PALM DESERT, Calif.–That credit union awareness initiative that has been in the works for more than a year is getting closer to coming to market—and not everyone in CUs is going to like it.
But those people will just “have to get over it,” said Teresa Freeborn, the CEO of Xceed FCU, who is chairing the National Awareness Initiative that is being overseen by CUNA. What those who don’t care for the creative will need to understand, said Freeborn, is that the messaging that is finally selected will be chosen only after extensive testing with both members and non-members over what resonates the most with them.
Speaking to the California and Nevada Leagues’ REACH meeting here, Freeborn, who was presented with the leagues’ Lifetime Achievement Award at the meeting, again updated credit unions on why the national awareness initiative was launched in the first place; chiefly, that there are so many “myths and misunderstandings” about credit unions.
As CUToday.info has reported extensively, the awareness initiative came out of concerns raised by CUNA CEO Jim Nussle when he first was named to the position and discovering most people he encountered had little idea what credit unions were.
That has led to the awareness initiative, which has conducted extensive research on consumer perceptions and which is now conducting focus groups and developing creative approaches. The goal is to have something to show credit unions by CUNA’s GAC in February of 2018.
“This initiative is designed to tackle those myths and misconceptions, but in a bolder way to talk about the credit union difference,” said Freeborn.
CUNA and the steering committee overseeing the awareness initiative have hired Brand Cap, a New York agency, to help develop the brand platform. That platform is based on research being conducted by the Glover Park Group.
“We have always believed this is to be research driven,” said Freeborn. “It has to be based on what consumers know and think and what resonates with them.”
The brand platform, Freeborn explained, is the organizing principle that is guiding the Awareness campaign committee.
While Freeborn didn’t reveal what the campaign’s messaging or creative will be, she said it will incorporate several components, including the idea of getting ahead by belonging to a credit union; how the business model benefits members; that CUs are about treating people as people and not account numbers, and that credit unions are small enough to care, big enough to matter.
The research consistently found four myths about credit unions, she said: People believe they can’t join; believe CUs are for those in need; believe accessing money is difficult at a CU, and believe CUs are too small.
The effort has now reached the point of developing creative concepts and ways of visualizing the brand platform, according to Freeborn.
“To be effective and stand out, it has to be bold. So you have to brace yourselves, because not everyone is going to like it,” said Freeborn. “But it’s going to be tested with consumers, and you will need to get over the fact you don’t like the creative. Whatever we do, it has to resonate with people, members and non-members.”
She added that the messaging is undergoing consumer testing between now and GAC in 2018.