purposes.
"It's more for awareness," Holmes said. "We're going to display Little Guy cards in our lobbies. It's really being used as a way to get support."
CUNA offers art of Little Guy to its member credit unions and leagues free of charge, via its website. Credit unions and leagues are charged for the stand-up Little Guys, at-cost. At present, the number of credit unions and leagues utilizing Little Guy is not being tracked.
For more resources
For more information on this story:
www.lookoutforthelittleguy.org
www.mcul.org
www.effcu.org
