The $320 million Legacy Community Federal Credit Union of Birmingham, Ala., has taken community outreach and good-deed performance to new heights this spring.
Its "Do Something Good Today" promotion-in which management and staff randomly gave away free gas, lunches, haircuts and toys-generated favorable media coverage in line with the credit union's goal of creating heightened CU awareness.
"Our hope has been to plant a good Samaritan seed in the community and get others to join in under a 'pay it forward' concept," said Legacy President/CEO Joseph McGee.
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So far, the giveaway has included 2,700 gallons of discounted $1.99 gas pumped during a two- hour stretch at a suburban Hoover, Ala., station. In addition, boxes of toys were distributed to youngsters of a Birmingham family that lost its belongings in a house fire.
The run-up to announcing Do Something Good was marked by a teaser campaign in which the random deeds were given away by Legacy staffers who kept their identities secret. That was until a formal Legacy press briefing March 25 in which McGee revealed the Alabama CU as the benefactor.
At the briefing, McGee, who himself washed windshields during the gas giveaway, told reporters that the Do Something Good campaign was designed "to inspire the community in which we serve."
"Over the past six weeks you may have seen DoSomethingGoodToday.com cruising around town in a custom Dodge Journey or perhaps you saw a news story on television or a video they produced on Facebook," said McGee in revealing the Legacy identity.
Apart from fostering goodwill, said McGee, the overall promotion tied in nicely to a separate Legacy promotion this month aimed at race car fans through new CU sponsorship of a popular pre-Indy 500 series of races at a local track.
Furthering the mission, Legacy filed papers for creation of a "Legacy for a Good Foundation," which will extend grants to worthy recipients.
The idea for Do Something Good, said Vice President of Marketing Michele Willis, was adapted and refined from a California promotion she read about and published online by FinancialBrand.com, a consulting firm. That promotion, dubbed "Good Deeds Done Daily," was conducted a year ago by AltaOne FCU of Ridgecrest, Calif., in connection with a branch opening.
Wendy R. Cleveland, vice president-marketing/business development at AltaOne, said its campaign ran for four weeks, and its goal "was to create interest by doing something anonymous and then being able to reveal that AltaOne was responsible."
Like Legacy, AltaOne also had a street team of do-gooders who traveled in a wrapped vehicle and did good deeds such as buying a student's book, donating supplies to the pet rescue and taking treats to the fire department.
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