ROCKVILLE, Md. — With the wave of a checkered flag, MCT Federal Credit Union kicked off a race that helped the credit union speed past the finish line, adding over $10 million to its loan portfolio.
"Early this summer we recognized although we were well-capitalized, we needed to increase our loan growth," said MCT FCU Communications Specialist Jennifer Mino. "Lending, marketing and the management teams all worked together to come up with a campaign that would be relevant to our members and include internal and external incentive elements."
The result was MCT FCU's green auto loan campaign, which offered members a 25-basis-point discount on their auto loan rate when purchasing or refinancing a fuel-efficient vehicle. In addition, in keeping with the green theme, members could receive $100 gas cards for completing loan applications online.
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To get staffers revved up about the 45-day promotion, Lending Manager Greg Jenkins came up with the idea of an auto-race themed loan rally, which included smaller goals that led to a larger goal. Marketing Coordinator Nick Sallack, Promotional Campaign Specialist Maribel Miranda and Mortgage Operations Manager Robin Bates fleshed out the campaign with artistic depictions of each team's "car" and "racetrack," decorating the corporate headquarters with auto race-themed decorations and purchasing a trophy for the winning team.
To generate interest in the loan rally, MCT promoted the event through the credit union's weekly internal e-newsletter, The Buzz, and decorated the back offices in accordance with the racing theme.
At the start of the loan rally, each of MCT's branches, its contact center and its lending department were given individual goals based on their previous loan-growth performance, along with individual checkpoint goals. Each team was awarded incentives such as treats and gift cards upon reaching checkpoint goals, and the team to get farthest beyond its final goal walked away with bragging rights, the loan rally trophy and free lunch.
According Jenkins, the healthy competition helped the credit union exceed its campaign goal by over 54%.
"What was great is that this wasn't a money-driven or prize-driven competition because some of the prizes for meeting checkpoints were a bag of popcorn or a 7-Eleven gift card to cool off with a Slurpie. It was more of a friendly competition that motivated everyone to work together toward a common goal," said Mino. "Our Clarksburg branch, which is the smallest of our branches, said from the outset they wanted to win to prove that size doesn't matter–and they ended up with the trophy."
Mino added that the rally helped keep cross selling opportunities on staffers' minds. She said campaign costs were kept relatively low, with about $3,000 spent on promotional and auto rally prize expenses and another $12,300 on multimedia advertising, including radio and Web advertising.
To attract new members in Montgomery County, MCT FCU turned its branches into billboards with large banners.
"There are no billboards in the area so these banners, along with our advertising on traffic reports on three major radio stations, helped drive members to the branches," said Mino.
To track results throughout the month of August, MCT ran a month-long radio and Web campaign to promote auto loans. The marketing department tracked the amount of visitors these ads brought to the MCT FCU Web site by working with IT to create special URLs that directed users to mctfcu.org. Mino said that Facebook advertisements brought a larger audience to the credit union's Website (294) than its radio and Web ads (45).
"The internal buy-in was key. Everyone was so energized and motivated to do their best that we'll be incorporating internal incentives into future campaigns and promotions," said Mino.
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