Comments on: The Amazing Money Maze

By: O Bee Credit Union: Community-Driven Innovator | ThurstonTalk

O Bee Credit Union: Community-Driven Innovator | ThurstonTalk — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 07:08:35 +0000

[...] corn maze as a fundraiser? It worked. The Amazing Money Maze was entertaining for locals who traipsed through, but also raised money and awareness for the [...]

By: Jeffry Pilcher

Jeffry Pilcher — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:01:24 +0000

Thanks for the comment Lee, and again, great job!

By: Lee Wojnar

Lee Wojnar — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:09:32 +0000

Jeff,
I just want to thank you for the positive feedback, I do appreciate it. Being a small credit union is sometimes tough to get your voice heard. The Amazing Money Maze was one of the largest gorilla marketing campaigns O Bee developed. Gorilla marketing can be a very effective strategy in stretching marketing dollars…

We also used this approach this summer when we teamed up Maggie Moo’s Ice Cream and Treatery at the Westfield Shopping Center in Olympia and Chehalis Mints to create a unique flavor, the “O Bee Mint Brownie Blast Ice Cream”! It was a fun way three local businesses worked cooperatively together in order to stretch our marketing dollars!

Thanks again
Lee Wojnar
VP of Marketing
O Bee Credit Union
3900 Cleveland Ave. SE
Tumwater, WA 98501
360-528-5362
http://www.obee.com

By: Jeffry Pilcher

Jeffry Pilcher — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:05:05 +0000

No Roger, you’re absolutely right. In many cases, a big budget can be a crutch for uncreative, uninspired work. And conversely, a small budget can force you to be ultra-creative.

By: Roger Conant

Roger Conant — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:57:27 +0000

I guess you don’t have to be a zillion-member CU to be creative, do you?

By: Jeffry Pilcher

Jeffry Pilcher — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:01:47 +0000

Thanks for the clarification Lyn.

It really is a neat idea — one I’ve not heard of from any company in any industry. Very creative, very original.

Does anyone know if O Bee has seen this article?

By: Lyn Peters

Lyn Peters — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 17:44:29 +0000

OBEE got their name carved in the field because it was their VP of Marketing, Lee Wojnar, who coordinated the event. I believe Lee indicated OBEE also provided the corn to create the maze. This has been such a fun way to put financial education out for families to start talking about money together. DFI is so pleased to have been a part of it! – Lyn Peters, Wa DFI Director of Communications

By: Jeffry Pilcher

Jeffry Pilcher — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:46:53 +0000

That’s interesting. Thanks for sharing Eric.

Does anyone know why/how O BEE is the one who got their name carved in a corn field, and neither of the other two credit unions?

By: Eric Jones

Eric Jones — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:41:42 +0000

The Rutledge Corn Maze was fun. I spent time there with my daughters and their friend yesterday. We completed both mazes. Both were very elaborate.
This was the first year that it was called “The Amazing Money Maze” which was sponsored by many local financial institutions, including WSECU and Twinstar CU, both substantially larger than OBEE. But OBEE did well with this sponsorship due to its two branches’ proximity to the corn maze and the historic Olympia Brewery in the news. The landmark, which once an important part of local employment and history for decades, is now dormant and a painful reminder of the woes that can hit our joe sixpack neighbors in a global economy (The brewery, owned by Miller, shut down after a local wastewater dispute just after Miller was sold to a South African holding company).