True confession time from the FWIW (for what it’s worth) department - most of the bank and credit union television ads I’ve seen over the years stink. Replete with airbrushed models, canned music and formulaic jargon, the end message I get is: “We’re unique - just like everyone else.”

It was refreshing then to get a look at Truliant Federal Credit Union’s new flight of fun television ads, which are currently appearing in the Charlotte and Piedmont Triad markets. These ads use real members of the credit union with real stories about how Truliant is different.

Truliant’s Marketing/Communications Supervisor, Ryan Shell, noted that the members in the ads were pulled from success stories that the Truliant staff received. He said all of them were enthusiastic about volunteering their time to participate in the commercials.

The central message is also key here, because it relates the value of membership - but from the member’s perspective, not the credit union’s. We can get on the “member-owner-cooperative-not-for-profit-people-helping-people” soapbox every day of the week and twice on Sunday - but the truth of the matter is: it’s what credit union members understand on a personal level about those differences that matter.

In other words, it’s all just pretty rhetoric until someone discovers that these words actually mean something that is very relevant to their lives.   

On that topic of relevance - I can relate to the people I see in these ads. When I lived in Reno several years ago, I always laughed at the casino commercials that came on TV. Everybody looked like they were straight out of central casting: J-Lo and Ryan Phillippe knockoffs throwing the dice and pulling the slots. Then when you actually went to the casinos, you’d see a bunch of chain-smoking grandmas trying to score the big payoff.

While the folks in the Truliant spots don’t look like chain-smoking grandmas, they do look like people I see and interact with every day. That’s refreshing, and a wise choice.    

These TV spots are part of a broader campaign that includes print & billboard ads, as well as a micro-site called trudifferences.org. (Complete details are summarized in the press release here.)   

I’ve spent much of the week in the Asheville area working with the credit unions in the Western Chapter on a very special video project. The chapter has partnered with Eblen Charities to provide nutritious snacks to thousands of school children in four counties that surround Asheville. (Special thanks to Dana Thompson, Rita Willis and all the people involved who set up the schedule and made time for me!) 

These counties have been hit hard by job losses over the years, and a significant number of students in the school systems there receive free or reduced lunch.

The program designed to help is called Food for Thought, and part of this program involves providing snacks to schools - the idea of the program being that if you’re a kid without enough to eat, it’s hard to focus on schoolwork. Another nice element - anyone who needs it can have a snack, so there’s no sense of shame or embarrassment involved.

The Western Chapter of Credit Unions raises the funds to purchase the snacks, and also serve as distribution points for the snacks. Many credit union people have logged hundreds if not thousands of miles during the school year to help deliver snacks to schools!   

The credit unions are a key player in this program, but there are a lot of other agencies at the table as well making sure that no one goes hungry while at school. More on that in a separate video coming up soon.

In the meantime, here’s a touching story that shows just how meaningful this program has been to one student who attends Clyde Elementary School in Haywood County. This story was related to us by Mikell Clark-Webb of Clyde Elementary School, who was interviewed by Dana Thompson of Mountain Credit Union.

Kudos to the Western Chapter for working together to create such happy outcomes!

Truliant Federal Credit Union conducts an informal survey each year to see how members plan to spend their tax refund checks. Of course, the economic stimulus payments are also part of the mix this year (the first checks are hitting accounts today), so Truliant added a question about how members plan to use this extra money. You’ll find the results here - interesting stuff … and it reveals a change in consumer behavior due to the deteriorating economy.

My check is due in next week, and I’ve dedicated about 25% of the anticipated total to buying a hammock (in fact, I bought it Friday night and got hours of enjoyment this weekend). The rest is going to pay credit card bills. Debt retirement may not be what the government intended, but that’s what I’m planning to do just the same.

So what are you planning to do with this added money, and is the economy having an impact on your decision?

As a long-time credit union member, I’ve come to expect that I’ll be treated differently than a bank customer (AKA profit center, but I digress). So why had I been dreading the letter I got yesterday, announcing the reset of my two year ARM?

It’s probably all the news stories I’ve seen - earnings are challenging for banks and credit unions, there’s the fear of job losses, and the increasing loan delinquencies that come in a bad economy. Plus I knew my credit union could “play by the rules” of the ARM and bump up my APR on the loan by one percent, no questions asked (which in the wake of the above headlines, had become my expectation).    

It’s human nature I guess to let go of the truth about our own situation when we see a different (and in this case scarier) reality happening to others.

