Bellco management, which contends the ads are done in the name of fair competition dismissing the co-op complaints, has shown no signs of backing down or altering the campaign insisting it will run as is through "early October."

The Denver CU also maintains the ads are receiving "a favorable response" from New Horizons members though no account numbers were divulged.

"New Horizons members now know they have a choice to keep their money local and the growing number of new members tells us they're listening," said a spokeswoman.

But the management of Security Service says the Bellco blitz is "unprofessional and in poor taste" and says it has seen no shift in accounts toward Bellco since the effort began.

As for the blog activity, John Worthington, senior vice president of Security, said the cyberspace opinions posted mostly by marketing consultants show "no consensus" noting that "bloggers by definition" simply express individual views.

Security, he said, "will continue to compete for market share while remaining focused on providing our members, former New Horizons members as well as the 22,000 other Security Service members in the Denver area, with personalized financial products and services of the highest value and quality."

In defending its ad approach, Bellco has pointed to blogging remarks by Shevlin who wrote last month that the Bellco campaign is "indeed good for CUs since mergers or acquisitions often trigger customer defections" which could include banks.

"Bellco could be helping to ensure that New Horizon's members don't defect outside the CU membership ranks," he wrote.

And another blogger, Seattle attorney Ron Bensley Jr. who is teamed up on a site with Charles Bruen, president/CEO of the $650 million First Entertainment Credit Union of Hollywood, Calif., wrote that Bellco's campaign may not be "fair'" but in a deregulated marketplace with overlapping community FOM, "attempts to 'snatch' CU members away from others" may not be uncommon.

Nonetheless, consultant/blogger Denise Wymore, a former vice president of marketing at First Tech Credit Union in Portland, Ore.,

said she was puzzled by the Bellco strategy "which looks to me like a bribe to New

Horizons members."

"Bellco has such a good, strong brand in Colorado so I am puzzled why they have resorted to something that looks cheap," chimed in Wymore, who runs a Seattle speaking and consulting business and is a former staffer at the Credit Union Association of Oregon.

"Bellco believes that locally-based credit unions offer the best value and services to members and New Horizons members now know they have a choice to keep their money in Colorado," said Bellco in a statement. "We agree with the nationally prominent marketing experts blogging on this topic that what Bellco is doing in raising awareness about credit unions is good for credit unions and ensures that New Horizon's members don't defect outside the CU membership ranks."

Another outspoken blogger on Bellco, Tim McAlpine, a Vancouver, British Columbia consultant, wrote he was in a quandary whether to say "Great job, Bellco" for an aggressive campaign or to say "Shame on you, Bellco."

"In the past, there was an unwritten understanding within the credit union movement that credit unions were all in this together and the banks were the enemy," wrote McAlpine adding that in a new reality, especially in multiple CU markets, there seems to be "a full-on, no-holds-barred fighting to the death."

Trey Reeme, an Indianapolis marketer and executive vice president of Trabian Technology, said while effective there are definitely "ethical perspectives" to the Bellco campaign that he found misleading in suggesting Security Service money was leaving the state since the San Antonio CU for years has had a strong presence in Colorado through branches and mergers.

Like other bloggers, Reeme said he is heartened that national attention is being focused on the CU viral "underground" providing a discourse on topical CU issues. He noted also the blogging activity on Bellco, "while high, doesn't rival what went on over Wings/Continental".

That was a reference to media coverage and verbiage last spring over the ill-fated "hostile takeover" attempt by Wings Financial Federal Credit Union of Minneapolis to merge California's Continental Federal Credit Union.

Reeme said he counts 75 different blogs in the CU industry with the 25-30 most active listings apart from Trabian's own Open Solutions to also include sites of the McAlpine, Shevlin, Bruen/Bensley and Credit Union Times Editor Paul Gentile's Podcast.

Apart from blogging, one Colorado CEO, Sundie Seefried, president of the $202 million Eagle Legacy Credit Union of Arvada, said the campaign fosters "distrust in the industry" adding, "we all choose our battles that separate us as leaders in the industry."

"I just can't see the greater number of credit unions supporting this tactic," said Seefried, who like Douglas Ferraro, president/CEO of Bellco are directors of the Credit Union Association of Colorado. "Competition is a good thing, but again, this method of competing allows the bankers to just sit back and watch," Seefried told Credit Union Times.

Ferraro was not immediately available to comment on the Seefried remarks.

–[email protected]