WINSTON SALEM, N.C. — If you can say it and visualize it then you can save for it.
That's the positive message Members Credit Union is trying to get across with its timely What Are You Saving For? campaign.
"All we hear in the news is the economy is in the dumps, your retirement savings just won't be enough, and I realized that the reason more people aren't saving is because we've given each other excuses not to," said Members CU Vice President of Marketing Matt Davis. "Last April I had my first child and started right away putting money in a 529 plan went to one of those calculators and I learned that by the time my child was 18 I would have saved only enough to cover two years of college- of course I had thoughts of Harvard or Princeton but that was like a slap in the face and you wonder why bother when the site tells you you're going to fail. That is when we decided as a credit union to find a way to combat that defeatist attitude. We're not changing the world but hopefully at least a few hundred people."
To beat back the why bother blues, Davis decided to teach consumers to start saving by getting them to identify what they wanted–maybe not the long-term retirement plan–but more immediate needs or wants, like an iPod, Wii game, flat screen LCD television or a vacation. In return, the credit union tells them how much they need to save to buy that item.
"What Are You Saving For? is about teaching members how to save as opposed to other programs like Keep the Change that is tricking them into saving," said Davis.
WAYSF includes a special account that pays twice the dividend rate of the Members CU savings product. To qualify for the dividend members have to sign up for e-statements. In addition, Members CU provides an online community where consumers set savings goals and get helpful tips from the CU staffers. Blog community members are also are free to offer their own tips and words of encouragement. Members also hold a monthly drawing for a savings prize, with the number of chances determined by how much money each accountholder has on deposit in their WAYSF account.
"I put my toe in the CU blogosphere water a few years ago and I thought an important aspect of this program would be to have a support group where you can talk about your hardships in trying to reach your goals and a blog is the perfect way to do it," said Davis. "Members can blog, post videos, links to interesting sites and articles and we're hoping it continues to grow and while saving is its own reward we knew we needed some prizes to make it competitive and fun."
In addition, every six months, Members CU will announce a Biggest Savers Contest winner. Based on the members' dedication to saving consistently to reach goals and participation in the blog, this prize winner will receive a $2,000 60-month share certificate.
"We take the five most enthusiastic savers, go out create videos why they should be chosen as the biggest saver and the community votes for the winner," said Davis. "It's been about two months and we were actually mentioned on Yahoo Finance–in the same paragraph as Bank of America and Wachovia so we've got people buzzing. Our member base is a little older and maybe not so tech savvy so while our visitor count is high, they haven't yet been brave enough to start commenting but it is a start."
To date Members CU has opened 224 WAYSF accounts totaling over $187,000 in the product's first 37 business days.
"What's exciting is that we're trying something new that is built on the right principle," said Davis. "As credit unions, we've got to take a chance."
The only expense for the WAYSF campaign is basically the prizes. Davis created the blogs, video calculators and logo of a pink pig with a bull's eye around it in-house.
"I'm sure there are things we could've done better but we're proud of the final product and can't wait to see where this goes," said Davis.
–mdigiovanni@cutimes.com
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