Mazuma Credit Union in Kansas wants to know, “What Are You About?”

From September 1 through November 30, people are invited to submit a 25-second video answering the question “What Are You About?”

At a microsite the credit union created for the promo, the credit union says, “Tell us what you care about, but do it in your own way. Your essence, your style, your sense of originality. Infuse your video with these qualities and you can’t go wrong.”

Presumably, the design of the promotional website is an intentional deviation from the more conservative look of the credit union’s primary website, in order to appeal to a younger audience:

The main Mazuma website (shown left) and the “What Are You About” microsite (shown right).

The design of the microsite is nice, the interface is fairly intuitive, and the prizes aren’t shabby at all:

• Grand Prize - Premium A/V Studio Package Valued at $9000
  Mac Pro,  Canon MiniDV Camcorder, Samsung 24″ Monitor, condenser mic, Sennheiser headphones and studio speakers.
• First Runner Up - Prosumer A/V Studio Package Valued at $4000
  Apple 24″ iMac, JVC Camcorder, condenser mic, Sennheiser headphones and studio speakers.
• Second Runner Up - Basic A/V Studio Package Valued at $2000
  Apple 20″ iMac, Samsung Camcorder, condenser mic and Sennheiser headphones.
• All three prize winners may have their video aired on TV as an official Mazuma commercial.

In a press release, Rob Givens, President/Mazuma, said, “The site is meant to open up discussion within Kansas City. We want to get in touch with today’s younger people in our community, to hear their stories and see how we can help.”

Currently, there are 48 registered users and seven video entries.

The most-watched video, “Mashed Potatoes,” has been seen 445 times. It’s like clay-mation, only it’s “mashed-mation.” A talking pile of mashed potatoes says, “I’m all about my masher.” The video’s creator also bought the URL mashyourownpotatoes.com which redirects to Mazuma’s microsite.

“Mashed Potatoes” (0:29) has been viewed 445 times.
How would you react if you saw this spot on TV for a credit union in your area?

Not all the entries are quite so cheeky. Another video titled “Serve” is all about one person’s commitment to Jesus. It has been viewed 88 times.

Oddly, the videos are only available at the microsite and not on YouTube. Only Mr. Mashed Potatoes has uploaded his video there, where (at the time of this writing) it had only been viewed once.

A panel of Mazuma judges will determine the top 10 videos, which will be announced on the site on November 3, 2008. The 10 videos will then be featured on the site where registered users can vote for and determine the top three videos.

Tip: Requiring registration to vote for videos is a good way to prevent entrants from “gaming the system” and voting for their own videos over and over. This also presents additional marketing opportunities.

To be eligible for the video contest, the contestants have to maintain a valid residential address in the Kansas City metro area and be 14 years of age or older at the time of submission. Official contest rules can be found at the promotion’s website.

Mazuma Credit Union has over 51,300 members and around $350 million in assets.

Beyond Marketing assisted with the promotion.

Sydney Credit Union recently relaunched as SCU and rolled out a new brand theme, “More Generous Banking.”

To celebrate the launch, SCU sent out street teams across Sydney conducting “Random Acts Of Generosity” including giving out free coffees, free massages and — no joke — free hugs.

As part of the overhaul, SCU streamlined its product lineup and unveiled what it describes as a more “user-friendly website,” two moves it hopes will appeal to younger consumers.

In addition to being generous with java, rubs and hugs, the credit union outlines a few other ways in which it is “generous” at its website:

• Being more generous with our time
  We’re happy to spend as much time with you as you would like in order to share what we know with you and help you to make the right decisions.
• Being more generous with our money
  You can always expect great rates from us and low (or no) fees and charges. And better than that. We’ll always look at the total deal you are being offered and do everything we can to make it as generous as possible for you.

SCU isn’t the only financial institution using the venerated piggy bank icon. BNZ, a bank in New Zealand, has built their entire campaign around them.

