SEATTLE – Ten credit unions that share branches in Washington State have pooled some of the resources to let more of their members know about the benefits of their shared branching arrangements via a new television ad. The 10 credit unions are headquartered, or have a lot of branches, in the Seattle or Olympia, Washington area. The ad began running on a CBS affiliate in the Seattle area on June 2, the Washington Credit Union League reported. The credit unions involved are Boeing Employees Credit Union, Washington State Employees Credit Union, Group Health CU, Seattle Metropolitan, Verity, America's Credit Union (formerly Ft. Lewis Community CU), Alaska USA FCU, Qualstar, 1st Technology (based in Oregon, with branches in Washington) and Western FCU (based in California with branches in Washington), the League said. Boeing Employees and Washington State Employees, the two largest credit unions in the State, shared two thirds of the cost, the league reported. While the ad is targeted toward existing credit union members, the secondary audience is the public at large which might not realize how many branches they would have by joining one of the credit unions. "Market dominance is a desired outcome," said John Annaloro, CEO of the Washington Credit Union League. Linda Waggoner, public relations specialist for the League explained that the ad had two objectives. First, to tell credit union members from the six or seven credit unions in the area which had only begun shared branching fairly recently about the opportunities it provided. The second focus was to prompt the general public at large to walk into one of the credit unions and inquire about membership, she said. The commitment to the ad campaign is significant. The credit unions have announced they will run the campaign for a year and that they will update and re-tailor their television spot every four months. [email protected]