CUNA Mutual Donates Additional $1 Million to CUNA’s CU Awareness Campaign
New research finds consumer consideration of CUs as lenders has reached 22%, an eight-point increase from the 2019 baseline.
CUNA Mutual Group in Madison, Wis., gave an additional $1 million to CUNA’s Credit Union Awareness initiative, bringing the insurance, investment and financial services company’s total contribution to $3 million since the campaign’s launch in 2019, CUNA announced Monday.
Also referred to as the “Open Your Eyes to a Credit Union” campaign, the Credit Union Awareness initiative is a highly-targeted digital advertising campaign designed to dispel commonly-held myths about credit unions among consumers and grow membership at credit unions nationwide.
The news of CUNA Mutual’s large contribution came one week after CU Awareness, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CUNA that runs the campaign, revealed that consumers are now more aware of credit unions than ever, based on the results of its July 2021 biannual research. According to the research, credit unions nationally saw a 10-point increase in ad recall (a measurement of how well consumers remember seeing an ad when surveyed). In addition, CU Awareness, LLC said consideration for credit unions as lenders has reached 22%, an increase of eight points from the baseline in 2019, and in states where the program has run the longest, total consideration achieved double-digit growth.
“Credit Union Awareness is a long-term strategy designed to reach the next generation of members by transforming consumer perceptions of credit unions,” CUNA Mutual Group President/CEO Robert Trunzo said. “We are pleased with the initial results and are proud to contribute once again to help drive this critical initiative forward.”
CU Awareness, LLC said it plans to be running the campaign in 30 states by the end of 2021. Currently, Credit Union Awareness is in 27 states and has the backing of more than 1,100 credit unions nationwide. To date, the campaign has resulted in 3.2 billion impressions and nearly nine million visits to YourMoneyFurther.com – a consumer-facing website that all Credit Union Awareness ads link to as a call to action.
“CUNA Mutual Group’s continued and generous contributions lead the way for credit unions, CUSOs and service providers across the country to support this critical effort of raising consumer consideration of credit unions,” Credit Union Awareness Executive Director Chris Lorence said. “We are grateful that CUNA Mutual Group recognizes the progress we have made for the industry and the importance of continuing the momentum into the next phase of the Credit Union Awareness initiative.”