In an interview, Adam Milbank, marketing manager of SCU said, “We’ve got a modern and fresh new look that we believe will appeal more to the younger generations. Although it’s hard to compete with the big banks on advertising budget we have a strong brand and a great proposition that’s a little more fun and little more friendly.”

PR agency One Green Bean was appointed to support the brand refresh and new website, which was developed by design group Blue Marlin.

Source: Callahan & Associates “Peer 2.0 Software” – June 30, 2008

Key Insights:

• The country’s largest credit unions spend, on average, the least per member, but they may also be gaining media efficiencies with their marketing budgets.
• A marketing budget of $350,000 is not enough to support and sustain a billion-dollar credit union. That represents only .035% of total assets.
• Similarly, a $150,000 marketing budget is inadequate for a $500 million credit union. That’s only .03% of total assets.
• A $40,000 marketing budget is dismally low for a $250 million credit union. That’s about .015% of assets.
• A marketing budget of $2.8 million seems excessive for a $500 million credit union, as does $1.2 million for a credit union with $250 million in assets. That’s around .05% of assets.

Key Questions:

• How can any credit union at any size have a marketing budget of $0?
• What is the average cost of marketing per new member?
• What is the average growth in assets per marketing dollar spent?

Bottom Line:

• The average marketing budget for most financial institutions (bank or credit union) at any asset size should be at least 0.1% of total assets. (Case in point: BofA, whose $2.0 billion marketing budget is almost exactly 0.1% of its $1.9 trillion in deposits.) Many factors affect this guideline — up or down — including, but not limited to, growth goals and media costs in specific markets.
• Now is not the time to cut your marketing budget (as tempting as that may sound to some among your senior management team). First of all, as market conditions get tougher, you need to ramp up your spending — just to stay where you’re at. Second, it’s easier to “cut through the clutter” when there’s less clutter.

This creative idea comes to us from Prospera Credit Union in B.C., Canada. The credit union mailed out branded gel packs bearing the message, “Paying taxes is a big headache. That’s why we’re freezing them for 10 years. Introducing the Equity Share Offering from Prospera. Freeze and apply for immediate tax relief.”

Print materials explaining the investment opportunity along with a customized letter were sent in Mylar envelopes with each gel pack. The transparent Mylar envelopes allowed recipients to see the gel pack inside.

Prospera mailed nearly 4,500 packages to a pre-qualified list culled from the credit union’s 60,000 members. Each recipient received a follow-up phone call from Prospera.

Bottom Line: The total cost for the promotion was $42,475, with an ROI that bettered returns on two previous, more-conventional campaigns by 143%.

Tip of the Hat: Thanks to JP Jones for the find, and to Deliver Magazine for their article about it.

Filene just released a study on employee perceptions of credit unions.The study concludes that credit union employees are confused about what “a credit union” is. Among the conclusions:

• Employees agree on the “credit union idea” but have a very difficult time explaining that idea to external parties.
• Employees can’t neatly compartmentalize how a credit union fits into our society.
• Employees can identify the parts of the credit union puzzle, but they don’t see how it all fits together.
• There is significant variance in employee commitment and in the consensus of what a credit union represents.
• Employees younger than 30 and those with higher levels of educational are less committed to credit unions.

It sounds pretty bleak — like all the people who actually work at credit unions don’t know what “credit unions” are.

Surely there was some discord among the survey’s responses. But when you actually look at the data, the news is pretty good for credit unions. In fact, you almost have to wonder how the survey’s authors came to such dire conclusions.

