Charting the ROI on Good Vibes (and Ugly Cars) … The I Love My Hoopty Campaign

For those credit unions that have chosen not to participate in Social Media, it seems that there’s a very natural and understandable tension at work: in a world where marketing campaigns are measured in terms of loans made and assets grown (ROI), how can you concretely measure the value of a blog?   

In pondering this question, I called up Marketing Diva Deb McLean of Carolina Postal Credit Union. CPCU of course originated the “I Love My Hoopty” campaign last year.

Deb describes the Hoopty campaign as, “An untraditional marketing campaign with a Social Media component.” It’s untraditional in that it spotlighted a product that most marketers would not conceive of focusing on (unsecured loans made so that postal employees can purchase beat up used cars for their rural letter-carrying routes).

And while the I Love My Hoopty blog has gotten a lot of attention in the blogosphere as well as the CU trade press, the truth is a lot of traditional marketing collateral (posters, mailers, bumper stickers, etc.) keyed the measurable success of the Hoopty campaign. Deb noted that unsecured loans and installment lines of credit increased a robust 325% during the Hoopty campaign last Fall - the ROI was even greater if you factor in cross-selling of other products. 

It could be argued that the blog had little tangible impact on the bottom-line ROI, but that would be selling the Social Media aspect short. In a traditional marketing campaign, something like Hoopty could have come and gone pretty quickly.

But the blog keeps the conversation going. It serves as a 24/7 reminder of a funny campaign that is relevant to the CPCU membership. The credit union has gotten so much positive feedback from members, they’ve begun to incorporate Hoopty into their membership pitch to postal employees. They’re also mulling ways to bring the Hoopty contest back later this year.

The blog also helped the credit union gain a lot of attention outside the membership. Deb attributes much of the CU Trade press attention to the blog. The I Love My Hoopty site also got noticed by a Miami rapper, and got CPCU interviewed by an intrepid reporter from the UK who stumbled across the blog.

So what does this all mean? Deb made three points that may be of use to credit unions contemplating a dip in the Social Media pool …

1. Whatever you come up with has to be relevant to the lives of your members. “Face it, most people go on the Internet to look at funny videos and dirty pictures*,” Deb noted. “If you do a blog about your “free” checking account, or blog on the acute differences between secured & unsecured loans, no one is going to care … or comment.”  (*Ummm, OK Deb.)  :)  
2. Avoid “cluster-hugging**.” We credit union types tend to be cooperative, supportive types — so it’s sometimes hard to get direct feedback from peers that you can really use in the development of effective campaigns.  In other words, you & your CU Peers are aware of your campaign - but what about your target-market?” **Note: “cluster-hugging” has been copy-righted by Diva Deb – no lifting/ripping/or borrowing without credit (or cash)!
3. Make sure the campaign does what it’s supposed to do.  “If it’s about opening new checking accounts – did that happen?  If it’s about adding new members – did that happen?”  Don’t get so “caught up in your own performance” (as Deb relates that Paula Abdul said in a rare lucid moment) and forget your intent was to reach your target-market and impact the bottom-line.”

 Of course, Hoopty won’t work everywhere and for just any credit union. But if you’re wondering how to leap into the Social Media waters, consider the key lesson of I Love My Hoopty: CPCU combined ugly cars with financial services, and struck a chord with its membership in the process.     

Live from Washington … It’s G-A-C!

A quick hit on Friday morning to let everyone know that REAL Solutions, a program of the National Credit Union Foundation, will be providing coverage of the 2008 CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference! The site will include audio, video and still pictures of CUNA’s flagship event in Washington, DC!

With all the events going on in DC … including the long-promised hearing on CU regulatory relief Thursday … this page will be a key spot for keeping up with all the happenings! Check them out at http://realsolutions.coop/.

I’ll have my trusty video camera in-hand for the week, and will report back with a few clips of the 120-person strong NC contingent for GAC. Look for these pictures here and on the League web site.

Of Rorschach and “The Video”

I am here to confess my sins when it comes to the masterful CU Difference video that debuted last week courtesy of Larissa Walkiw, who is the Young & Free Alberta spokesperson. The video, which I first saw Thursday on the CU Brand Blog, is making big waves.

But an exchange on the CU Skeptic Blog yesterday has brought me in touch with a real problem with my personal reaction to this video, and my sense is that others might be falling into the same trap when viewing this terrific piece of work.

The problem? Essentially, “The Video” became a Rorschach test for what I think the movement lacks.

In looking at the video, I thought it had great potential as a CU viral campaign. In my fantasy, we’d take out the Common Wealth CU and Y&F references and throw this thing on out our web sites. And boy howdy, the young folks would literally melt down servers and bust down doors to join credit unions in response.

At long last, the average age of members would plummet, and the CU Nip Tuck we’ve all imagined would happen!

There’s just one little problem with my fantasy: this video is a specific marketing message that is intended for a specific audience … and that audience is living in a financial service system that is quite a bit different from the one here in the States. (Thanks to Tim McAlpine, I understand that now.)

Taking that thought just one step further - as a marketing message, there’s no way to know five days after rollout whether this video is effective. Unless I’ve missed something, it remains to be seen whether Common Wealth’s ultimate goal - to put fannies into the Young & Free Checking Account - will actually work out … and whether the video is helpful in achieving that goal.

So let’s take a step back here and take a couple of useful lessons from the video based on what we know:

First of all, Larissa is a very talented young woman, and a gifted communicator. But in our rush to praise her, let’s not deify her. There are other Larissas out there waiting to be discovered. All they need is an opportunity.

And that leads me to my second point: the true genius of the Young & Free Campaign lies in its risk. Think about it: Common Wealth literally handed the keys to their brand over to a 19 year old. How many credit unions CEOs, boards and marketers are willing to take that chance?

And perhaps that’s the real issue, and why so many seem to be Rohrschaching this thing. After all, it would be easy for Larissa & Common Wealth to edit their video to fit our perceived needs, but would doing so make our individual credit unions any more palatable to people 25 and under?

Team Little Guy Blog Launched

If you were in attendance at the Annual Meeting in Pinehurst earlier this month, you probably heard about “Team Little Guy.” TLG is a group of twelve credit union runners who are going to run in the 208-mile Blue Ridge Relay Race in September.

As a biker, I have no idea why anyone would run 208 miles (even if twelve folks divide up the work with a nifty little baton).

Keep the baton, and please pass the phone so I can rent a car.

At any rate, TLG will be blogging about the experience of training for and running in the race. It’s a bit of a flier, but we hope to accomplish a few things …

• It’s a way to thank our sponsors and share the experience with them (and let them hassle the team mercilessly).
• It’s a way to spotlight the excellent work of the Carolinas Credit Union Foundation and the Micro Community Grants Program.
• It’s a way for 12 guys who like to run to share their knowledge, and learn from other runners in the blogosphere.
• With runners scattered all over the East Coast and Midwest (some of whom have never met), it’s a way for the team to build unity.
• It’s also a way for us to learn more about Social Media.
• It will also be an initial test of the “Big Idea” concept mentioned in this space previously.

If you are so inclined, please check out The Little Guy blog … and pass it along to the folks you know who are into running.