Why aren't there any good credit union-to-consumer podcasts?

I think I am a pretty typical example of a plugged-in, media-savvy Generation Xer. The ideal target of today's big advertisers. However, we Gen-Xers (and Gen-Yers, for that matter) aren't consuming mass media like our Baby Boomer parents. We are extremely elusive because we spend an inordinate amount of time consuming advertising-free content on our iPods.

I have largely replaced listening to radio with listening to my iPod. And, I am not really using it to listen to music—I am hooked on podcasts. I would estimate my music listening at less than 10% and my podcast listenting at more than 90%.

When I drive, I plug my iPod into my car stereo and listen to podcasts. When I mow the lawn, I listen to podcasts. When I fly for business, I listen to podcasts. When I am sitting in front of the TV, I am either watching recorded shows on my PVR or watching video podcasts on my Apple TV. You get the picture.

The only place that I listen to the radio anymore is at work. And at work, the radio is background noise at best, mostly tuned out as I concentrate on my computer screen. I am out of reach of typical advertising.

This shift has been a fascinating transformation, brought on largely because of the seemingly innocuous rise of the MP3 player and, specifically, the Apple iPod.

So if you want to reach me, reach me with a podcast. Well, not so fast—the iTunes podcast directory has thousands of choices. Most of the popular podcasts are technology based or are very niche appealing to a specific market segment. In my opinion, good podcasts are like good talk radio shows. You learn or are entertained by listening to people discuss things you are interested in.

Therein lies the rub—unfortunately, very few of your members or potential members are interested in learning about your products and services through this format. The very few credit union podcasts trying to appeal to consumers come off as repurposed radio ads or cheesy infomercials.

I am waiting patiently to see if a credit union can really figure out how to master this medium.

However, it is not all doom and gloom for the credit union industry and podcasts. Here are three industry level podcasts that are doing a great job. Click on the links below and take a listen. You don't even need an iPod.

Open Source CU Podcast This is a great podcast. Trey and Brent from Trabian are the affable hosts and bring a mix of random commentary and recorded conference speeches. My only criticism is the lack of consistent publishing. Come on guys, get one a month out!

Filene Research Institute Ideas Grow Here Podcast This is relatively new. There are four episodes so far and they are very good. Just by listening to these, I guarantee you will be smarter! And, if you leave a comment, you may even get socks! I did.

Current Issues in Credit Unions Podcast Mainly legal-centred, this monthly podcast has a regular panel that discusses, you guessed it, current issues in credit unions. It gets a little thick with regulations sometimes, but it is a good way to keep up with out having to read each page of the Credit Union Times every week!

By the way, in addition to my credit union cheerleading, I really like technology. So the podcasts that I listen to are mainly technology focused. Favourites include This Week in Tech, Buzz Out Loud, Diggnation, MacBreak Weekly, CBC Radio 3 Podcast, Command-N, Net@Nite, The ScobleShow, The Tech Guy and silly diversions like Doogtoons, Ask a Ninja and Tiki Bar TV. While I wrote this I listened to two episodes of Buzz Out Loud.

What's on your iPod?

Tim

P.S. If you are using this blog post as a drinking game, I used the word podcast 21 times. Please drive responsibly.

Bellco has balls! Forget the cooperative spirit, the gloves are off

Here is a prime example of a growing trend in member acquisition: stealing from your credit union cousins.

Denver Colorado's New Horizons Community Credit Union has recently been acquired by a Texas-based credit union. To capitalize on this opportunity, New Horizon's competitor, Denver's Bellco Credit Union, has mounted an aggressive new promotion to steal New Horizon's members.

The campaign creative features a "Greetings from Texas" postcard with one of your happy $100 dollar bills waving to you from another state.

The copy is witty and gets right to the point. "Here I am in Texas! It's a little hot, but everyone wears those fun ten-gallon hats. Can hardly wait to come home to Denver."

And another zinger, "It will almost be as if you're with a big out-of-state bank instead of a friendly, local credit union."

