VADNAIS HEIGHTS, Minn. - Scott Olson got a rude awakening lastyear. After spending nearly $40,000 on a television and cableadvertising campaign to promote the community chartered creditunion and its products and services including auto loans, thepresident/CEO of the $26 million CCU realized the campaign wasmissing its mark. It was an expensive lesson for Olson todigest.

"We could have flushed that money down the toilet and gotten thesame results," he said unabashedly.

Olson got the eye-opening news from Cities CU's marketingmanager who was just back from attending a credit union brandingevent sponsored by EverythingCU.com in Portland, Ore. in September2005. The independent company based in Holyoke, Mass. and headed byMorriss Partee includes more than 4,000 credit union marketingprofessionals representing about 1,500 credit unions who networkwith each other via the company's online discussion board on CUproducts and marketing techniques. Members also use the site toshare various documents such as charitable donation forms andnewspaper ad samples.

"I was shocked and admittedly a little put off at first by whatmy marketing person told me," Olson added. "After all, $40,000 is alot of money. But then I listened to what she had to say, and itmade sense.

"Even though we got our community charter three years ago, we'restill a small credit union that's surrounded by larger creditunions and banks that can out-market us and out-service us. Weneeded to find our uniqueness.

When it comes to auto lending, Cities CU thought it had thatproduct down pat. Olson said the CU held open houses and got goodattendance and, advertised on the television and radio. He said theCU was known for its auto loans-Cities CU's auto loan portfolio is$11 million-so Olson assumed the credit union was doing everythingright. But in fact, he said, that wasn't the case. Cities CU's autoloan growth was actually flat.

"Before, we were trying to be all things for the community. Wewere known for doing a good job, but there was none of the classicbuzz where people remember your name and refer you to other people.That's credible advertising, and we weren't getting that. We weregetting our name out there, but it wasn't bringing people into thecredit union. We have something very special here at Cities CU, andwe needed to find what that was and market that uniqueness."

He added, "The commercials we ran showed the lengths we go to toservice our members, but consumers are hit with so many ads eachday. You're just among the masses. The advertising wasn't credible,it wasn't bringing people into the credit union for autoloans."

According to Partee, the mistake many credit unions make is"they have a hodge-podge of things they try, the latest andgreatest auto loan program, or the latest and greatest mortgageprogram. But there's a lack of consistency and coherence in the waythey market products. Our job is to give them alignment so membersknow what to expect, and the credit union delivers that constantlyto the members."

In the case of Cities CU's auto loan portfolio, Olson said theCU changed its message and emphasis.

"We had to ask ourselves are we going to grow just for growthsake and bring on services we have no experience in, or say this iswho we are and if you as a member have this need, then we'llprovide this type of environment. If we do well with your car loan,then maybe there's another service we offer that you'll like."

To redefine and redirect Cities CU's auto loan marketing effort,Partee took the credit union through a five-phase branding exerciseall CU clients go through. The exercise begins with member focusgroups; the CU then reviews the member feedback to ascertain whatmakes the CU unique and determine what its members want; then theCU develops a filter they can do everything in that's linked totheir branding. EverythingCU.com also develops a brand manual forthe CU's employees so everyone is on the same page and knows theCU's purpose; phase four features an alignment between service andthe way the CU delivers its marketing effort "so service andmarketing aren't operating in two different silos"; and lastlythere's a branch launch party the CU holds.

Cities CU realized what it prided itself on most was itsfamily-oriented values and treating members like they'refamily.

"Now that our members have a handle on our brand-that we putmembers' interests first, like family-word is spreading around thecommunity that this is a place a consumer wants to do businesswith," said Olson.

"All credit unions have a uniqueness they need to leverage, thisis ours," he added. "We take the time to get involved in ourmembers' lives. If they have a problem, we can humbly guide them.People in the community see their values are the same as ourvalues, and then they start to move their money over to the creditunion and open accounts. They're bringing their money overhere."

By April, Olson began to see an improvement in Cities CU's autoloan portfolio, but he said at first he thought it was a "fluke."At the end of May though, when the CU finished tabulating autoloans disbursed for that month, the CU was in for a surprise. Afterdoing about $600,000 in auto loans in the month of May each yearsince 2003, Cities CU finished May 2006 with $860,000 in loans, a38% increase over the previous year's $619,000.

"When you're passionate about what you're saying and you have amessage, you can tap into the mood of the area and what motivatespeople. We're not saying we're all things to all people, we'retelling them we're family friendly. We've hit a nerve," said [email protected]