INDIANAPOLIS — The ratings numbers were not all in yet, but Indiana credit unions said they reaped plenty of positive response to Super Bowl ads and promotions as a result of the Indianapolis Colts' victory in Super Bowl XLI.
"We're happy and tired," declared a weary Michael Woehnker, vice president-marketing at MidWest America Credit Union in Fort Wayne, which enjoyed a big ratings boost from two separate CU ads that ran at the end of the third quarter and in a post-game spot on the local CBS affiliate.
"We got to promote our first mortgage program, something that we've needed to make the public aware of," said Woehnker.
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C. Andrew Mattingly, senior vice president-strategy and marketing at the $980 million Forum Credit Union of Indianapolis, which profited from a yearlong and formal sponsorship tie with the Colts, said Forum received "very positive response" from TV house ads appearing on a Super Bowl pre-game special Friday night on an Indianapolis station and three times in pre-game slots.
"We will get more mentions on an upcoming Colts radio show and we did have the Forum name appear on TV banners at the big citywide pep rally on Monday," said Mattingly, who made the trip to Miami to see the Colts victory. "It was the most fun I've had getting soaked," he laughed.
Later this month Forum will also distribute a Colts commemorative book recalling the 29-17 triumph over the Chicago Bears.
Across Indiana and Illinois, CUs held a bevy of tailgate parties treating employees and members while also relaxing dress codes to allow staffers to wear jerseys and t-shirts of their favorite teams.
Many used the occasion for charity promotions, including Afena Federal Credit Union of Marion, which said it "harnessed the excitement of this momentous occasion" to raise money for the Colts' "Basket of Hope" charity with employees paying $5 to wear jeans and Colts apparel. For Indiana CUs near Chicago or those in southern Illinois with divided loyalties between the two teams, marketers were walking a fine line.
"We are about 50 miles outside of Chicago so we had many members rooting for the Colts and many for the Bears, so I put together a contest in which people could place their vote by donating spare change to the Salvation Army food pantry," said Debbie Cavanaugh, marketing manager at the $41 million First Trust Credit Union in Michigan City, Ind.
Guess who won? The Bears, said Cavanaugh, a diehard fan, sorrowfully adding, "We can say the Bears won some place."
Echoing a similar Chicago lament, Michael Valentine, president/CEO of the $1 billion Baxter Credit Union in Vernon Hills, confessed that he was "in mourning today–what a bummer" over the Bears' loss. He even had to suffer going to the game "and I'm still trying to get dry."
Like other Illinois CUs, Baxter let employees "earn" the right to wear jeans by donating $5 to a local charity, raising $500 from the project.
And the $400 million MECU, formerly Motorola Employees Credit Union, Schaumburg, Ill., catered a free lunch for 300 employees "giving away maybe 15 Bears items in drawings," said John Fiore, president/CEO.
Michael Dukehart II, marketing coordinator of the $52 million Kemba Indianapolis Credit Union, had planned to use a vendor's truck as a "prop" for an outdoor tailgate party.
"We would have actually grilled out by it but it was near zero that day so we decided against frosty dogs," joked Dukehart. –[email protected]
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