Followed with a list of compelling reasons to switch and a great offer: "When New Horizons Community Credit Union members open a Bellco checking account now, Bellco will give you $100. Rather open a Bellco savings account? Bellco will give you $25. It won't cost you anything to join Bellco—in fact, you'll make money on the deal. It's an easy way to keep your money within visiting distance. And give it some friends to play with. Ready to give your money a better home, right here in Denver?"

Sounds pretty good to me. In the past, there was an unwritten understanding within the credit union movement that credit unions where all in this together and the banks were the enemy. The new reality, especially in multiple credit union markets, is a full-on, no-holds-barred fighting to the death (or merger).

You will either love or hate this approach. From a pure marketing standpoint, this microsite for Bellco is a stellar example of an aggressive member acquisition strategy. I don't know what the rest of the campaign looks like, but I imagine if I was a member of New Horizons Community Credit Union and I saw an ad that looked like this in my local newspaper, I would definitely take notice, probably visit the microsite and definitely consider moving my account.

This campaign begs the question: Is this a good thing for the credit union movement? Or does the ethos of the cooperative spirit and the collective credit union movement really matter anymore with everyone on a quest for more members and billions in assets?

I am torn between saying "Shame on you Bellco!" or "Great job Bellco!" It's kind of like laughing at a dirty joke when you know you aren't supposed to.

What do you think?

Tim

Update: There is also some good discussion on the Bellco story on Open Souce CU, BRUEN/BENSLEY Credit Union Blog and Ron Shevlin's Marketing ROI blog.

BarCampBankSeattle: What I learned in session 5

The last session that I attended at BarCampBankSeattle had the most impact on me. It also had the longest name. User generated content: How far would you go and how can we convince the old guard of the new online reality?

Trey Reeme posted the first half of the topic on the board and I posted the second half. Rather than splitting the group, we realized that a combo session would work great. We were right.

The session was heated with great debate from more than 25 participants. As the discussion hit its stride, it became clear that we were actually attending BarCampCreditUnionSeattle. On one hand, there was universal passion for the credit union movement, yet on the other hand there was a sense that the movement is doomed if it sticks to its current course.

It was ironic that no bank representatives attended and it was also ironic that the bulk of attendees where consultants serving the credit union industry. Actual credit union employee attendance was low and actual credit union leaders attending was only one (Gene Blishen from Mount Lehman Credit Union).

Event organizer Jesse Robbins, in his subtle style, summed it up nicely, "Credit unions are trying so hard to imitate banks. And you know what, credit unions are just coming off as smaller, sh*ty banks."

A comment of Trey's has stuck with me. He asked, "Doesn't it seem like it's just a few of us punk-ass consultants that are trying to change things?"

To me, the social web seems like such a logical extension of the credit union movement—a perfect way to empower the cooperative principles and create community. I asked the question, "If this is such a good fit, why aren't more credit unions embracing this medium? We keep coming back to a couple of good examples over and over again—the Verity Our Voices blog and Vancity's Change Everything social network site. You would think by now we would have more great examples to discuss."

Jim Bruene from the NetBanker blog asked, "Is it really a fit, or our we trying to force a square peg into a round hole?"

Much discussion insued and I don't know if any clear answers emerged. What I do know is that there are many passionate people that will do everything in their power to ensure that the credit union movement is not doomed! That's my ultimate take-away. Like I said in an earlier post, I only attended day one, but what a day it was.

I'm off to the World Credit Union Conference in Calgary, Alberta from Sunday, July 29 to August 2. We are promoting our new Cuckoo campaigns offering. This 2,500 person international event is going to have a tough time stacking up against the 35-person event that was BarCampBankCreditUnionSeattle.

Tim

Banks need not apply!

A question that comes up from time to time at Currency Marketing is, "do you also work with banks?" Nope. We've been asked to, but we believe passionately in the credit union movement and working with a bank would go against our core purpose for being in business. At Currency, we have a pretty simple purpose. Here's an exerpt:

Simply put, it is our purpose to help credit unions deepen their relationships with members and persuade bank customers to become credit union members. We can’t wait for the day when credit unions have more members than banks have customers.

