BECU's new TV spots: Smart, hip and meaningful

We Canadians tend to consume a lot of American TV! Lately, I've noticed a very regular stream of BECU commercials flowing my way on  KING-TV, the Washington state NBC affiliate.

Here are a couple in the series.

"Can Do"

"Right Side Up"

I think these ads are spot on and promote the "safe and sound" message perfectly. Fast-paced, catchy music and a strong message. They definitely cut through.

I also really like the straight forward call to action: "We are BECU, join us."

Tim

United Federal stands up, takes matters into its own hands and says "We're different and you can trust us"

Michigan's United Federal Credit Union isn't sitting back and waiting for the new members to find them, they are taking a stand and have launched their own PR campaign. This is from United Federal's interactive press release.

"While Congress continues to pour billions into a bailout stimulus plan for the banking sector as a solution for economic recovery, alternative financial institutions like United Federal Credit Union (UFCU) are standing up and speaking out about being another resolution to the financial crisis, and an institution that Americans can trust."

United Federal is not beating around the bush! Nicely done. More credit unions should step up and get their good name out this way.

Tim

Shout out: Hockey Stars microsite by Citizens Bank looks like a winner!

Citizens Bank of Canada, the virtual bank division of Vancity, has just taken its Hockey Stars website out of private beta. The site is gorgeous and I can tell that Citizens Bank is doing a lot of things right with this site and initiative. Here is a link to a description of the initiative on its site.

Earlier this week I published a pretty exhaustive post on what I think credit unions need to be doing to be successful with their social media efforts. Let's put Hockey Stars to the test.

Talent: looks like there will be a dedicated blogger and most of the content will be user generated.

Purpose: Connecting the real stars of the game. It's right there, front and centre and it's very compelling.

Point of view: A little hard to say at this point, but I get the sense that the content will be encouraging and extremely positive. This is the type of site that doesn't need opinionated editorial commentary to encourage dialogue and participation.

Content: The content will be compelling to a highly engaged niche group. Hockey and Canada go hand in hand and as long as there is a high level of participation, compelling content should not be a problem.

Frequency: The site is brand new, but I imagine there will be a lot of activity taking place here.

Promotion: Right out of the gate, there is an interesting Season Opener contest with more than 100 prizes that is sure to encourage people to register on the site and take part. I am unaware of the supporting on and offline marketing strategy for Hockey Stars, but knowing Vancity, they will back it with appropriate marketing support.

Well done and congratulations to the Citizens Bank team.

Tim

Thank you!

This past week was filled with emotion.

Absolute glee: We launched Young & Free Texas with TDECU.

Extreme disappointment: Discovering something that will challenge our new client.

Humbled beyond belief: Watching a passionate group of people come to our defense.

The social web and the underlying credit union community is an amazing place filled with really good people.

Thank you.

Tim

Credit unions can use large-scale collaboration to cut to the chase and cut through the excuses

I've read a couple of good posts lately extolling the advantages of large-scale collaboration in the credit union space.

• Jim Jerving on the NACUSO blog: Credit Unions are Slow to Innovate
• George Hofheimer on the Open Source CU blog: Leave it to Beaver

These posts reminded that I neglected to report on my Member Gateways experience where I was exposed to some amazing large-scale collaboration actually taking place! What's Member Gateways? Here is a description from its website:

Member Gateways is the credit union industry's networked new product incubator

Owned by 24 progressive credit unions and one strategic industry partner, Member Gateways provides the opportunity and means for all credit unions to offer the products and services typically afforded only to mega-sized financial services institutions. Through our combined solutions, partnerships, intellectual properties, strategic CUSO investments and financial service partnerships, we expect to transform and revolutionize the credit union industry.

I was invited by Vic Pantea and Deb Jones from Member Gateways to present the Young & Free story at the their semi-annual meeting in mid-June in San Antonio. Although it was a relatively small crowd compared to some that I have been speaking to, it was intimidating to present to more than 40 progressive senior credit union leaders. 

The best part of this opportunity for me was that I was allowed to attend the entire two-day session and see one presentation after another about cool things that Member Gateways' credit union partners are considering or already have in the cooker. Most of it was private, but I can tell you that it was impressive and extremely encouraging to see real innovation on its way to market. And by credit unions no less!

There are a lot of voices here in the CU blogosphere that are frustrated about the lack of innovation in the credit union space. I have definitely been one of those voices from time to time. Meanwhile, here is a group of very powerful US credit union leaders quietly implementing fresh innovations at their credit unions. They are just getting it done and it was inspiring to learn about these stories.

A silly side story

One highlight that I can share (I think) is about Zopa. Three of the six founding credit union partners in Zopa US are Member Gateways credit unions, so Scott Pitts, Zopa US' Managing Director, was at the meeting to give a progress report on this credit-union-partnered peer-to-peer-lending service.

Zopa is doing really well, but what stuck in my head was an anecdote about one of the most popular members of the Zopa community—the cat guy. Zopa members can choose to offer a very low interest rate to people they feel are most deserving.

After joining one of the six credit unions, members of the Zopa community build out a profile similar to other social networks like Facebook or LinkedIn. The members also write a little bit about what they plan to do with the funds that they want to borrow. And of course, members upload a profile picture to put a face to their name. Well the cat guy, who is paying one of the lowest interest rates on the site, is popular because he regularly updates his profile picture with one of the latest funny LOLCAT images (click here if you don't know what LOLCATS are).

