National CU Ad Campaign Not On The Agenda

BOSTON–As it does at nearly every meeting, the question was raised during CUNA’s America’s Credit Union Conference here over why there isn’t a national, CU-sponsored advertising campaign, especially given the negative publicity the banking industry has received.The short answer, CUNA CEO Dan Mica made clear, is money. “Here’s the deal,” Mica said in response to one person’s question. “We’ve been looking at that, and the roundtable credit unions have been looking at that. We already have an ‘America’s Credit Union’ logo, and it’s beautiful. There are two ways to do this. The (national) campaigns cost money, and the last time I checked it was $40 million to $50 million a year, with a minimum of five years. To put that in context, CUNA’s dues are about $10 million. The other way to do it is we prepare the ads, and then distribute it to the leagues and the local credit unions. Most folks, particularly in this time, just don’t have the money to run the ads.”