We want credit unions to gain ground on the banks one member at a time. This is the reason we get out of bed every morning and come to work. This is our driving purpose.

So, before you ask if a bank can order a Cuckoo campaign, let me cut you off. Nope. Banks need not apply. If you have any other questions, I would be happy to answer them!

Tim

What's your strategy? Quality or quantity?

I took my almost-four-year-old son to his first big screen movie on the weekend—Ratatouille. This is another five-star offering from Pixar; eight in a row by my count. I think I have seen the other seven Pixar films (Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monster's Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and Cars) a couple of dozen times each on DVD. Whether animation is your thing or not, these are truly great films with original stories and loveable characters voiced by incredible actors.

The talented team at Pixar know how to make a movie. Creative team lead, John Lasseter, has been quoted as saying, "we make movies we want to watch ourselves." And, in my opinion, Brad Bird, the writer/director of Ratatouille and The Incredibles is one of the most-talented filmmakers of all time. With a 18-month to two-year window between films, Pixar's strategy is obviously quality versus quantity.

Pixar's main competitor is DreamWorks Animation SKG with movies that include Antz, Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek 3, Sharktale, Madagascar, Over the Hedge and Flushed Away. These are good movies, but not Pixar great.

CEO, Jeffrey Katzenberg, has stated they are in the quantity game. They crank out two films per year. To make a scene better, the powers that be at DreamWorks just have one of the characters kick another in the crotch!

Both companies are successful. Both companies make a ton of money. They have different strategies.

So, I always like to bring my wayward posts back to the credit union industry. Is your credit union's strategy quantity or quality? For members? For products? For branch locations? For services? How does your strategy compare to your bank and credit union competitors? Do you know?

A few questions certainly worth asking yourselves.

Tim

Getting bigger, but are credit unions getting better?

Business in Vancouver just published its 100 biggest private companies in BC issue. On the list are BC's five biggest credit unions. Also included in the supplement was a story on our flourishing credit unions. As you can see by the chart, assets under management have more than doubled in the past ten years.

However, what I find most interesting is the (almost invisible) light red line that shows the number of credit unions in British Columbia has been cut in half due to on-going mergers and acquisitions.

Here is an excerpt from the story:

According to the 2005 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, larger credit unions have lower average costs and greater returns on assets as their economies of scale increase. It noted that some of the largest credit unions have as much as double the returns on assets as a medium-sized credit union. Some of the smallest credit unions in the U.S. didn't even make a profit, according to the study.

"It relates to the cost of doing business, whether it be technology or other costs," said Rowland Kelly, Credit Union of BC's interim CEO. "Being a $3 billion organization, you can drive financial benefits from merging."

While consolidation will likely continue, both at the retail level with the individual credit unions and at the wholesale level with provincial credit union centrals merging, don't expect credit unions to become anything like banks.

"We're still, for the most part, relatively small financial institutions," Kelly said, "and we have a long way to go to become a Royal Bank or TD Bank, so I think that the risk of loss of that localness is not on the horizon."

I am saddened by this article. I have a major sweet spot for small credit unions. I love the social impact and the whole fabric of the community thing. Is economy-of-scale the end-all-be-all or is there something else that we are missing?

So I ask you: is the small credit union a thing of the past? Should we not be worried about a loss of localness? Is bigger always better? Is a 10-credit union system inevitable? Is anyone else out there worried about the credit union movement's soul?

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!

Apparently credit unions wear pocket protectors and taped glasses!

My real in-box is out of hand. I think I subscribe to about 20 publications with only about time for ten. So the other day I am working my way through the pile and see the latest issue of Applied Arts (Canada's equivalent to Communication Arts).

I flip to the contents page and see that there is a profile on one of Canada's leading graphic design and branding agencies, Karacters.