The survey posed over 150 different questions to 340 employees. Here’s some of the results:

• 99% believed great service is a defining feature of a credit union.
• 98% felt credit unions exist to serve ordinary folks, not just people with money.
• 96% believed credit unions made a difference in people’s lives.
• 96% thought “people helping people” pretty much summed it up.
• 96% knew that credit unions were different because they had all-volunteer boards.
• 95% believed there was more of a community feeling at a credit union.
• 95% have recommended the credit union to someone other than family.
• 95% believed that members actually own their credit unions.
• 94% believed it was more important to look after a member and not push them into something they don’t want.
• 91% believed that fundamentally, a credit union is a pooling of the members’ financial resources for the members’ benefit.
• 90% have tried to get one of their family members to join.
• 88% felt treating members equally was an underlying value of credit unions.

Bottom Line: It sounds like employees of credit unions have a lot of pride in where they work, and know more about “credit unions” than we may assume. Some messages are clearly getting through…to staff, any way.

If you’ve got 20 minutes, check out this PDF of Filene’s results.

If you’ve got another 20 minutes after that, Filene has a 20-minute MP3 about the study.

Both are worth the time — if you have it.

Key Question: What would employees of banks say if they took a similar study?

Here are this week’s stories of interest from around the web.
Click hotlinks for the complete story.

Money for Guns: Chase gives away prepaid debit cards for unregistered guns

Credit Score: Consumer Reports’ 12 best and 3 worst credit cards

Duel: Comparing ING vs. E-Trade click-through rates

Essay Contest: Credit union holds $1,500 ‘What Do You Want’ contest

Image Problems: Aussie credit unions in the same situation as U.S. peers

Pedal Pushing: 7.99% bike loans up to $2,500

Q&A Interview: Barclays sees how sponsorships can open doors in the U.S.

More Gas: DFCU-style gas promo from a Montana credit union

Online Media: Citibank’s exclusive sponsorship of popular Aussie website ‘The Fix’

Going Swimmingly: Visa happy with Phelps endorsement

Up for Review: ING’s £4 million direct mail account

Va Va Voom: Female employees pose in bank’s pinup calendar

That’s an Outhouse! But the sign says “Future home of Auburn-U FCU”

WSECU is taking the fight to banks in a small but brave online initiative targeting college students called “What the B.” The campaign includes a microsite, blog and visits at college campus events.

The campaign’s central creative hook centers on a playful-yet-derogatory portrayal of banks. For starters, the credit union has shortened the word “B-A-N-K-S” down to “B—S.” Ouch.

WSECU substitutes a bleep everywhere the word “bank” occurs in the campaign’s copy and videos. You’ll get the idea after you watch this YouTube video:

In addition to Nicole’s testimonial, there are three other videos to help kickoff the campaign, including “Tani,” “Stacie” and “Johnny.”

WSECU is holding no punches. They sling plenty of zingers at banks. For instance, they accuse banks of “going Bonnie-and-Clyde on your assets,” and “giving you the shaft.”

In an interview with The Financial Brand, Eric Jones, Marketing Project Specialist/WSECU, said the idea for WhatTheB was hatched “in a spontaneous moment between a graphic designer and a business development officer.”

Jones said the two were talking when one referred to a “credit union” as a “bank.” “’Hey, watch your mouth. That’s a four-letter word,’” one said to the other sarcastically. And the campaign took off from there.

The content was developed almost entirely in-house by WSECU, with some web support from an outside vendor. Four staffers shared responsibilities for development of the campaign. It took roughly three months to plan and launch the site.

Jones says WSECU’s CEO and board were cautioned about possible reactions to a tongue-in-cheek campaign, but they very much supported the idea of trying new things to connect with Gen-Y. WSECU was ready to take a chance.

“You can’t just put fresh paint on an old Model T and expect the varsity football team to start lining up for test drives.”
– Kristina Walters,
VP/Marketing for WSECU

“We wanted to do something radically different from our more traditional, conservative brand,” said Kristina Walters, VP/Marketing for WSECU. “You can’t just put fresh paint on an old Model T and expect the varsity football team to start lining up for test drives.”

So true.

Jones described WhatTheB as an experiment, saying it’s WSECU’s version of “dipping a toe in the water” to test social media as a member-recruitment tool.

