CU Brand Awareness: The Consumer Journey to Membership & Market Share

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The Open Your Eyes to a Credit Union campaign was conceived out of both curiosity and necessity. Why had credit union market share remained stubbornly stagnant at 7% over the last 25 years? What could be done to create the momentum necessary to significantly move the needle? Our market research revealed consumers were familiar with credit unions. What’s more, credit unions had a positive reputation in the financial services industry. So why weren’t more people joining credit unions? The research clearly revealed consumers weren’t sure of their eligibility to join, and if they did, they assumed accessing their money would be difficult and available only locally.

Our mission became clear – increase consumer consideration for credit unions. A digital-first consumer marketing campaign, Open Your Eyes to a Credit Union, launched in just one state, Minnesota, in January 2019. The targeted, persona-based, paid digital campaign kicked off in partnership with contributing credit unions and their customized local engagement. Consumer response to the digital campaign gained momentum, and the campaign spread rapidly from state to state. The initiative quickly stood on its own as CU Awareness, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CUNA, received a groundswell of support funded entirely by credit unions and industry service providers.