Utah League ad spurs consumers' calls to join Cus

SALT LAKE CITY – If the measure of success of an ad about the benefits of credit unions is how many non-members it encourages to join a CU, then the Utah League of Credit Unions can count its recent print and radio ad campaign a success. “Obviously whenever the League advertises anything about credit unions, one of our goals is to bring people to credit unions,” ULCU Director of Communications Stephen Nelson said. The League’s full-page newspaper ad ran in the Salt Lake City Tribune, Deseret News, and the Ogden Standard Examiner July 30 and 31 and August 1 and followed a “Dear Credit Union Members” direct mail piece that was sent by the Utah Bankers Association to 25,000 credit union members and also ran in newspapers statewide. The UBA’s ad focused on credit unions’ tax-exempt status and, in particular, “that Utah credit unions have certain advantages over banks.” The League’s ad was addressed to “Dear Bank Customer,” and began with, “The Utah Bankers Association is making a lot of noise lately about the advantages credit unions enjoy over banks. Bankers are saying these advantages allow credit unions to offer better rates and charge lower fees. Although we differ as to the primary reason credit unions can provide such benefits to our members, we certainly agree with the bankers that we do.” The ad went on to describe the benefits CUs offer their members, and invited consumers who are bank customers “to find out for yourself which financial institution has your best interests at heart.” The 60-second radio spot will run through the end of August on stations KBER-FM, KRSP-FM, KSFI-FM and KSL-AM. It reiterates the points made in the print ad concerning the benefits of credit unions. Nelson told Credit Union Times that he received “several” calls from consumers who had heard or read the ads and wanted to know how they could join a credit union. What Nelson found particularly amazing about the calls is that they were made to his office only days after the ad campaign began on July 29. He said consumers’ response prove the campaign a success and was cost-effective. Nelson said the League’s print and radio ads were not in response to the bankers’ ads, but were rather “part of the League’s on-going effort to educate consumers about the benefits of credit unions. We want to raise awareness among consumers of credit union issues and help them understand credit unions.” Nelson added, though that, “It is our understanding that banks will continue their assault on credit unions, so we want to be sure we continue to get the credit union message out.” -