Corporate governance

VIENNA, Va. – Navy Federal Credit Union announced a three-year marketing and sponsorship contract with the Army Athletic Association and Army Sports Properties, its multimedia rights holder.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Grand Valley Co-op CU and Preferred FCU completed their combination yesterday and have applied to Michigan regulators for a broad community field of membership encompassing 28 counties and 2.5 million people in the western part of the state, from Traverse City to Lansing to the Indiana border.

NEW YORK – What does the future hold for credit unions? If the overflow attendance at one session during CUNA’s America’s Credit Union Conference here is any indication, plenty of people would like to know.

NEW YORK – Best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell told attendees of CUNA’s America’s CU Conference a little guy may enter a fight as an underdog, but the underdog can overcome with constant pressure, what is known in basketball as a “full-court press.”

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. – CO-OP Financial Services is beginning the first phase of what it says is a comprehensive marketing initiative to rebrand and promote credit union shared branching.

There are five steps credit unions can take to offset the regulatory pressures affecting fee income in two areas, according to a pair of analysts.

NEW ORLEANS – The Louisiana CU League has launched an eight-week advertising campaign that will include TV, radio, billboard and online ads.

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State University FCU has signed an expanded financial deal with Oakland University that will provide grants and scholarships, on-campus ATMs and branches, and marketing deals.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Piedmont Advantage CU will be giving away free $20 gas cards to the first 100 people who visit the credit union’s recently opened Wilmington branch Friday morning.

SAN ANGELO, Texas – The home of Angelo State University’s Rams will be renamed after 1st Community FCU after the credit union made a contribution to the school to make help finance the remodeling.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – 121 Financial CU used the latest video technology in the form of a helicopter drone to identify and record the location and facilities of each of its Jacksonville branches for a series of online videos and television commercials.

Any credit union can make an impression with its marketing and branding. But as one person stressed during Credit Union Journal's Grow Show, a CU must repeatedly hammer away at the same message while also giving people a reason to take notice.

Plenty of credit unions sponsor events, but one CU that has had particular success backing a local concert series reminded that it's important the branding promotion not get lost in the potential for cross sales.

Putting the right pictures on a credit card has just been one of the details that have made a buy-local program at one credit union here so successful.

Credit unions at the front of the curve when it comes to using Facebook to make loans are finding members more than "like," the option, they are filling out applications there too, including mortgages.

More credit unions are leveraging e-signature to reach into new geographic markets without adding bricks and mortar, reports Michael Ball, VP of markets and strategy for IMM.

One person believes that one of credit unions' biggest growth opportunities in the remainder of 2013 lies in the realm of merchant services.

Moving to paperless functions and document imaging may seem costly, but one person says it's one of credit unions' best chances for growth.

The National Cooperative Bank is bolstering CUs' bottom lines by helping them offload deposits and access liquidity.

CUtopia is finding a niche in assisting credit unions with their marketing, and delivering growth as a result.