BIRMINGHAM/TALLAHASSEE-Consumers in Alabama and Florida will learn much more about the credit union difference in coming months, thanks to the League of Southeastern CUs' new $1.3-million cooperative advertising campaign.
The campaign kicked off this month, and 100 credit unions in both states are participating in the effort that uses TV, radio, billboards, online ads, and the tagline, "Credit unions: We're giving banking a better name."
The TV ads show a man walking down the street talking about how many people don't know what a credit does, and then compares that to also not knowing what other wonderful things, such as chocolate, puppies and hugs, are like. The spot closes by highlighting how much consumers in each state save as the result of credit union membership.
The ads direct consumers to www.betternameforbanking.com, which has three interactive buttons where consumers can see what they would save if they had their mortgage loan, auto loan, and a credit card with a credit union.
Consumers can compare the average rates between a credit union and a bank by viewing the "what's better?" page. Real-time rate data from Datatrac provides the comparison information, which shows the credit union rate is better in almost every category. Consumers have a credit union search function on the website to make it easy to find a credit union near them.
The League of Southeastern Credit Unions said the genesis of the campaign is research that shows 60% of consumers don't know what a credit union is. The campaign, geared toward Gen X, is designed to educate consumers about how credit unions are different than other financial institutions while saving their members millions of dollars each year.
LSCU President/CEO Patrick La Pine believes the message resonates with consumers, especially as banks alienate customers. "With banks increasing their fees coming out of Dodd-Frank and the new interchange rules it's a great time to promote the credit union difference."
LaPine noted the $1.3-million total surpassed the $1-million target LSCU set for contributions back in July (CU Journal, July 4). "We also wanted to get to 100 credit unions, which we thought was a very aggressive goal, and we did it. We have 56 credit unions from Florida and 44 from Alabama, a nice balance." La Pine added that he believes the $1.3-million total is the largest ever for voluntary league advertising campaign.
"We conducted a pre-campaign consumer survey through an external company and at the end of the run we will do a post-campaign survey," said La Pine. "Hopefully we will be able to show that consumers have a better understanding of credit unions."