As far as Gen-Y promotions go, the campaign has humble aspirations — nothing of the magnitude of something like Young & Free, a promotion so ambitious it’s got its own roaming Guitar Hero competition truck. With only a blog and a four-page microsite, WhatTheB should be relatively easy to manage, and a good way to “learn on the job.”

It does not appear that the WhatTheB campaign has been integrated into WSECU’s website. What would be really fun is if WSECU hotlinked the 20 or so occurrences of the word “bank” in its main website back to the WhatTheB.com microsite. Better yet, replace the word “bank” with “b@%k” and hotlink that.

Jones says WSECU will continue working on WhatTheB through October when the credit union’s “Join and Get $25” student promotion ends.

In the meantime, WhatTheB’s blog will be fueled by a copywriter and a support staff member, but may be expanded, Jones says. WSECU has an advisory team of Gen-Y staff members who might be able to contribute to the blog and other member-facing parts of the campaign.

These brand TV ads from Alabama Credit Union are terrific. They are brimming with personality and look nothing like any other financial institution’s ads. (Well okay, they may look a little like the recent Telly Award-winning spots from Truliant, but they are still very cool and fun to watch.) Take a look, and enjoy the entertaining print ad for a branch grand opening after the videos.

The only downside is that Alabama Credit Union’s website doesn’t ooze with the same kind of spunk and attitude. As Ron Shevlin points out, it’s a bit of a brand disconnect to see ads as fresh and creative as these, then see a functional-but-unexciting website backing them up.

Key Questions: What are Alabama Credit Union’s branches like? How do these ads align with- or complement their in-branch experience?

The ads are the work of the Red Square Agency, Mobile, Alabama.

Here are this week’s branding and marketing stories of interest from around the web.
Click hotlinks for the whole story.

Texas Twins: Similar Gen-Y programs raise tough questions

What’s Behind All This Growth? Credit unions add 1.6 million members

Reaping ‘Rewards’: Bancvue checking product boasts $5.5 billion in deposits

Bee Good: Credit union serves free honey-flavored ice cream to save the bees

How To: Making a powerful financial brand

Driving Sales: Auto loans are hot as car makers cut leasing programs

2nd Generation: Bank switches names back to ‘Generations’

Pledge of New Allegiance: Illinois bank to become ‘Legence’

MembersProject.com: AmEx introduces contest for charitable ideas

School of Rock: CU’s financial literacy program rocks high schoolers

It’s a Wrap: BofA draws attention to wealth management with NYT ad wrap

Vishing: Are you ready to protect people from this latest security threat?

Op Ed: LA Times bemoans loss of marble and mahogany branches

Hawaiian Cafe: Credit union puts in a sofa and a “gourmet coffee bar”

The Dallas Morning News reports that Resource One Credit Union based out of Dallas, TX is launching a competition for a “spokester” on August 13.

Contestants will submit a 500-word blog and video online during the first phase of the competition. Resource One will then select the top finalists who will have to solicit votes from their community of peers. Top finalists will demonstrate their ability to create viral buzz by creating campaigns that drive votes for their candidacy.

The candidate with the most votes will then be selected as the MyLifeMyMoney “spokester” on October 31, 2008. The winner gets use of a Scion, a phone, laptop, video camera and part-time salary for a year.

The credit union promises more details will be available at their website next week.

Resource One is calling the campaign “My Life, My Money,” coupling it with the tagline, “Banking for my generation.” That generation would, of course, be the highly coveted Gen-Y audience financial institutions across North America are targeting.

The campaign is almost identical to Common Wealth Credit Union’s Young & Free Alberta initiative that was launched up in Canada a little less than a year ago. MyLifeMyMoney copies essentially every component of Young & Free, including the overall strategy, the spokester’s responsibilities, the media used, and the incentives offered to the spokester. Even the term spokester is borrowed from Young & Free.

