PenFed Signs Multi-Million Dollar Deal for Ads in D.C. Airport Tunnel

Travelers entering the Concourse C Connector at Dulles airport outside Washington, D.C., are likely to leave it with “PenFed” flashing in their brains.

The credit union based in Tysons, Va., across the Potomac River from our nation’s capital, announced Monday it has signed a “multi-million dollar,” three-year deal that allows it to maintain 4,000 square feet of mostly digital advertising along the corridor’s moving walkways.

PenFed signed the deal with Clear Channel Airports (CCA), the Americas-based airports business of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. CCA handles advertising at the Dulles International Airport. PenFed is the nation’s third-largest credit union with $36.7 billion in assets and 2.8 million members as of June 30.

“The PenFed Tunnel” has LED ad panels that each rotate between five and seven images. It also has audio. Rather than sending out messages on a loudspeaker, it uses directional audio via sound cones.

“The marketing campaign provides PenFed with 100% share of voice in the terminal, a marketing first at the airport, helping the brand to reach millions of air passengers every day as travel hits pre-pandemic levels,” according to a PenFed news release Monday.

“PenFed is thrilled to continue ramping up our presence here in our hometown Washington region while also reaching travelers from across the nation,” PenFed President/CEO James Schenck said.

“PenFed membership is open to everyone, and we are proud of the bold messaging and awareness The PenFed Tunnel brings to our market-leading products and service,” Schenck said. “This partnership will allow us to help even more Americans achieve their financial well-being.”

Gaurav Bhatia, PenFed’s chief marketing officer, said in an interview with CU Times Wednesday that credit unions should consider pivoting from print to digital content that not only provides lively images, but also music and other audio.

“It gives the flexibility for a brand to change the content very frequently versus waiting for the airport authority,” he said.

Travelers spend about two minutes passing through the corridor walking, or about 80 seconds with the assistance of the moving walkway. He estimated about 10 million people a year will pass through the space.

“We’ve got the attention span of a goldfish,” he said. “We don’t have two minutes. So if you can notice within one second or two seconds, that’s the Holy Grail. Three seconds is basically what we are shooting towards.”

Like PenFed’s partnership with the Washington Nationals baseball team, the airport corridor raises PenFed’s visibility to its home crowd.

But PenFed is a national credit union, and has a significant number of members outside the D.C. area. So out-of-town visitors are also important, Bhatia said.

“It’s time for us to build,” he said. “We are invested for the next three years.”

Bhatia said repetition helps raise awareness, and credit unions have to be committed to the time to make their name stick.

“The first time you see a brand, you probably don’t know who they are. You probably ignore them,” he said. “The more and more you start seeing a brand, the more and more you start noticing them.”