CHICAGO-Great Lakes CU believes female car buyers are being ignored by lenders and is aggressively pursuing women with a unique marketing approach.
"Chicks, Cars and Cupcakes" is the name for a female-only educational event the $500-million CU recently held at a local shopping mall. A panel of female automotive industry experts covered numerous aspects of the retail automotive market, including purchasing, financing, maintenance, and safety.
The event attracted a crowd of more than 30 women, but more important, got the attention of one of the largest car shows in the country. Great Lakes has been asked to run the same panel group discussion at the Chicago Auto Show in February at the McCormick Place Convention Center.
"This is an unbelievable opportunity to get our name out to the community. There will be thousands of people at this car show," said Susan Malo, AVP business development. "Not only will so many people see our name, they will see us as being female friendly and making an extra effort to help women car buyers."
That is the overarching goal of the marketing push, said Malo: target a segment of the market that most financial institutions, including credit unions, are not paying much attention to. "Our competitors are really not catering to the special needs of the female car buyer. We want to be seen as the expert when it comes to women who are car shopping."
Those special needs include education about automobiles, the auto industry, car care, and more.
The recent panel session was a great start, said Malo, who acknowledged that determining how many loans came from the educational program is difficult, emphasizing again the event was about image building.
An 'Upscale Evening Out'
The panel discussion, held at a shopping mall in Gurnee, Ill., not only included the automotive experts, but a fashion show as well. Models strolled down a runway between speaking sessions, and cupcakes and beverages were served. "We wanted to create sort of an upscale evening out," said Malo.
The panel included keynote speaker Jody DeVere, CEO of AskPatty.com and a nationally recognized spokesperson for the automotive industry on the women's market; Chris Parker, GM for Gurnee VW; Lisa Anderson, AVP of consumer loans for Great Lakes CU; Julie Scroggins, CFO of Waukegan Tire and Supply, and Jenny Ferrari, a sales rep for Liberty Mutual.
The program didn't cost Great Lakes CU a penny since it sold sponsorships to local businesses for the event, bringing in just under $5,000. After covering costs Great Lakes was able to donate $1,500 in extra money to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The panel discussion was held during October, which is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
"Everyone is fighting for auto loans and it's not always just about rate for the consumer," said Malo. "We want to position the credit union as being female friendly and keep these members. We expect many new members will join the credit union because of our focus on women. This is a niche we are going after that will complement our other marketing efforts. But we think this is a good sized-niche because a lot of banks and credit unions are ignoring it."
