A Tip of the Cap to the Video Age & Team Little Guy

It’s early on a Saturday morning, and here I sit drinking coffee and getting ready for the day ahead. And what a day it promises to be! More on that in a second, but this post has its roots in a short meeting I had with some really smart people last Fall.

In October, Kim Bohannon (the League’s Compliance Goddess) and I sat down with John Radebaugh, Eric Gelly and Dan Schline and proposed that we buy a video camera and some editing equipment to help the League tell its story in a new and more compelling way. I must say that it was an easy sell to make - John, Eric and Dan immediately saw the value in what this could bring to the League’s communications toolbelt.

We also saw it as a way to bring to life the people in credit unions who are busting their tails to serve their members every day. It’s one thing to read about the impacts credit unions & credit union people are having - but words can sometimes fall flat. And frankly, we (meaning stat geeks like me) can sometimes beat people up with big numbers and refined talking points, and lose sight of the impacts those numbers are having in people’s lives.

But when you can see & hear the impact a program or a product has — when you can get a flavor for the passion of credit union people … and how that passion helps members in turn unlock their own potential … you get a larger awareness of just how special the credit union movement really is.

In a few days, I’ll be posting a video here which will show a handful of credit unions that are serving as Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites statewide. (Edit to add that this video is now up on the blog.) Even though it’s not central to their missions on the product front, and an added workload for staff, this group of credit unions is helping thousands of lower-income tax filers in NC get millions of dollars in refunds from the government through the Earned Income Tax Credit — and many of these folks had no idea they qualified for the EITC!

In the meantime, I am leaving in a few minutes to head to the tiny hamlet of Lewisville to videotape some of the Team Little Guy runners as they compete in a duathlon. This group of runners, which hopes to raise more than $100,000 for the Carolinas Credit Union Foundation this year, is tuning up for the Cherry Blossom Run in DC in April, and the Blue Ridge Relay Race in September. (Edit to add that a video recap is now posted on the blog at http://teamlittleguy.com/2008/02/17/video-recap-of-the-lewisville-duathlon/.)

The TLG runners are a fun group to be around, and they love raising awareness of credit unions and the Foundation through the TLG mantle. If you’d like to follow their progress, check them out on their blog at www.teamlittleguy.com.

TLG also has a Twitter page and the Foundation has a Facebook group that relays TLG info, if you’d like to keep up with them there.

In the meantime, it’s time to drain the coffee mug, shower up and head west with the camera to watch these guys. Run Little Guy Run!

CUNA Continues Viral Push with Little Guy Campaign

CUNA just christened another viral video starring the “evil banker” star of an earlier business lending video. This time, Uncle Big-Bad is out on the street lobbying against CURIA, and for higher bank profits and fees.

It’s funny - and all too true. Check it out …

(Edit to add: right after I posted this to the blog, CUNA released another video and announced a third is on the way. The second video is posted below, and I’ll post the third when we get it.)

(Edit August 3: Here’s the third video …)

CUNA is also producing “situational cartoons” in the ongoing bank vs. credit union struggle. These cartoons are sent out by email, in hopes that receivers will get a laugh, and then become senders of the same email. Here’s the latest one …

I like what CUNA’s doing and hope they’ll keep it up. Feel free to share your own thoughts on this by posting a comment.

The Little Guy Scores Big with NC CUs at GAC!

The NC hospitality suite at the recently-concluded CUNA GAC had a special guest visitor, as a four foot tall Little Guy held court over the comings-and-goings in DC. The Little Guy debuted on Congressional swearing-in day in January, as CUNA attempts to change the conversation on Capitol Hill. The League’s John Radebaugh and Eric Gelly (pictured here) exchanged pleasantries with the Little Guy during his stay in the suite.

CUNA says the Little Guy is connecting in the halls of Congress, and if word-of-mouth in the hospitality suite is any guide, the Little Guy is making quite an impression with credit union people as well! Folks in the suite chatted about a lot of topics over the course of the GAC, but the Little Guy seemingly stole the show - he was the Hot Topic.

One NC volunteer waved around a foot-tall Little Guy with credit union info on the back and said he’d love the opportunity to get hundreds of them to pass out at his credit union. “Don’t even put our logo on it,” he said, ” just keep the talking points on the back and give it to our folks. They’d love it!”

CUNA is going to share the details of a grassroots Little Guy campaign with state leagues in the next few weeks. This will be the next step in the campaign that will introduce him to a much larger audience.

The folks in Madison will ultimately have to make a decision as to the Little Guy’s place in the credit union universe, but in the world of “Web 2.0″ … could it be that the Little Guy will wind up being a viral branding campaign for our movement?

If word around the hospitality suite is any guide, he’s got a shot at it.

A Lotta Love for the Little Guy!

Have you ever seen the Cadillac “Break Through” ads? You know – the ones where Cadillac Escalades and other models like the CTS are flying down the highway to the pounding beat of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll.” (I found a grainy version of the original Break Though ad on You Tube.)

That campaign was brilliant for one simple reason – it changed consumer perceptions of Cadillacs. Before Break Through, people perceived the average Cadillac driver to be a 70-something year old grandma with a poodle on her lap. But after Madison Avenue “Pimped Cadillac’s Ride,” the average age of a Cadillac buyer dropped by 20 years! Suddenly, Cadillacs were cool … and the Hip-Hop generation was showing grandma how to use the accelerator.

The Break Through campaign reminds us that creative approaches to advertising can help consumers view the same product in a completely new light.

Enter CUNA and the “Little Guy” campaign. CUNA introduced the Little Guy to Congress on swearing-in day, distributing more than 16,000 commemorative buttons to members of Congress, Hill staffers and visitors. CUNA also purchased radio ads and placed Little Guy political cartoons in Hill publications.

According to Pat Keefe at CUNA, the Little Guy resembles children’s book character Flat Stanley. He’s a warm and fuzzy everyman. He’s the Little Guy!

The point of the Little Guy campaign is to change the conversation on Capitol Hill. As CUNA’s Mark Wolff put it in the March edition of Credit Union Magazine, the conversation on the Hill “shouldn’t be about what’s best for banks. It should be about who is looking out for hardworking Americans.”

I agree with Mark - and the Little Guy is a great approach because it pokes fun at the up is down logic of bankers and their tendency to spread words like ‘unfettered,’ and ‘morphed’ all over the Hill. And just like the Break Through campaign showed consumers that Granny’s Cadillac had a cool, muscular side, the Little Guy shows Congress the reality of who credit unions are – and whom they serve.

If you’d like to learn a little more about the Little Guy, go to www.cuna.org and click on the picture of the Little Guy.