The Marketing Association of California drew more than 100 credit union professionals to Newport Beach, California for this year's annual conference and awards ceremony, held May 21-23. Credit Union Times asked attendees the following question: If you were in charge of an industrywide credit union campaign, where would you begin?

Tony Mannor, President/CEO
Andermahr & Co.
Stockton, Calif.
“It's not as simple as identifying the differences between credit unions and banks. You have to identify the effect on the typical member's bottom line. I would find out common challenges people are facing, and present how credit unions can address those issues.”

Jon Paulson, Director of Marketing
First Entertainment Credit Union
Hollywood, Calif.
“I'd start with marketing internally to staff, because promotions don't matter if a member walks into a branch or calls on the phone and gets a ho-hum member service rep. The effort is lost. Your front line staff must be passionate about it.”

Bryan Sims, CEO
Brass Media
Corvallis, Ore.
“I'm a fan of credit unions telling real stories about themselves. It would be cool to create a campaign of famous celebrities or interesting members–for example, I know of a credit union with a board member who won an Olympic gold medal. Another credit union didn't even realize they had The Professor from the ESPN show Streetball as a member. Figure out ways to promote those people. It's not quite celebrity appeal, but it makes credit unions real and relevant, showing cool people doing things with credit unions.

Christina Blackman, Marketing Manager
Yolo Federal Credit Union
Woodland, Calif.
“Every credit union has a story to tell, and regular people can relate to them. I think if people heard a story, it would connect with them. When credit unions give back to the community, we truly give back to the community. We don't just throw money at projects like banks do. The banks are screaming that we're in the schools, providing financial education, but nobody else is doing it. We need to tell more stories like that.”