Hamster Opens Eyes for Credit Unions

CUNA has discovered that one of its most effective tools for opening consumers’ eyes to credit unions is a hamster.

A YouTube video featuring the rodent escaping a cage has garnered more than 1.5 million views since it was posted in July, many of them Millennials. Of those who click on the video, 80% watch all 15 seconds.

“Who would think a hamster would be so fascinating,” Chris Lorence, CUNA’s chief credit union awareness officer said in a video posted by CUNA Thursday.

The 15-second video opens with the rodent racing in a wheel as a woman narrates:

“Money got you trapped exactly where you are—year after year after year/?

[The video cuts back to the hamster as it hops from the cage’s open door.]

“You CAN break free. Get rates that get you moving forward.

“Open your eyes to a credit union.

“Start today at YourMoneyFurther.com”

The hamster ad has had the “Open Your Eyes to a Credit Union” campaign’s highest click-through rate at 0.2%, about twice the average. The clicks take them to the YourMoneyFurther.com website where consumers can enter their zip code and find a credit union they can join.

CUNA launched the campaign in January 2019 to help consumers understand that they qualify to join a credit union and that their money would be easily accessible nationwide. The campaign followed research by CUNA that showed a lack of knowledge about credit unions kept many consumers from considering credit unions for loans and checking accounts.

The ads broadly target young adults between 25 and 34 years old, and selectively target those between the ages of 35 and 54 who have indicated they are in the market for financial services.

As of Nov. 30, 750 credit unions and other organizations had pledged more than $46.5 million to the awareness initiative. The Open Your Eyes campaign had reached 28.2 million people on YouTube, and had garnered 119 million video views from start to finish.

“It is amazing how many times our videos get watched,” he said.

The campaign has also reached 11.9 million people reached through programmatic advertising and 9.2 million people on other social media.

Besides hamsters, Lorence said content in print or digital with the phrase “you can join,” is most likely to cause viewers to click to the campaign site. “It’s important to understand: Consumers are looking for us; they do want to know more a about a credit union.”

Which, for Lorence raised the question of whether credit unions realize people are looking for them.

“Are they creating an environment that says, ‘Hey, I’m looking for you too,’ so that there’s a match?”