Johanne gets a T-shirt!

For her promptness, AND for asking the question on everyone's mind - "What would it take for you to join a credit union?"* - Johanne R. of Rexton, New Brunswick will shortly be sporting a coveted Cuckoo t-shirt.

Marketing is not only conversation, it's clothing!

*Question slightly altered to be applicable to all credit unions.

Nala

Nala is taking up the Cuckoo blog reins!

Has anybody out there tried to be the main voice on two separate blogs for an extended period of time? And run a business? And have a family life?

Yeah, it is tough to make it all work.

We launched our Cuckoo Campaigns website last June and included a blog to facilitate news and conversation. I kept pretty active posting through the Summer but then the frequency of posts dwindled through the Fall and ground to a halt after Christmas.

The inactivity is about the change. Nala Henkel, our Vice President, Strategy is taking up the charge and is going to be providing a steady stream of commentary, advice and discussion surrounding the unique challenges that face smaller credit unions.

Tim

Answers to an excellent e-mail

I met a very inquisitive woman at our launch party at the MACU conference in Banff over the weekend. She's the marketing manager for a one-branch credit union in rural British Columbia—exactly the type of credit union that we developed Cuckoo for.

When we announced Cuckoo, she made a beeline towards me and had a number of great questions and suggestions about Cuckoo. We tried to think of everything that might come up when we built our FAQ page, but obviously there are still many unanswered questions about Cuckoo and many ways that we can improve the service.

I asked her to e-mail her comments to me and sure enough she did. Since her questions and suggestions apply to every credit union that may be considering Cuckoo, I am posting her e-mail here (with her permission). This is a great way to get the information out to even more folks and elicit feedback.

If you have other questions and suggestions, please e-mail us and we can continue this open dialogue.

"Just following up from meeting y'all at the conference last week. Here were the few suggestions I had to make in regards to the Cuckoo concept:

1. Include a target audience profile for each campaign
2. Provide sample community newspaper articles to accompany each campaign (brings more credibility as it looks like "journalism" vs. advertising)
3. More clarity around pricing—is $7,000 the minimum? Can CUs purchase at a "bulk rate" (eg. 3 campaigns for $15,000 vs. $21,000), etc.
4. Consider the demographic info provided by Dr. David Foot (Boom Bust Echo) and Dr. John Izzo (The Izzo Group) at the MACU conference—to whom are we truly marketing to? I'm really interested in marketing campaigns that are not only cool to 40s and younger, but to 45s and older and segregating that demographic into 45 to 60 years and 61 to 80 years as they do have different needs, concerns, things that appeal to them.
5. Can the images and campaign concepts directly relate to the people in rural Canada?

Thanks for listening and thank you for the delicious chocolate cuckoo!"

Great suggestions and questions. Here are my responses:

1. Awesome idea—this is a must do. We will create a separate profile for each campaign as soon as possible.
2. This is a great idea as well. We will consider including community newspaper articles as an add-on in the future. What you see in the campaign store today is only the beginning. In addition to other campaign categories, we see tremendous opportunities for additional add-ons. Prior to launching Cuckoo, we surveyed credit union marketers from across North America. The add-ons you see are the most requested, however we know that credit unions will want others. We want to know what add-ons are important to your credit unions. Please post a comment to let us know what we are missing.
3. We do want repeat customers and no doubt these credit unions should be rewarded for their participation. On the Club Cuckoo page, we describe our "add-on bucks," but a volume discount might be in order as well. We will certainly consider this in the near future.
4. Many of the campaigns that we have created for launch are targeted at young families. We know there is a real need for other demographics. One example is wealth management campaigns targeted to older members and potential members. We also know that youth is at the forefront of many credit unions' strategies these days. We intend to take your comments to heart as we develop more campaigns. Sign up for a free Club Cuckoo membership and you will see new campaigns before anyone else.
5. We know that we need to add campaigns that capture a more rural lifestyle and that use imagery that is more people and relationship focussed. Like I said, what you see today is only the beginning. We hear you and will be responding with even more great relevant campaigns that your credit union can use.

