By Ray Birch
BOULDER, Colo.—Elevations CU grew its awareness in a highly competitive market dominated by big banks by 32% in one year thanks to a campaign that “proved” the credit union’s commitment to the markets it serves.
The campaign, called Commitment to Fort Collins, was used to lead the way for the $2-billion credit union to enter the Fort Collins, Colo., market in 2017, its first major market expansion in many years. The campaign was awarded the Diamond Best of Show Award—the highest honor in the CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council’s Diamond Awards competition—during the Council’s recent annual meeting in San Francisco.
“We measure brand awareness every six months and we found that the campaign raised our aided awareness to 49% from 37% in one year—2017 over 2016,” said Chief Marketing Officer Susan Green. “We also experienced significant membership growth in this new market.”
Green said Elevations increased membership by 40% in 2017. Yet what may be the most telling statistic, she said, is that local consumers were naming Elevations as a financial institution they would switch to.
“Our preference more than doubled in our survey among Fort Collins consumers at the close of 2017,” said Green. “We asked consumers if they were to leave their current FI, what financial institution would they switch to. Our preference grew to 11% from 5%, a 120% jump. That put us in the running with some of the very established financial institutions in Larimer County, where Fort Collins is located.”
Focus On Strenghts
Elevations’ marketing approach was to speak to the credit union’s strengths as it built its branch network and presence. The CU opened its first office in Fort Collins in 2015, the second this past February, and plans to eventually open its final branch in downtown Fort Collins.
“We wanted to convey that we were committed to being a part of the community and that we belong here, based on who we are and how we’ve helped our members for 60 years in our core markets,” explained Green, who said the product advertising would eventually follow to deepen relationships. “We used proof points about our size, market share, readers’ polls, strength in mortgages, Baldrige and Best Companies awards and built a microsite on our website that essentially reveals our business plan and reasons for coming to Fort Collins. There was a big focus on connections in the community, branches coming soon and hiring activity. We focused on messaging for mortgages and construction loans in the short term, to support these sellers and included ‘coming soon’ ads and activities as we got close to branch openings.”
It was a big marketing change for Elevations, which is a well-recognized, strong financial services player in its established markets 65 miles to the south in and near Boulder, Colo.
“We have 40% share of the Boulder market and 85% brand awareness,” Green said. “We knew we needed to change our messaging from how we speak to our mature markets in Boulder County where everyone knows us. We had to prove ourselves, show that we are credible.”
Green said the microsite played a key role in doing that.
“On the site we shared our philosophy, why we are different, why credit unions are different than banks, how we are big parts of our communities—and that means not just our name on an event, we get out into the community with our people and we also invest heavily in the places we serve. All the proof points are on our microsite, including testimonials.”
The campaign used television and YouTube commercials to drive home its message.
“The spots told all that we are about,” said Green. “To tell our story from a Northern Colorado perspective, we developed a TV ad that was shot in a very recognizable location in Old Town Fort Collins on a busy Saturday night. The ad also used people, not just beautiful landscapes, and we enlisted our staff to be extras in the scene. The local imagery really helped.”
CU Staff Making Impact
Elevations’ campaign also included radio, billboards and other out-of-home advertising, newspaper, social media and in-branch signage.
“The campaign was also successful because of our people,” said Green. “They were out in the Fort Collins market meeting people, and their messaging was the same as our advertising emphasis—that we are committed to Fort Collins for the long run. This campaign has become our blueprint for how we will expand into new markets. And the key, we now believe, is telling a new market who we are in great detail, proving who we are and establishing credibility.”