All across the country, people like me are opening letters from their bank - ARM resets are going up because “by the rules” they can, and credit card & other rates are heading up. All because numbers have to be hit, Wall Street fat-cats have to be pleased, and capital reserves have to be rebuilt in the wake of loans the banks shouldn’t have made in the first place.    

But I am a credit union member, and this is the notice I got in the mail: the APR on my mortgage for the next two years is adjusting DOWNWARD 50 basis points, to 4.75%.

Why is this? Because my credit union isn’t looking out for Wall Street or trying to milk a number - they’re looking out for me. 

It’s just one more - very personal - example of how credit unions are different from banks.  

PR Director Matt Davis of Members Credit Union.

With the US economy reeling from the mortgage crisis, and consumers awash in credit card debt, Members Credit Union recently introduced a most timely campaign. What Are You Saving for?, the credit union’s newest account and savings promotion, aims to help Member’s members take a sensible approach to saving and spending.

WAYSF includes an online community of people who set savings goals and get helpful tips from the Members staff. Moreover, other members of the community also are free to offer their own tips and words of encouragement.

The blog community is also backed up by a great product - the WAYSF account. This account pays twice the dividend rate of the Members CU savings product (members have to adopt e-statements to qualify for the dividend). In addition, Members holds a monthly drawing for a savings prize, with the number of chances determined by how much money each accountholder has on deposit in their WAYSF account.

Also, every six months, Members will announce a Biggest Savers Contest winner. Based on the members’ dedication to saving consistently to reach goals and participation in the blog, this prize winner will receive a $2,000 60-month share certificate!

The chance to win prizes is a great element, but the community aspect of WAYSF is another great feature. Even though Members just rolled out this account April 1st, quite a few blog postings have already appeared.

One such post that was especially touching was written by “johnnymac,” who expressed his frustration at not being able to afford a medical scooter for his father-in-law. The community has chimed in to offer words of encouragement to johnnymac, and a few tips. It will be interesting to see how this community comes together to help members in these types of situations. (Isn’t that great, a savings account with a stinkin’ social conscience?!)

Check out the tools and other features of WAYSF - it’s a great campaign I suspect we’ll be hearing a lot more about. Good going Members CU!    

If you are a member of a fitness club or have been in the past, you’ve no doubt seen the personal trainers leading those pathetic souls around the gym, working them out to the point of collapse. Sweating profusely, these poor folks subject themselves to all manner of pain and sacrifice.

So why would anyone do this, let alone PAY handsomely for the privilege?

Well in my case, I subject myself to this abuse for two reasons …

1. My trainer, Andrew at the Rush Fitness Center, is a BIG dude.
2. I can’t outrun him.

So twice a week now for a couple of months, Andrew has been leading me around the club doing all manner of weight training, including core training. All this is helping me discover muscles I never knew I had (thank God for Aleve).

Seriously though, it’s been a great investment in me. For a long time, I was really in good shape and worked out regularly. About 10 years ago, I even did the California AIDS Ride, which is a 585 mile, seven day bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles (it’s now known as the AIDS/LifeCycle).

Over the past couple of years, I lost focus and about 35 pounds found me in the process. But with Andrew’s help, I’m down 16 pounds so far, and thinking I’d like to shed about 20 more while adding some muscle in the process.

But more important than numbers, I want to be more fit than I have ever been before.

So does this mean I’m going to hand over the keys to the van this September and run in the Blue Ridge Relay Race as a member of Team Little Guy (as Slacker has done)? NO! Because unless bears (or Andrew) are chasing me, I see no need in running.

But I am going to do the Black and Blue Relay in July, which is a 208 mile, one day bike ride in the mountains. I’ll be teaming up with Ed Agnoli and two other people to form a team. 

I won’t be racing to win … not by a long shot - but it will be my statement to myself that my days of sitting on the sidelines are over.

I’m back in the game.

There’s a really outstanding post today on Evolutionary Biologist Olivia Judson’s Wild Side blog on the New York Times web site. Titled A Mutual Affair, Judson’s post explains some of the cooperative relationships that exist among animal species, including the living arrangement of the shrimp and goby (a small fish).

Judson writes that, “The shrimp build and maintain a burrow, which the goby and shrimp live in together. Each shrimp works hard, shoveling sand out of the front entrance like a miniature bulldozer.

“The goby just sits in the entrance of the burrow, keeping guard and warning the shrimp, which is nearly blind, of danger. At any sign of danger — a diver coming too close, a passing predator — the goby darts into the burrow. If the goby zooms in, the shrimp hastily retreats deep inside. And before the shrimp emerges from the burrow, it touches the goby’s tail with its long antennae. To show it’s safe to come out, the goby gently wiggles its tail. When the shrimp is out of the burrow, it keeps one antenna touching the goby. If the goby suddenly retreats, so does the shrimp.”

