Foolproof, the financial literacy package of the Credit Union Associations of Colorado/Wyoming, jumped into the "national branding" debate Thursday about how to promote CU awareness after claims its AOL promotion spiked widespread public interest.
Specifically, Foolproof's founders argue the industry needs to sharply step up its reach-out campaigns to consumers using AOL and online websites for advocacy, product and literacy promotion plus, ways to join a CU.
"FoolProof agrees with Paul Gentile CEO of the New Jersey Credit Union League, and his partners," said Will deHoo, FoolProof's founder and CEO. "FoolProof has always believed that credit unions are great at hiding their uniqueness, not shining a spotlight on it."
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DeHoo was referring to plans by a state league group announced last week and led by Gentile to launch a CU-run "national consumer website" tailored specifically to reaching the general public in a more forceful way, triggering CU growth. Gentile said the debate over a national brand has dragged on while CUs now have a ready online and social media substitute to push advocacy.
Foolproof's comments on branding came as the program's backers detailed what it said was a "1,600 % increase in average visits" to its home page foolproofme.com after an April 3 article appeared on AOL's home page citing the 100 CU participants. The average number of visits per day in March for FoolProofMe.com was 52 "and after the article appeared, the number of unique visitors rose to 812."
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