It’s not clear whether the credit union will be deploying a sub-branded microsite to support the campaign, but based on the Young & Free blueprint, the safe bet is “yes.”

To see the outline for the Young & Free campaign, go to the youngfreealberta.ca website and click on the “Search Archive” tab in the main navigation bar.

Key Questions:

• Will Resource One find a spokester anywhere near as awesome as Young & Free’s Larissa Walkiw?
• Will the credit union give the campaign the necessary offline marketing support it needs?
• Currency Marketing, the agency that created CommonWealth’s wildly popular Young & Free initiative, is franchising the concept. How will this impact them?

Resource One’s announcement also puts to rest a question raised here at The Financial Brand earlier this year about who was behind a logo design contest at 99designs.com. The person that won that contest received $200. (Oddly enough, the contest at 99designs.com inaccurately indicates one of the runner-ups as the winner.)

The logo contest was posted by Resource One’s ad agency. What they, in turn, charged Resource One for this $200 logo remains a question.

Resource One is using the winning design from that contest as its official “My Life, My Money” logo.

Resource One has $265 million in assets and just over 40,000 members.

For many credit unions, expanding their charters is a common growth strategy. Often, a credit union’s first reflex after getting a community charter is to add the word “community” to its name.

The reasoning goes something like this: “Our community charter should fuel future growth. The only problem is, people don’t know they can join. We need a way to say, ‘We’re open to everyone!’”

The solution: ‘[Fill-in-the-Blank] Community Credit Union.’ The word “community” represents a “community charter,” and everyone knows a community charters are “open to the community,” right?

Wrong.

Reality check: Industry insiders often make the mistake of crediting the general public with more knowledge about credit unions than they actually have. We forget that Joe Average struggles to grasp the basic concepts of “joining” and “membership,” much less subtler credit union terminology, like “shares” or “CUDL.”

There’s nothing inherently wrong with the word “community.” There are plenty of successful credit unions incorporating “community” into their names. Just don’t be fooled into thinking the word “community” will help the general public realize they can join.

Over 500 credit unions have slipped the word “community” in their names – that’s one out of every 16. Yet after changing names, many are still frustrated by stagnant member growth. This is most prevalent among credit unions who retain their main sponsor’s name — for instance, turning ‘Company Employees Credit Union’ to ‘Company Community Credit Union.’ It seems logical, because this formula preserves heritage in the old name.

The big problem is that no matter how many times you say “everyone can join,” people just can’t get past the ‘Company’ name. They understandably assume that only employees of the Company can join. Research bears this out over and over.

Bottom line: You can’t just tack a word like “community” onto your name and hope it works. Supporting a community charter takes good old-fashioned marketing muscle.

Most credit unions with newly-minted community charters don’t have brands that are ready for primetime.

If you’re going to go through the process and expense of changing your credit union’s name, embrace the opportunity to truly rebrand your identity.

Even if you choose a new name with a safe, geographical reference like Oregon Community Credit Union or Utah Community Credit Union, your credit union is probably due for a fresh, overall makeover.

This simple illustration shows you exactly where to focus your brand – The Sweet Spot, where “the things people want most” intersects with “what you do best” and “what your competitors suck at.”

Source: Brad Van Auken

Bank 2.0: Struggling banks turn to social networking

Case Studies: Branding firm analyzes 9 different megabank brands

Taken to Task: Marketing expert blasts bank for mailers on neon paper

Today 8 Slides, Tomorrow the World: A Gen-Y plan with big ambitions, few specifics

Bridging the Golf: RBC reaches across the border to sponsor U.S. golf

Stepping Up to the Plate: Big banks defend expensive stadium sponsorships

Lend Me Some Green: Seattle CU rolls-out green auto, home and equity loans

Inside Every Banker…: RBC rep enthusiastic about credit unions

Role Reversal: 86-year old woman turns the table on her bank

Paul Economy, that is (yes, that’s his real name). Economy, a VP and manager of a Member One Credit Union branch, is the star in his employer’s latest ad campaign.

