In his first speech as president/CEO to convention attendees, Bill Cheney acknowledged the defections of two years ago in which some CUs resigned their membership rather than finance a $4.8 million ad buy. Cheney said one of his jobs would be to try to convince some of those CUs to return.

As adopted by league members, the new campaign adds a "call to action" in convincing nonmembers and voters to join CUs.

As part of the shift in strategy, $750,000 was deducted from the advocacy budget and earmarked for grassroots activity aimed at funding contacts with legislators and civic leaders.

So far, the league leadership has been pleased with results from the campaign and research presented at the convention for 2005-06 show the ads have made headway in raising support for the CU cause against bank attacks.

In a report prepared by Strata Research, a San Diego firm hired by the leagues in 2005, one conclusion showed that when consumers were told CUs are nonprofits and pay no income taxes, 70% said they approved of the tax-exempt status.

The report was based on phone surveys of 2,200 California and Nevada voters taken before and after the campaign.

Henry Kertman, director of public relations for the leagues, said apart from the awareness theme the 2007 campaign would focus on building CU relationships with consumers ages 29-49, registered voters, and those with household income of $60,000.

The new commercials, produced by Foote Cone & Belding, the New York-based agency that did the first ads, will run every other week through October.

In the grassroots area, the campaign would use the Internet to build CU support and educate CU staff, volunteers, members, CEOs as well as state and federal elected officials including members of banking and finance committees in the legislature.

During a Public Advocacy Panel session during the convention, Cheney along with Kertman and the chairman of the Public Advocacy Committee, Patsy Van Ouwerkerk, president/CEO of Travis Credit Union in Vacaville, said the 2007 planned changes were a natural part of the process of finding the ideal campaign message.

During the session, the seven-member panel fielded mostly positive audience comments though a few criticized the expense and questioned whether the message was on target.

"I think what you're doing is admirable but the budget for media is too big," commented Jim Gomez, a director of The Golden 1 Credit Union in Sacramento, suggesting a higher proportion of funds be earmarked for grassroots activities

Other suggestions from the floor focused on ad buys aired on Spanish radio stations, greater use of the Internet and more emphasis on signing up voters as a source for CU membership growth.

The incoming chairman of the California League, Debra Gannaway-Grisamer, said the approval of the campaign budget without discussion at the business meeting was a testament to member support of the advocacy effort.

"As head of the fiscal advisory committee, I was prepared to take some questions from our members but that never happened," said Gannaway-Grisamer, who also is president/CEO of the $145 million Norton Community Credit Union in San Bernardino.

Apart from work done by Strata Research, the league also hired an economics professor from Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif. to do an independent analysis of the advocacy program.

Copies of a report done by David M. Smith, associate dean of academic affairs and chair of the economics and marketing department at the Graziadio School of Business at Pepperdine, were distributed to league members though they were not made available to the press. –[email protected]