COLUMBIA, Md. – The credit union league bandwagon on rolling out cooperative advocacy/awareness ads on TV and radio goes into high gear next month-just in time for the start of state legislatures. The latest to announce ad campaigns are the Maine and Maryland Leagues which report raising donations to start the ad series which focus on differences between banks and CUs. Previously, Utah started its branding/advocacy “Difference Is You” campaign last month with Oregon debuting an altered version about the same time, all preceding a more expensive radio buy set by the California/Nevada Leagues also in January. The Maryland CU League said it is about half way to raising the $165,000 it needs to air its ad campaign bearing the slogan, “Maryland Credit Unions: Get the Difference?” Last year a similar campaign brought in $92,000 “but this year costs are up and we want to make sure we get the message out,” in light of threatened banker attacks, said a spokesman. The new ads, according to the league, will try to make consumers aware of the threat to tax credit unions. Meanwhile, the Maine League said its TV campaign would begin Jan. 1 with commercials containing a “there's one for you” slogan, noted Jon Paradise, the league's governmental and public affairs director. The 30-second spots at a buy of $160,000 were produced by a Portland agency, Catama Film and Video, and are slated to run from January through April and then again September through November. The league said the spots “are upbeat, attention getting and fun” with a focus on “anyone can use a credit union” while also getting a better rate than a bank.