By Frank J. Diekmann
You never know when you’re going to need to develop a whole new expertise.
That’s been especially true for many during the coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdown, which has whacked best-laid plans around workplaces, serving consumers, and households.
In credit unions, there may be no better example than the new product offering from a California-based marketing services company that had planned about now to be creating and printing materials for credit union summer loan promotions, while preparing for back-to-school season and then the holidays. You know, the cycle every credit union marketing department completes every year as it peels off the pages from the calendar.
Not this year. Not in a year when it can be difficult to remember what month is on that calendar or if you changed it.
Instead, WestAmerica has been getting a tutorial in medical masks and how to manufacture them. Not the N-95 masks that are in short supply and in huge demand among medical facilities especially. Instead, inexpensive medical masks members can use in branches while transacting business and then dispose of them—safely, and in an environmentally friendly fashion, of course.
As CUToday.info reported earlier, WestAmerica has created a new product called “Easy Mask.” The masks are available for as little as 29 cents each depending on the number purchased, are intended for one-time use, and are biodegradable and recyclable.
The masks are meant for short-term use as a means of helping to minimize the transmission of germs, and are not intended to act as a respiratory device. The masks are similar to a pair of glasses, in that they are secured by two paper legs that tuck behind a person’s ears.
The Magic Word
For Mark DeBellis, president of the financial services team and corporate vice president of marketing and business development with WestAmerica, the “pivot” as it has become so buzzwordy popular to say today, was one of necessity.
“Pivot is the magic word at this time in serving this industry,” agreed DeBellis. “Credit unions are a big part of our market, but credit unions are not going to be marketing very heavily. We took stock of what could we create that would have meaning.”
After mulling over a number of different ideas, the meaning it landed upon was disposable masks. DeBellis said the company had a patent search conducted and has since been granted a provisional patent. It is using vendors and suppliers it has used in the creation of various printed marketing materials as well as its own expertise in the area to manufacture the masks. The masks are being manufactured in the U.S.
DeBellis said the types of surgical masks that are available are expensive and made of materials that offer almost no capacity for recycling.
“Paper is obviously a lot more environmentally friendly, and we produce paper products. This had the potential to be meaningful,” he said. “We threw around a lot of design ideas. We wanted to make this like wearing a pair of glasses; that would be easy and less complicated. There is nothing like this out there that we had seen. So we invested in seeking a patent.”
Trial and Error
Before seeking that patent, however, there was a lot of ideation and trial and error. DeBellis said the company worked with a structural engineer as it developed prototypes.
“There were a number of iterations; some used elastic, some were uncomfortable,” he said. “It was a very fast schedule, 45-60 days. That’s really fast. We looked at a lot of paper types. We wanted something everybody could use, and that could be easily dispensed. We wanted to minimize the work by hand and use automation. We got as far as we could and now we hope to continue to drive the cost down.”
WestAmerica has also created a dispenser for the masks that allows members to take one as they enter a CU facility. “It’ easy; it’s self-serve,” said DeBellis.
DeBellis stressed the paper masks are not designed to replace medical-grade masks, but instead to reduce potential spread of the virus from someone coughing, for instance. In addition, the masks help to stop someone who may use a common pen or touch a common surface in a branch from touching their own mouth or face.
The Mindset
“It’s for short-term use, like a coffee cup. It’s disposable; the member can take it with them. That was our mindset going in,” he explained, adding the member is welcome to use their own mask.
There is also the issue of protecting employees who are in the branch or office and who are exposed to members all day.
As CUToday.info has reported, the wearing of masks, which are required in some places, brings with it its own pandemic of pain-points. There are the obvious security issues of not being able to recognize someone entering a branch. Then there are members who may not have remembered to bring their mask and who are irritated at the idea of having to turn around. Then there is the whole issue of taking care of workers.
“In the back of the house there is the question of how do we serve and protect our employees in this new normal,” DeBellis explained.
Not surprisingly, DeBellis said the company has gotten calls from some credit unions that want to customize the masks with their own logos or messaging, and that is an option.
It Has To Be ‘Worth It’
While that is one type of branding, DeBellis said there is an even larger branding issue at play that every credit union needs to be thinking about.
“You also have to reflect the brand,” he said. “People are going to post about their experiences on Facebook. We have had a number of meetings on this. The message has to be ‘We protect our members.’ At the end of the day you still have to make experiences with the credit union positive. The more barriers that are set up, the more difficult that becomes.
“The deeper (member) relationships still come from the branch,” DeBellis continued. “Every experience should be about how does it affect our brand? Anybody can make a sign that says ‘Stand Here,’ but can you make it fun, can you support the brand? People have to feel it was worth it.”
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief at CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info or @FrankCUToday.