ABBOTSFORD, B.C., Canada-A treasure hunt is paying dividends for Prospera Credit Union as it opens a new branch here.
The (C)$2.5-billion CU, the fourth-largest in British Columbia, is halfway through a promotion that will see it hide four small "treasure boxes" in various locations around the city. Inside are directions to the new branch, where the finder collects $500.
Prospera is providing daily clues as to the location of the current treasure box on its Facebook page and its YouTube channel, and it has a cross-promotional agreement with a local FM radio station. Sundeep Sandhu, SVP of marketing, told Credit Union Journal the first two prizes have generated a good response.
"The treasure hunt has taken on a life of its own," he said. "When we are out in the community people are talking about the treasure hunt. We wanted to increase awareness and engagement, and promote the new branch, and we wanted something that was outside the box, a little quirky. Instead of having a QR code taking someone to a landing page on a website, we wanted something interactive. We came up with the idea of generating excitement within the community with a treasure hunt."
A byproduct of the hunt is more visitors to Prospera's social media channels. Sandhu said the CU's overarching goal at all times is to engage with people in the community, which he said, "guides everything we do."
According to Sandhu, Prospera is increasing its use of social media as it becomes more comfortable with it.
"Once we felt we were good with Facebook, we turned to YouTube and other channels," he said. "We look at return on investment and being efficient and social media fits well. There has been a lot of traffic on our Facebook page, some of which was generated by the treasure hunt, but also people are interacting with staff. This has the effect of people remembering the credit union."
Erin Nesci, Manager, Community and Public Relations, added, "Social media is never static, it is always growing. We recently created our YouTube channel and use it and Facebook as vehicles for promoting our community outreach. We don't push products on social media."
Keeping Buzz Going
The treasure hunt awards one prize each week for four weeks to maximize exposure. Sandhu said Star FM got in on the act by "kidnapping" the third box and is holding it "hostage." The station released its own set of clues daily for a week and at press time was scheduled to give a final clue on Feb. 11.
"The station has been promoting the treasure hunt the entire time, and this adds extra interest," he said. "Holding the hunt over four weeks has worked in our favor. We are in the third week of the promotion. As each box is found we hide the next one."
With each found treasure box, Prospera donates $500 to Abbotsford Community Services, which supports 70 local programs ranging from childhood development to immigration services.
Both Sandhu and Nesci said the treasure hunt was been tremendously successful at its main goal: getting people to talk about Prospera CU.
"It has driven traffic to our new location, which was our original intent, and it has been more successful than we expected," said Sandhu. "It is a great engagement piece. Our profile has grown because of this."
Added Nesci: "It has raised awareness. Word of mouth is phenomenal right now, plus the impact on Abbotsford Community Services. We are learning a lot by doing this contest and are engaging with the community in a new way. We are very proud of this."