Judson explains this arrangement as benefiting both parties - the goby without the shrimp has no burrow to retreat to and is soon killed by predators, while the shrimp without the goby will not grow as quickly.

Judson’s post reminds us that nature (and humankind by extension) is about interdependence & mutuality … cooperation if you will. (OK OK, it’s also about the lion eating the wildebeest, and JPMorgan Chase eating Bear Stearns).  

But credit unions will continue to be strong if we act more like the goby and shrimp, and less like the lion and wildebeest. 

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s recently announced plan to overhaul the regulation of the US financial services industry has generated much concern in credit union circles, and rightly so. There was a terrific discussion about the plan’s implications on the OpenSource CU Blog last week. 

Late in the week, many folks were no doubt cheered by the remarks of House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank. (Also, as you probably know - Paulson himself said that the credit union reaction to the plan was “a bit premature.”)

Despite late-week assurances, I think CUNA is right on the money to get in front of this thing - and there are a few key lessons for credit unions to draw from this:

1. Keep telling your stories (and if you aren’t - START!). A comment that was attributed to Uber-Marketer Ron Shevlin at BarCampBank New England this past weekend says it best: “It’s not about telling members our stories, but about getting them to tell their own stories. Create experiences.” (Thanks to Andy LaFlamme of Maine State CU for relaying this quote via Twitter.)   
   I’m pretty sure that Ron was referring to the word-of-mouth that happens when a credit union comes through for a member when it matters most. I would take this one step further and encourage you to find those member stories and where possible and permissible, share them with the world using your existing message channels. Add them to your newsletter, put them out on your web site and share them when you mix and mingle in your community. And do these things regularly.
   Low fees and good deposit rates are nice, but frankly that’s banker-speak. The difference your credit union makes in people’s lives IS the CU difference - everything else is secondary.   
2. Get involved politically. We are blessed in NC to have so many great credit union advocates who get involved in the political process … but there’s always room for more! While some people go to Raleigh as part of State Capital Connections or DC for Hike the Hill, you don’t have to leave the comfort of your own credit union branch to advocate for your credit union! You can host a legislator at your CU, hold voter registration drives and many other activities to develop relationships with elected leaders. These relationships give you the opportunity to share the credit union difference with lawmakers. If you have any questions about how to get involved, call us here - we’re always happy to provide assistance.
3. We’ve got to work together. Credit unions of various sizes have different operational challenges of course … and the competitive landscape is different than in years past. But the opportunity to be successful (perhaps even viable?) in the future lies primarily in our ability to close ranks and say to the world, “We may be many credit unions, but we are one, united movement.”

Language matters. Despite the assurances of the treasury secretary, anyone reading what the proposal actually says should be concerned for the credit union movement. But this is also true: information is currency, and our stories in this context make us fabulously wealthy. No matter the outcome of the Paulson Plan, I believe both our individual and collective dedication to sharing the credit union difference will determine the fate of the credit union system.    

What do you think?

If you’ve been to the Team Little Guy blog lately, you may have seen the recent video post about Fusion Warehouse in Anderson, SC. Carolinas Credit Union Foundation head honcho John Slack invited me to go to Fusion earlier this month for the dedication of a children’s center that was funded by a Micro Community Grant.

Fusion has only been open a short time, but it is already making a huge impact on the lives of teens in Anderson County. Young people are flocking to Fusion each weekend to have fun and make new friends. Fusion is also providing life skills training and even job training in trades such as welding … and soon, a service center to teach young people how to perform basic auto repairs and service.

The CCUF grant paved the way for the opening of the children’s play area. It will serve as a safe, fun environment for the kids of volunteers at Fusion, and be a spot for single moms who are studying for their G-E-Ds to drop off their little ones as well.

Beyond the grant, local credit unions are also stepping in to provide support to this wonderful non-profit agency. Upstate FCU in Anderson is opening a student-run branch at Fusion, and will also provide financial education classes to young people.

Our visit and video shoot came when Fusion was closed, which in one way diminishes the overall energy and excitement that must pulse through the place on weekends. Thousands of teens in Anderson County have made Fusion a regular hang out spot. By doing so, some are avoiding negative forces such as gangs.

Of all the things I love about my job and credit unions, stories like this easily rise to the top. Kudos to the CCUF … and to each credit union that is active in its community.

As John Slack often says, credit unions do stuff like this because it’s the right thing to do. Amen to that!

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.