Tim

We are receiving great feedback on Cuckoo, but this one from Gene takes the cake!

Gene Blishen from Mount Lehman Credit Union made our day recently with the most creative best-wishes e-mail ever. For those of you who have never met Gene, you need to. Gene is a genuine advocate for small credit unions and has been an awesome client for almost a decade. His Tinfoiling blog is a must read and he was a major contributor to us switching from PCs to MACs a few years ago. I couldn't take his mocking any longer! As long as there are people like Gene in the credit union movement, we've got nothing to worry about.

Thanks Gene. You rock!

If you have no idea what Gene is referring to, we have launched a new stock campaign service for credit unions called Cuckoo.

Tim

Currency Marketing is CUCKOO for credit unions

For the past few weeks we have had a banner at the bottom of our blog that read, "Has Currency gone cuckoo?" Well, we are ready to let you in on our big secret. We are delighted to announce that our latest concept has hatched. What is it you ask? Cuckoo! Amazing stock campaigns for credit unions.

We found ourselves with requests for campaigns from credit unions across the continent. Many of the credit unions were of a smaller scale and found that their budget couldn’t support a customized campaign. Yet they still wanted creative, captivating and engaging marketing. From this Cuckoo was born.

Cuckoo is our way of giving smaller credit unions the tools they need to take a bite out of the big banks!

After a year in the nest our bird is ready to take flight. We are so excited about the launch of Cuckoo and we hope you will be too. Click here to check out our new site. We'd love to hear what you think.

We held a preview at a special party in Banff at the MACU Spring Conference on Thursday night. Here is a video of our road trip. It was a blast. Don't worry, we have kept all of the footage PG!

Are we cuckoo? Absolutely.

Tim

P.S. I am very proud of our team. Everyone has had a hand in bringing Cuckoo to life including Andrew, Bhu, Bob, Bobby, Caleb, Cheryl, Eryn, Irene, Jenn, Julie, Kevin, Kristen, Michael, Nala, Nicole, Peter, Sharon and Trish. I must also give a special thanks to Michelle, who has quarterbacked this project and pushed and pushed to make it better.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed the concept and provided valuable input (you know who you are). Also to my family, Jan, Aidan and Elise who have had to put up with looking at me over the back of my laptop screen on many an evening for the past few months!

It is very exciting to see it get off the ground in such fine fashion. Many hours have been spent and the end product is awesome. Thanks everyone! 

Hello world! Currency Marketing has just hatched Cuckoo

I am so excited to announce the birth of our new service—Cuckoo! What's Cuckoo you ask? Cuckoo is a collection of amazing stock marketing campaigns developed for credit unions (and definitely not banks).

But it's so much more than that! I know that by putting professional marketing materials in the hands of smaller independent credit unions, it will help these organizations succeed, one new member at a time.

Cuckoo is an extension of Currency Marketing's core purpose. Simply put, it is our purpose to help credit unions deepen their relationships with members and persuade bank customers to become credit union members.

This is just the beginning—we have big plans for constant improvement and new products and services to help your credit union. I encourage you to sign-up for a free Club Cuckoo membership. There are a number of cool rewards, but the best part is we will send you e-mails one week in advance of new campaigns going live on this site.

Good luck with your next campaign. I sure hope we can help. Take a look around and let me know what you think.

Tim

P.S. I am very proud of our team. Everyone has had a hand in bringing Cuckoo to life including Andrew, Bhu, Bob, Bobby, Caleb, Cheryl, Eryn, Irene, Jenn, Julie, Kevin, Kristen, Michael, Nala, Nicole, Peter, Sharon and Trish. I must also give a special thanks to Michelle, who has quarterbacked this project and pushed and pushed to make it better.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed the concept and provided valuable input (you know who you are). Also to my family, Jan, Aidan and Elise who have had to put up with looking at me over the back of my laptop screen on many an evening for the past few months!

It is very exciting to see it get off the ground in such fine fashion. Many hours have been spent and the end product is awesome. Thanks everyone!