Clearview Federal Credit Union has got local college students texting.
Exploring some nontraditional methods of reaching out to younger members, the credit union hosted an awareness campaign at Robert Morris University and California University of Pennsylvania during their 2008 football seasons.
The credit union teamed up with text messaging promotional firm SMaSh to help broaden its youth member base while building awareness of financial services. Given the popularity of texting, the SMaSh application is designed to go beyond just voting or keeping in touch with friends by creating the equivalent of Internet cookies for text messaging, in terms of interactivity and personalization. In addition, SMaSh tracks the interactions, keeping a log of all communications including cell phone numbers.
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"We had recently revamped our product offerings for college students and we wanted to draw attention to that when we were approached by SMaSh about their new technology, and we thought it would be a very affordable way to spread the word," said Clearview Assistant Vice President of Marketing Christianne Gribben. "We also really wanted to build an awareness of Clearview and the credit union difference with students and thought this technology was a way to reach out to them."
Students attending football games at Cal-U and RMU who responded to Clearview ads in the football programs via text were automatically entered for a chance to win a $500 Visa gift card. Since Clearview had an existing sponsorship at the universities already planned during the football season, the $1,000 in gift cards was the only cost of the campaign. According to Clearview Marketing Manager Thomas Huff, the limited environment of a small venue and captive audience was the perfect opportunity to try something different to connect with younger members.
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