BOSTON—CUNA is asking credit unions for an aggressive $100 million in contributions over three years to fund the launch of its credit union awareness program, “Open Your Eyes to a Credit Union.”
CUNA President and CEO Jim Nussle made the announcement Friday at the trade association’s America's Credit Union Conference here, saying that marketing for the campaign begins in January of 2019.
“The future of our movement depends on more Americans than ever opening their eyes to everything a credit union offers them,” said Nussle. “By leveraging modern digital media tools to reach the right consumers at the right time, we’ll create a fresh image for credit unions and challenge their assumptions about who we are and what we do. When they open their eyes to a credit union, they’ll be pleased by what they see.”
Nussle and CUNA stated that America’s credit unions, leagues, and business partners, with support from CUNA, are supporting the funding goal of $100 million to sustain the effort through 2021. Credit unions will receive an operating plan with further details this summer, CUNA stated.
“Open Your Eyes to a Credit Union” is an industry-wide initiative to increase consumer consideration of the industry. Based on data-driven research conducted by CUNA, the campaign aims to position credit unions as America's preferred financial services provider. The effort got its launch after Nussle joined CUNA three years ago and said he frequently encountered people who had no idea what a credit union is.
CUNA has invested over $2 million to fund the initiative to date. As CUToday.info previously reported, the initiative is designed to combat two primary myths consumers believe: they can’t join a credit union and they can’t access their money.
“Now credit unions across the country are joining together to tell a new, compelling story to disrupt the financial services industry and retain relevancy in the future,” Nussle said.
“This national program is designed by credit unions for credit unions,” said Teresa Freeborn chair of the Creating Awareness Advisory Group and president/CEO of Xceed Financial Credit Union. “It is critical that we embrace this long-term initiative that will dispel the myths associated with credit unions and establish the credit union category clearly in the consideration set for consumers. It’s time.”
Additional information on the Open Your Eyes initiative, including the extensive research that has been involved, can be found here.