In a past work life, I served as a marketing writer for a creditunion. On some days, I miss the creative rush I enjoyed aftercoming up with a new, clever – but not too cheesy – slogan for aflyer advertising a financial product.

Granted, it was a challenge to come up with something originalfor a campaign that repeated itself several times a year,especially when ideas for themes, which often correlated to theseason or an upcoming holiday, began to run dry. (Another autoloan preapproval? Let's find another way to say “accelerate intosavings.” Now we're planning a share certificate promo inSeptember? Perhaps it's acceptable to use “fall into savings” witha photo of falling leaves, even though our last promo featured thephrase “spring into savings” and a blooming tree).

Then there was the challenge of keeping creativity alive in ahighly-regulated industry. All our marketing copy would filterthrough a compliance specialist for approval, who would oftenreturn pieces so marked up that I barely recognized my work.Disclosures often filled half the page. It was the ultimatebuzzkill for a copywriter.

When the news came out that financial regulators in Canadabanned the use of the words “bank,” “banking” and “banker” fromcredit union marketing materials, I really felt for those Canadiancredit union writers. Coming up with the perfect combination ofwords is hard enough, let alone when the word that describes thevery thing credit unions do is off limits.

That story, “CanadaBans the B-word for Credit Unions,” got more comments on CUTimes' Facebook page than any other story had in a long while,with readers calling the ban “totally ridiculous,” “absurd” and “anattack on freedom of speech.” One said, “Maybe then they shouldmake it wrong to say 'our ship sails at …' unless it really hassails. And you can no longer 'ship by air' unless your boat haswings. Thank the banks.”

I would have to agree. As a noun, “bank” is “an establishmentfor the custody, loan, exchange, or issue of money, for theextension of credit, and for facilitating the transmission offunds”; as a verb, it's “to manage a bank” or “to deposit money orhave an account in a bank.” As one CU Times reader said,“Despite our unique cooperative structure, we OPERATE exactly as aconventional bank.”

This ban is a rude slap in the face to Canadian credit unions.But credit union marketers, both here in the U.S. and across theborder up north, can take the news as a reminder to flex theircreative muscles even more – and an opportunity to explain, intheir marketing messages, what differentiates credit unions frombanks.

One way to do that is to use the space you've been given formarketing content on that screen or printed flyer to tell yourcredit union's story. This was a key point about copywriting thatstuck with me after I completed a course on brand writing throughMediabistro, a career resource site for journalists and other mediaprofessionals. One lesson focused on three questions to ask beforeyou begin crafting a message: Who is the hero? Who is the villain?And, what is the passion? In our case, the credit union is the hero(duh), the villain might be financial hardships suffered by peoplein the credit union's community (not banks or fintech companies, assome might assume) and the passion could be helping the communityovercome its financial hardship. It may be vague, but it gives youa good starting point for brainstorming a story line. When a memberor prospective member sees your ad, they should have a clear ideaof who you are, what you do and what you stand for.

Being a little quirky goes a long way too. Our Peter Strozniakrecently interviewed Mazuma Credit Union's millennial CEO, BrandonMichaels, who touted the benefits of featuring a funnyspokesperson, Mazuma Mike, in his credit union's marketingmaterials. So, try something bold that no credit union has donebefore. (But maybe not too bold – in 2012, U.S. Senate FederalCredit Union raised eyebrows with its ad for a loan to help fundbreast implants, complete with a photo of a large-busted woman'scleavage. Might be best to stick to quirkiness that's appropriatefor the whole family).

Another thing to note about marketing content is that it canonly be as good as the people a credit union hires (or outsourcesto). Good writers don't come cheap – quality freelance copywriterscharge upwards of $100 an hour – but they're worth the investment.Think about it: They're crafting the messages that your members andpotential members will read and use to form their opinions aboutyou, and the opinions they form in response to those messages willinfluence their decision of whether or not to do business with you.With today's steady flow of credit union merger news and growingcompetition from fintechs, getting out a story that sells should beon the top of every credit union's to-do list.

Editor's note: Canadian credit union marketers may not needto go into panic mode just yet. On July 24, SooToday.com inOntario, Canada reported that the Canadian Credit Union Associationmet with federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau regarding the ban ofthe b-words, and an official announcement of any changes to the banthat resulted from that meeting was expected within two weeks. Staytuned.

Natasha Chilingerian is Managing Editor for theCredit Union Times. She can be reached at [email protected]m.