The $1.8 billion Grow Financial Federal Credit Union of Tampa Fla. keeps growing with the recent grand opening of its 19th branch in downtown Tampa.
The new branch features an alternative to traditional bank lobby design with contemporary color schemes and innovative interactive augmented reality technology that projects a virtual money machine on a six-screen HD video wall on the branch's exterior wall.
Augmented reality is similar to an electronic billboard with touch screens and motion reactive video, or sophisticated gesture-based technology, which enables pedestrians to interact with what they are looking at such as graphics, images or video that appears on the HD wall.
During the Sept. 27 grand opening event, dignitaries including Tampa Mayor Bob Buckham played a game to catch falling-from the-sky dollars created by the virtual money machine's technology.
The money "caught" by Buckham and others who attended the grand opening raised nearly $3,000 for The American Heart Association of Tampa Bay, Susan G. Komen for The Cure and The Children's Home of Tampa.
Grow Financial will use the virtual money machine as a new gamification marketing tool by enticing non-members and members to play a video game on it and open new accounts.
Consumers can choose to either play for $25 to open a checking account, $100 for a new auto loan, and $300 for a new mortgage. Once a selection is made, money floats from the sky and the consumer catches as much as he or she can. Once the game is over, the money machine collects the consumer's email address and prints out a voucher to open a checking account or to apply for an auto loan or mortgage.
In addition to the new downtown branch, Grow Financial also plans to open new branches in Lakeland and Wesley Chapel. Next year, the credit union plans to expand in South Carolina.
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Peter Strozniak
Credit Union Times reporter covering credit union operations, fraud, M&As, leagues, business continuity, and breaking news.
