An Artful Approach

Whether turning on their televisions, waiting for a city bus or biding their time in rush-hour traffic, citizens of Spokane, Wash., couldn’t help but notice an exciting new brand emerging in their community. In the early months of 2013, it seemed that everywhere they looked, local artists were depicting and local musicians were vocalizing what it meant to be a “Global Citizen.”

It was all part of a new integrated marketing campaign launched by $365 million/49,000-member Global Credit Union. Thanks to high-profile media buys as well as a social media tie-in encouraging local residents to “spot Global,” public awareness of the credit union soared. It substantially boosted its loan activity and turned around declining membership, making the “Global Citizen” initiative a worthy recipient of the CUES Golden Mirror Awards Brand of the Year.

Brand Audit Showed Lack of Awareness

The “Global Citizen” campaign came about after a brand audit showed that the public had poor top-of-mind awareness of Global CU, the fourth largest credit union in Spokane. The brand audit had been undertaken after Global CU President/CEO Jack Fallis, CCE, a CUES member, identified the need for a brand refresh to move the credit union forward.

“From there we began working with our agency, Boom Creative, Spokane, Wash., to produce a memorable campaign that would raise public awareness while remaining authentic to who we are as a credit union,” reports Abigail Franklin, VP/marketing and strategy.

Showcasing Artists

Global CU refreshed its identity with a new logo and also devised a strategy to communicate the credit union’s culture. Global CU has a long history of sponsoring major arts and entertainment events in Spokane. This new campaign took that support to a whole new level by involving local artists and musicians in the creation of ads that appeared on billboards, banners, bus wraps, radio and TV.

“We know that art and music are very personal and that people react to it on an emotional level,” explains Mellie Price, Global CU brand manager. “We wanted to retain that emotional appeal with the bands and artists used in the campaign.”

Since launching in February 2013, the campaign has showcased about a dozen local artists working in various styles and media and about 10 local bands representing genres from rockabilly to hip-hop to Pan-Latin. All were given broad freedom to produce the creative elements of the campaign.

“When the campaign launched with the artists, our only directive was to paint their version of a Global Citizen and to include our new mark,” Price reports. “There was little to no art direction after that. They all fully bought into what we were going for and created stellar pieces of artwork.”

In the case of the bands, Global CU likewise encouraged unfettered creativity. “We shared with them our Global jingle that we created back in 1996 and let them interpret it however they wanted,” Franklin says. “Some of them sang the lyrics verbatim and others created a jingle of their own. We gave them free rein with a strategic purpose behind it.”

Big Impact

With a concentrated ad buy that made the most of Global CU’s media dollars (the CU spent about $440,000 for advertising), the campaign had almost an immediate impact. “When we launched, I don’t think you could avoid us,” Price reports. “Between our TV commercials, three bus wraps, our billboard campaign, print ads and our ongoing sponsorships of local art events, we were everywhere. That’s a complete turnaround from a year and a half ago when we weren’t even top of mind in the public’s awareness of local credit unions.”

The “spot Global” social media tie-in further enhanced the campaign’s effectiveness. Global CU encouraged Spokane residents to share photos of the brand via Facebook or Twitter with an incentive of cash prizes and matching charitable donations. “That got people involved in spotting Global CU all over town, looking for our bus wraps and banners, so then it really does seem like we’re everywhere because everyone’s involved in spreading the word,” Franklin explains.

Even with all the visibility, the CU was surprised at how quickly the campaign produced positive results. “When we launched the brand, we told our finance people and CEO that it was going to take a year to push the needle,” Franklin says. “We started seeing results within the first six months. Our branches reported achieving year-end goals by the mid-year mark.”

Measuring the campaign for the period May 2013-June 2014 the credit union had a 2.02 percent increase in net worth, 41.47 percent growth in consumer loans, and 1.1 percent in member growth.

“We’re hitting every goal and exceeding our return on assets goal,” Franklin says. “Membership is up by more than 2,000 since we started, which is a reversal of a net decrease in membership year over year before we rebranded.”

Franklin reports that the Global CU team is both thrilled and humbled to have received the CUES GMA Brand of the Year Award. “So much work went into the campaign. It wasn’t just one person or one thought. It really has been a very heartfelt campaign and very close to our roots. We’re really excited to get an award that showcases the talent in our community.”

Diane Franklin is a freelance writer in Florissant, Mo.