By Frank J. Diekmann
America’s credit unions should be beating a path to Albany, N.Y. right now.
And all for a 26-cent cup of coffee. Here’s why.
If there is one phrase in the credit union community that has raced to cliché status in near-record time it’s that CUs must better tell the “credit union story.” At credit union conferences it’s “story time” more often than a meeting of the American Library Association. But what you almost never hear is anyone offering a unique idea on how to tell that story.
Glen Stacey has one. And the entire credit union community should steal it--sorry, cooperatively participate in it--because while some estimates have said it would cost tens of million of dollars to stage a national “branding” campaign for credit unions, Stacey’s idea costs just about a quarter
Stacey is Content Marketing Specialist at Sunmark FCU in Albany, N.Y. and last week was one of three finalists for a $10,000 prize that was offered as part of “The Pitch” competition during the CUNA Marketing and Business Development Council Conference in Las Vegas. Each of the three competitors was seeking the funds in order to bring their ideas to life.
Here’s the idea Stacey pitched.
Seeking to highlight that credit unions offer services to members “at cost” with very little mark-up, his proposal called for creation of the Sunmark At-Cost Café, a coffee vending vehicle that would travel around its markets and sell coffee for 26 cents a cup, its cost.
With most people paying several dollars or more for a cup of coffee, the objective, said Stacey, would be to show how much mark-up people are paying on coffee—as well as other products, such as the financial products/services they get from banks.
One frequently cited challenge in telling the “credit union story” is how to engage people. What’s so brilliant here is that it’s the target audience that begins the engagement by asking, “Why is the coffee so cheap?” That starts the conversation, with the credit union rep given an open door to explain it’s being sold at cost. “We can explain that credit unions save members money every day and pass along the savings to members every day,” said Stacey.
Stacey’s idea didn’t win the competition (you can find out more about the other two ideas that were part of The Pitch here.
) where the winner was selected by text voting by an audience of CU marketers. But it was easily the most creative idea I’ve heard in some time, and also the most easily scaled up across credit unions nationally. Imagine credit union-sponsored “At-Cost Cafes” or coffee shops (or iced tea or lemonade) at events all across the country where thousands if not tens-of-thousands of consumers would be prompted to ask, “Why is this so cheap?” Forget the t-shirts and the Frisbees and the catalog of tchotchkes that only prompt one question: “Can I have some more for my grandkids?”
We’ve all often heard that you can’t put a price on a good idea, although usually it’s in the context of justifying a large budget. Here’s one for just 26 cents.
Another Kind of Gambling
Sitting in the Southwest Airlines terminal in the Las Vegas airport I was surrounded by all the slot machines aimed at prying loose whatever quarters might remain in the pockets of those leaving town. But as I sat there I realized it wasn’t the only form of gambling going on in the terminal.
Like every airline Southwest overbooks its flights, using sophisticated algorithms that calculate how many people will buy tickets but not show (in this case, what happens in Vegas really does stay in Vegas). Like every airline, too, the result is that gate agents are turned into carnival barkers and auctioneers offering up free tickets, travel credits and rebookings on later flights to entice passengers to give up their seats.
For the passengers listening to the announcements, the result is Risk/Reward Roulette. Do you take the free tickets and the travel credits? Or gamble and wait and see if the airline sweetens the deal a bit more? Is it really worth the money, especially if you’re not rebooked until the next day? Or should you just go home, since travel on Southwest isn’t all the expensive in the first place?
Those are the kinds of gambles you’d like to have a few minutes to think about, maybe with a good 26-cent cup of coffee.
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperative in Chief at CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info.