While that silly side story has nothing to do with large-scale collaboration, it is the only story from the meeting that I think I am allowed to tell!

And now back to my point

In order to compete, credit unions needs to innovate. But innovation is often expensive and innovation often takes scale. In recent times, credit unions have turned to merging to get that scale. But mergers can be messy and expensive and quite often stall innovation for an extended period of time while the parties try to bring their operations and cultures together.

Large-scale collaboration is a legitimate alternative solution. It allows credit unions to remain smaller and independent, yet allows these credit unions to share, cooperate and, most importantly, innovate. If you are not involved in collaborating with other like-minded credit unions, it's time to get started.

Tim

Shout out: You belong at Premier

I am excited that more and more credit unions are embracing the social web with initiatives that differentiate their organizations.

Case in point, Colorado's Premier Members Federal Credit Union has launched a new microsite complete with videos and a blog. The site is called You Belong At Premier.

It is smart, simple and very personal. The member videos that have been transformed into professional TV commercials are great. The production value, animation and fresh look is awesome.

Well done Premier!

Tim

Three doses of new credit union online coolness

Here's a shout out to three credit unions that are innovating online.

First Entertainment's The Audition microsite

Southern California's First Entertainment Credit Union is about to launch a new microsite on June 23, 2008. From the looks of the teaser intro, this is not your basic amateur web video production. It features beautifully produced video with an intriguing storyline brought to life by terrific actors. I can't wait to follow this site after the official launch.

I am big fan of First Entertainment's marketing initiatives. This is one credit union that really knows its field of membership! Considering that these members are from the entertainment business including movie studios, ad agencies and creative firms involved in radio, film, Internet and television, its no surprise that the marketing output of this credit union is wildly entertaining!

Addison Avenue's new youth-centered Addison Cafe microsite

Next up is a fresh new microsite from Northern California's Addison Avenue Credit Union. As one of the founding Zopa US partners, Addison Avenue is no stranger to innovation. This is how Addison Avenue describes its new online venture, "Designed with young adults in mind. The site has products relevant to the needs of that age group and even has a blog that discusses finances in a relevant, real-life way."

America First adds product ratings and reviews to its website

Michigan's (whoops!) Utah's America First Credit Union is the first financial institution that I have run across that has added product ratings and reviews to its website. This is brilliant! Obviously, America First has taken a page out of the playbook of successful online retailers such as Amazon and Apple. This is a brave direct feedback loop that other credit unions are unlikely to follow right away. I can hear the collective credit union masses gasping as they think to themselves, "What if we get a low rating or a bad review on one of our products?"

I bet the folks at America First are thinking, "If we get a bad review, we'll just have to improve our products and services."

Doug True from FORUM Solutions had an excellent guest post on Open Source CU yesterday calling out risk-adverse credit unions. I agree with Doug, but I am also encouraged by these fresh examples and others that I stumble upon daily.

Tim

Part 3 of The Difference completes the perfect set!

By Tim McAlpine

Larissa Walkiw has just published The Difference Between Banks and Credit Unions – Part 3 on the Young & Free Alberta blog. I posted Part 1 here and Part 2 here on our blog to help these videos get seen by as many people as possible.

These three videos convey all of the many reasons that I believe in credit unions. This is brilliant work created by a talented young woman as she discovers for herself what makes credit unions special.

It's like being a kid in a candy store for me: I get to log into our content management system the night before and see what Larissa has waiting in the queue for tomorrow. She has created 103 amazing blog posts in under four months including this brilliant series.

Larissa, thanks for putting your heart and talent into your work. With this three-part series now complete, you have created the most approachable, infinitely memorable and easily understood credit union educational series ever. The ultimate credit union trilogy. Your impact will be talked about for years to come.

Keep up the great work!

Tim

Shout out: Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union and its 7 Principles microsite

Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union is the latest credit union to utilize YouTube video to tell its story. SMCU has a new microsite that highlights the seven cooperative principles that define the credit union difference.

The site is simple, fun, entertaining, educational and real. I also like how SMCU is using the lefthand side of the site to sell its Feel Good Checking Account. It's a great offer that is featured prominently without being overtly pushy.

I have two suggestions to make the experience even better.

1. Consider enlarging the video to the 425 pixel wide YouTube default. The current size is very small and considering all of the effort that went into making the videos, why not maximize the experience?
2. Add a way for visitors to interact with the site. A blog or a guest book would make the site more sticky and would encourage site visitors to return on a regular basis.

Nice job, Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union—welcome to the social web!

Tim

Vote for ChangeEverything.ca in the Webby Awards

By Tim McAlpine

This is a straight up repost from William Azaroff's blog. I'm doing my part to help mobilize the credit union world to vote, vote, vote for one of our own. Any credit union CEO with the courage and sense of humour to allow a co-worker to ham it up with a tongue-in-cheek impersonation like this is my kind of CEO and definitely gets my vote! 

Here's the deal:

Vancity's ChangeEverything.ca was nominated for a Webby Award in the Social Networking category. And now William is asking for a favour. He needs you to do two things:

1. Register on the Webbys site and vote for ChangeEverything.ca in the Social Networking category
2. Spread the word by sending the video (above) to everyone you know

Help William spread the word among your staff and let's help a fellow credit union get a Webby over Facebook. Voting ends May 1, so let's get voting!

Vancity is Canada's largest credit union and is an early pioneer in the use of social media to connect with the communities it serves.

Tim