Partnerships are a funny thing. In life, you look for a partnerto balance you out – someone who's stronger where you're weakest.It's the same in business.

We're watching new partnerships being created all across the credit unionspace, especially in the mobile banking/fintech side ofthings.

Recently, CO-OP Financial Services announced a partnership smartphone appcalled “CO-OP Locator,” which brings together two very popularitems: Money and ride-sharing.

The app, first reported by our Roy Urrico (if you haven't metthis guy, please do – he's seriously smart and a total New Yorker),allows users to “locate, and even request a ride share, to some30,000 surcharge-free CO-OP ATMs and 5,600 locations.”

The idea here is an interesting one. When Roy and I discussedthe story, my first reaction was muted and I kind of shrugged itoff until I thought about it a bit more. Then, I realized that itwas a pretty smart move, because eventually you could tie in anylocation-based services into the app and even create morepartnerships beyond Lyft, Uber and credit unions.

Enter, Taco Bell. No really, enter it! Take a whiff.

Leave it to a corporate giant to be ahead of the game when itcomes to these kinds of partnerships and seeing beyond a simplelocation-based partnership and changing it into that, plus apromotional vehicle (total pun).

Taco Bell has partnered with Lyft to test out a theory: Latenight and possibly drunk audience + Lyft + Taco Bell = increasedrevenue.

For the next couple of weeks or so, in Newport Beach, Calif.,only, Taco Bell is going all-in on what they call “Taco Mode.”Mmmmmm, taco mode.

Here's the low-down on this experimental partnership: Lyftpassengers will be able to request rides inside the Lyft app thatinclude a stop at a Taco Bell drive-thru between the hours of 9p.m. and 2 a.m. Let's face it, if you're out after midnight, you'reprobably hungry.

In an interview with CNN, Marisa Thalberg, chief marketingofficer at Taco Bell, said, “We have a feeling it's going to be akind of thing a couple of friends taking a Lyft together, sharing aride after a party are hungry and want to end the night in a fun,celebratory and craveable way.”

For this test partnership, about 15 Lyft vehicles will bewrapped in what can be described as a brightly-coloredpurple/pink/blueish 1980s throwback taco wallpaper – you reallycan't miss this thing driving around. Once in these “Taco Mode”Lyft vehicles, there's a tablet inside displaying the Taco Bellmenu and passengers who “Taco Mode” it will receive some kind ofTaco Bell souvenirs. Kind of slick actually.

Let's flash back to the CO-OP FinancialServices app, which connects Uber and Lyft riders with credit unionATMs and branches. Here's what president/CEO of CO-OP FinancialServices, Todd Clark, said about why his team is launching thisapp: “Research indicates the reputation of digital natives as beingunconcerned with branches may be overstated. In CO-OP's recentsurvey of credit union members, millennials rated accessibility tobranches and ATMs significantly higher than other age groups.”

Granted, not as flashy of a statement as we heard from TacoBell, but we are a regulated financial industry. So there. But, wecan see the potential for this kind of a move from CO-OP not onlyfrom a product and services perspective, but from anaudience/member perspective.

On the product and services side, I think there's anotherpartnership inside of there to connect ATMs, credit union branchesand Lyft/Uber. If you look at the Taco Bell partnership, it'sreally like a scavenger hunt when you combine the fast-food chainand Lyft. And the same can be done with the CO-OP app. Say youcreate a partnership between the credit union, a local restaurantand the ride-sharing company. And within that partnership arerewards and/or giveaways and/or chances as winning something if you1) book a ride on Lyft, 2) withdraw $10 from a “insert name ofcredit union” ATM and 3) go to the designated restaurant during acertain week of the year. And if you do those things (which areobviously easily trackable), your members could win!

We're in an entirely different world of marketing, ad spend, ROIand smartphone world than we were just a couple of years ago. Andpartnerships like these, I believe, can solidify your credit unionas an innovative, caring and crazy-fun part of your community.

Sure, Taco Bell has 800,000,000 locations* around the country.And I'm not trying to compare a corporate monolith full of emptycalories to your credit union. I'm saying, partnerships can be awonderful thing if you find the right partner who has the sameend-game as your credit union. Lyft, Taco Bell and your creditunion all want some of the same things. And the other can pick upthe slack where you're weakest and you can do the same for them.It's a partnership worth exploring. And maybe it's time to takethat ride-sharing drive together and see where it goes. Maybeyou'll end up in “Taco Mode.”

*Editor's note: Location number is approximate. I couldGoogle the actual number, but we all know there are a lot of TacoBells out there and the number was simply a comedic representationof that. They are like the Starbucks of tacos. If you need tocomplain, please call 1 (800) 822-6235. That's the Taco Bellcustomer service number. You can ask them how many locations theyhave in the U.S.

Michael Ogden is Executive Editor at Credit UnionTimes. He can be contacted at [email protected].