“Come see Paul,” the headline on the billboard reads. “He has $50 million to lend.”

This deceptively simple concept may not be the sexiest campaign in the world, but it’s super smart and strategic. In our new, deleveraged economy where lenders are evaporating and capital is tight, Member One looks like the only financial institution out there with money to lend. Meanwhile, everyone else is slugging it out for deposit dollars.

This demonstrates one of the Fundamental Theorems of Branding:

Zig when everyone else zags.

The Roanoke Times reports that the campaign generated “multimillions” in loans in its first month, a dramatic increase from previous months.

“The well’s not running dry.”
– Brad Boothe, AVP/Marketing
Member One Credit Union

The campaign doesn’t specify any particular type of loan. It applies to all loans – auto, personal, mortgage and home equity.

Brad Boothe, AVP/Marketing at Member One Credit Union, said that the credit union is able to run this kind of promotion because it’s not in same the situation as many other lenders with high default rates on loans.

In an interview with The Financial Brand, Boothe said, “We have lent a lot but we still have plenty more. The $50 million was used more for impact than actual money to lend.”

“The well’s not running dry,” he said.

Member One has around $350 million in assets, 56,000 members and 15 branches.

The campaign, including print, radio and in-branch components, will run through August.

:30 Seconds on Paul Economy
- Paul has worked for Member One for 21 years.
- He is 43.
- He is a native of Roanoke, Virginia, where the credit union is based.
- He recently returned from a mission trip to the African nation of Malawi.
- Paul serves as the president of the Roanoke Ballet Theatre Board of Directors.
- He’s a member of the Rotary Club of Roanoke and the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The FBI just released its fourth-quarter robbery data for banks and credit unions. Rather than wait for the FBI to tabulate four quarters and publish its findings, The Financial Brand added it all up and broke it all down for you.

Here’s the raw data for 2007, quarter-by-quarter:
Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | TOTALS

Total bank and credit union robberies down 11.4%

2006 – 6,675
2007 – 5,917

Bank robberies down 11%

2006 – 6,154
2007 – 5,468

Credit union robberies down 14%

2006 – 521
2007 – 449

Injuries occur in 1.3% of all robberies

2006 – 94 incidents
2007 – 74 incidents

Employees are the most likely to be injured

2006 – 75 employees injured
2007 – 49 employees injured

Number of robberies in which deaths occurred

2006 – 13
2007 – 16

Robber is the most likely one to die

2006 – 10 robbers of 13 people killed
2007 – 12 robbers of 18 people killed

The data serves as a reminder that there are ways to engineer safe branch environments without creating “fortresses.” In the comments of The Financial Brand’s previous coverage of the FBI’s 2006 robbery data, Brett Conway of EHS Design suggested checking out SafeCatch, a branch design solution that minimizes risk of robbery. If your branches have security features like bullet-proof glass, you should definitely give it a look.

SafeCatch gets into robber psychology, recommending that front doors should not be visible from the transaction area because robbers always want to keep an eye on their exits. Good point.

The downloadable PDF includes a sample floor plan.

Identity Crisis: Creating a great credit union logo

Patronage Dividends: A great CU difference to tout

Save@YouTube: FNBO hosts “Savings Goal” contest on YouTube

Viva la Brand: Aviva, an international insurance provider, rebrands

Storm Clouds: Federal judge puts smackdown on community charters

Court Adjourned: Commerce name is out, ‘TD Bank’ is the new moniker

Eco-Branch: Canadian CU develops green+tech prototype

Pennies for Change: Credit union members can give 1¢ per debit to United Way

Greener on the Other Side? Coastway CU proposes bank conversion to members

Busted: Aussie bank fined over misleading ads promising big giveaway

Yours Truly: Thank you notes for new accounts signed by a credit union CEO