HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania credit unions, like most throughout the country, are facing diminishing numbers of members and a low overall lack of awareness by consumers. The Pennsylvania Credit Union Association is taking the bull by the horns and has approved an 18-month credit union awareness campaign to reverse that trend.

The statewide $2.25 million advocacy marketing campaign will begin in July 2007 and will run through Dec. 2008. The campaign will be funded through a mandatory assessment for all association-affiliated CUs starting in 2007 and will primarily feature television advertising along with radio and other new media opportunities in markets across Pennsylvania. Billboard advertising will play a minor role.

For their 2007 assessment, credit unions with less than $20 million in assets will be assessed .000025 of assets as of June 30, 2007; their 2008 assessment will be .00005 of their assets as of June 30, 2007.

For CUs with more than $20 million in assets, their 2007 assessment will be assessed .00005 of their assets as of June 30, 2006, and their 2008 assessment will be .0001 of assets as of June 30, 2007.

The new advocacy marketing campaign will replace the PCUA's annual Statewide Network of Advertising in Pennsylvania (SNAP) campaign, which the association has run for 33 years and has always been based on voluntary contributions from credit unions.

PCUA Senior Vice President of Communications & Marketing Mike Wishnow said the amount collected for the SNAP campaign–$160,000–has remained the same the last three years. He explained that the association would have liked to include certain features in that campaign if more CUs had made donations, but the campaign has been limited by the amount of money the PCUA has been able to bring in. “The banks clearly have far more means than credit unions ever will to market themselves, but the only way credit unions are going to get their message out in a strong way is to do it cooperatively,” said Wishnow. He emphasized that the new advocacy campaign is not an association initiative, but an initiative of a marketing task force that was appointed in 2005 by PCUA Chairman Norb Kaczmarek, president/CEO, Erie Federal Credit Union, to look into the issues of credit union marketing and advocacy. The task force was headed by Michael Kaczenski, president/CEO, Sun East Federal Credit Union, and consisted of 13 CU marketing executives from throughout Pennsylvania. The task force looked at the PCUA's current efforts to boost CU awareness and membership such as the SNAP campaign. Following lengthy discussions, the task force recommended to the PCUA board for a mandatory assessment, which was subsequently approved by the PCUA board.

“When you talk with credit union marketers and CEOs, they always tell you that part of the problem they have with branding their credit union is having to first explain what a credit union is all about. If our new campaign successfully explains what credit unions are to the average consumer, it will let credit unions focus on increasing their penetration in certain markets and not having to spend money explaining what a credit union is,” he added.

Dr. Tom Lepson with Polk/Lepson Research Group, York, Pa., will conduct pre- and post awareness testing before and during the new campaign “so we'll have a good sense if it's working,” said Wishnow, adding, “If the campaign works, as we hope it will, it's our hope it will go beyond 18 months.”

All Pennsylvania credit unions were sent a letter earlier this month announcing the 2007 association dues structure as approved by the board of directors. PCUA increased the maximum cap on dues for affiliated credit unions with over $100 million in assets, while the dues calculation for CUs with less than $100 million in assets remain unchanged.

As of Sept. 30, 2006, there were 628 CUs in Pennsylvania and of those, 528 are affiliated (84%). The vast majority of those CUs–489–are in the less than $100 million asset group.

According to PCUA Chairman Kaczmarek, Pennsylvania CUs have only 3.3 million members out of 12 million residents statewide. “Clearly there are a lot of Pennsylvanians who are not credit union members. These consumers are undoubtedly paying more for loans and receiving less on savings. I am confident that they would benefit from joining a credit union,” he commented. PCUA President/CEO Jim McCormack commended the PCUA board and task force for initiating the “bold initiative.” “It has been proven that using mass media, messages are delivered. However, it takes a significant monetary expenditure to reach all the markets in Pennsylvania,” said McCormack. The PCUA has scheduled a series of regional meetings that will be held throughout November to provide CUs with detailed information about the campaign and provide the opportunity to ask questions. “We're hopeful credit unions will be supportive of the new initiative, but we fully expect them to ask some difficult questions and to have us prove our mettle,” said Wishnow.

“We have some work to do and our credit union marketers have some work to do with crafting the message. I think we have to deliver it in a much broader fashion so we obtain a reach and frequency in every market in Pennsylvania. This is a monumental task, and it clearly has some risk. But at the end of the day, the rewards outweigh the risk. The number of credit unions is declining. We need to make sure that as our movement consolidates, that those that survive are left in a stronger position to compete,” said Wishnow. –[email protected]