This catches my attention, because I have admired Karacters recent rebranding work for two of Canada's largest credit unions—British Columbia's Vancity and Alberta's Servus Credit Union. I flip to page 68 and read the interesting one-page article.

And then there it was, under a nice picture of a new Vancity sign.

"Credit unions tend to look every bit as dull as banks, only nerdier."

Ouch! My first though, "Is this how the world sees our credit unions?"

And then I thought further, "Since I work exclusively on credit union brands, do I tend to look like other designers, only nerdier?"

Yikes, we've got some work to do!

Tim

Is your credit union embracing blogging and social networking yet?

From the research I've done, very few credit unions are participating in and taking advantage of all of the Web 2.0 tools available to them. For a Wikipedia definition of Web 2.0 click here.

Sure, most every credit union has a website and online banking, but does your credit union communicate with your members in an open, two-way conversation? Are you aware that your members are talking about your service or lack thereof online for everyone to read? I doubt it. Credit unions need to get smart and savvy and pay attention to the new Web reality. Here's a quote from the cover article from last's month's issue of Wired Magazine.

Get naked and rule the world

Smart companies are sharing secrets with rivals, blogging about products in their pipeline, even admitting to their failures. The name of this new game is RADICAL TRANSPARENCY, and it's sweeping boardrooms across the nation. Even those Office drones at Dunder Mifflin get it. So strip down and learn how to have it all by baring it all.

Here are some examples of credit unions opening up

+ Vancity's Change Everything site and CEO blog

This is a phenomenal social network site with absolutely no marketing speak. All credit unions should be studying this example—it is truly authentic and perfectly aligned with Vancity's brand. This is the model of the future.

The link given is CEO Dave Mowat's blog. With Dave's recent announcement that he is leaving for ATB in Alberta, this was a great forum to allow his members to speak out about his decision. From what I can tell, this appears to be the only CEO blog in the Canadian credit union system. If I am wrong, please leave a comment with a link to others. I feel other CEOs need to be consistently blogging.

+ Aware Teens by Forum Credit Union

Forum Credit Union, located in Indianapolis, IN has set up an interesting forum for teens. They ask a question each month like, "what summer job would you like to have?" and "what is your favourite winter activity?"

Today's youth are so savvy with computers and technology; they are tapped into MySpace, Facebook, Digg and other social networks. Kids' expectations of blogs, forums and social networks is extremely high, so if you do try to engage them, you better not go only half way.

The Forum Aware Teen blog is fairly new and a little light and fluffy which might explain why the questions get less than 10 answers each, but it's a start.

I believe that all credit unions need to be talking to the up-and-coming youth. Their bank competitors definitely are.

+ Verity Credit Union

Verity Credit Union, headquartered in Seattle, WA totally gets it. A dozen staff members contribute regularly and the topics are fresh and well-written.

They engage members and are really trying to improve communication by talking about tough topics. You can tell that this blog is not going through multiple edits and public relations polish. It is active and there is great dialogue gong on.

This is a great example to follow. It is what a credit union blog should look and feel like. The grammar experts out there might find the occasional typo that I spotted offensive, but I think it actually adds to the authenticity.

Well done Verity!

+ Service One Credit Union Brown Knows CU Blog

I am not sure if the name of this blog was intentionally meant to be funny or not, but the name of Valerie Brown's CEO blog has a double meaning that she might not be aware of! Growing up, I knew a different definition for brown nose! (click here).

Joking aside, this is a good example of a CEO regularly writing to members. However it's disappointing that you cannot leave comments. To her defense there is an e-mail option.

There is an expectation in the blogosphere (here's another Wikipedia definition for you) that a blog should be a two-way conversation. When a blog doesn't have a comment mechanism that posts automatically, it makes you feel like the author is afraid of what might be said.

A closing word from the wise

Ron Shevlin, a VP from Epsilon, a leading interactive marketing firm in the US has a clever blog that often touches on the banking and credit union world. Here is a wonderful diagram of how your credit union should be communicating online!

What are you waiting for? Open and start engaging your members and potential members online!

Tim