SYLVANIA, Ohio — Now that the scavenger hunt run by Great Lakes Credit Union is over, looking back, the CEO says it's the best promotion his shop has ever run.
David Seeger told Credit Union Journal the campaign has boosted the CU's presence in the local community and on social media.
Inspired by millionaire Jason Buzi who has been hiding envelopes in major U.S. cities stuffed with $100 for strangers to find, Great Lakes did something similar in a few small towns that have been battered by the recession.
On June 25, Great Lakes began hiding $50 every day and offering clues to where the cash is hidden, just like Buzi's "Hidden Cash" scavenger hunt.
"This promotion went so well," said Seeger, who added the goal was to give more back to the community than promote the credit union. "We achieved our objective of building an even close bond with this area and more than doubled our Facebook impressions since the start of the campaign. And those impressions have remained at the new, higher levels."
The $29 million credit union also picked up a great deal of local TV and print news coverage.
Each day during the scavenger hunt, GLCU hid $50 somewhere in the Toledo area — which includes Perrysburg and Sylvania — and gave clues to the whereabouts of the cash. When people "Liked" GLCU on its Facebook page or followed the CU on Twitter, they received hints to where the money is.
People who found the cash were asked to take a photo of themselves with the money and upload the shot to Twitter and Facebook.
On the final day of the promotion, GLCU hid two keys in two different locations that unlocked a safety deposit box at the credit union. The first person to find a key and show up at the credit union unlocked the box and collected what is inside.
"On that last day a ten-year-old and his mother were the first to find a key and make it back to the credit union," said Seeger. "The youth was thrilled to open the safety deposit box and find two tickets to the Cedar Point amusement park, credit union t-shirts and some other giveaways. A lady found the second key and arrived ten minutes later."
The CU handed that person a t-shirt and $25.
Seeger previously explained that the CU wanted to see if it could make a difference in the lives of individuals who live in an area in which about 27% of the people live at the poverty level. "This is all about the 'people helping people credit union philosophy,'" said Seeger. "People said they had a lot of fun with this, that it raised their spirits — and many of those who won said they needed the money."
All if the winners were non-members, which is fine by Seeger.
"This was for the general public and the membership and both benefited," he said. "A lot of members told us it was pretty cool that their credit union was doing something like this. It was a great campaign, and we would do it again."
