Saving the Day

Saving the day by saving members’ money: That’s the message White Crown Federal Credit Union wanted to convey with its fun and memorable marketing campaign using a superhero theme.

The campaign effectively captured members’ attention, allowing White Crown FCU to gain credit card business and significantly boost its loan activities. Because the campaign cost an economical sum of less than $2,300, the $62 million credit union also captured the prestigious Bootstrap of the Year honor in the 2015 CUES Golden Mirror Awards™ competition.

The GMA Bootstrap of the Year goes to the credit union that makes a huge amount of impact for a small expenditure of money, and the White Crown FCU campaign certainly qualifies. Components of the campaign include colorful “superhero” graphics used on everything from in-branch posters to T-shirts to take-one brochures.

The superhero theme also continued on White Crown FCU’s website  and Facebook posts, and it was used for a postcard mailing to the credit union’s 6,000 members announcing the new White Crown FCU credit card with a low introductory rate.

“We based the campaign on the people-helping-people philosophy,” explains CUES member Mary Ann Schlung, who headed up White Crown FCU’s marketing effort. “We wanted to think of something that was totally out of the norm, compared to the other financial institutions and credit unions in the area.”

Located in downtown Denver, White Crown FCU faced the challenge of standing out in a crowded marketplace. “Kerry Spradling, White Crown FCU’s president, had the idea of identifying ourselves as superheroes—like we were the best-kept secret in town but now we’re here to save the day,” Schlung reports.

The campaign T-shirts, worn by White Crown FCU staff members, certainly convey that notion. They were designed to make it look like a superhero was pulling open the shirt to reveal the White Crown FCU logo underneath.

The lobby was adorned with posters and graphics that Schlung created herself using a comic-book style. Words like “Bang,” “Pow” and “Kapow” were affixed to the front of the teller stations, while a graphic cityscape was placed on the wall behind the tellers. “We printed those items on our printers and then hand cut them out,” Schlung explains.

Lobby posters, “take-one” materials and website banners followed the comic book theme, with bold graphics highlighting low auto loan and credit card rates, as well as offering $100 cash to those opening checking account with direct deposit, debit card and e-statements.

“We just tried to make it fun and catch people’s attention, so that when people would come by and walk into the lobby they wanted to know what was going on,” Schlung says.

White Crown FCU was able to keep its costs low by doing as much as possible in-house and then shopping around for the best pricing for the T-shirts and printing of the postcards. “We were really diligent because White Crown FCU is a smaller credit union and we didn’t have the budget that other credit unions have,” Schlung says.

Super Results

The results, however, were indicative of a far-more expensive campaign. The goal of the campaign, which ran from July through November of 2014, was to do $1 million in loans. The actual total exceeded $2.5 million. The most success came with auto loans at more than $1.9 million, followed by home equity lines of credit totaling more than $700,000. Additionally, White Crown FCU opened 90 credit cards with limits exceeding $600,000.

Another positive effect was how much interest the campaign generated. “Members would come in, and we’d receive phone calls. Everyone was excited and happy to see what we were doing,” Schlung explains. “The campaign caught them off-guard in a good way.”

Super Staff

Schlung is thankful for the recognition of the GMA Bootstrap of the Year award, stressing the fact that the campaign would not have been possible without the credit union’s amazing teamwork, which is fostered by Spradling (a CUES member) as well as by VP/Accounting & IT Amanda Munier, VP/Lending & Operations Jessica Deines, both CUES members, and the White Crown FCU Board of Directors. White Crown has a staff of just 10 employees, so it was important that they be included every step of the way.

“We incorporated the staff in everything we were doing,” Schlung reports. “We got them on board from the get-go. They enjoyed wearing the shirts and identifying as superheroes. It opened up an avenue for them to engage members and start conversations, allowing them to explain that ‘That’s what we’re here for, to help you save money on your auto loan or credit card.’ At the end of the day, that’s what credit unions are all about—helping people.”

Schlung stresses that it was the amazing support provided by the entire staff, both front-line and back-office employees, that allowed the campaign to be as successful as it was. “It doesn’t really matter the size of your credit union, whether your budget is big or small,” she says. “If you’re willing to work together as a team, anything can be accomplished, and this is a prime example of that.”

Diane Franklin is a freelance writer based in Missouri.