Taking advantage of Huffington Post accolades of the industry, the $1.1 billion Westerra Credit Union of Denver is preparing more of its “Move Your Money Local” ad series this fall as part of a campaign that will include billboards, bus shelters and the Internet.

The new awareness pitch, said Westerra officials, is aimed both at raising the credit union's profile while also hitting the area's lack of homegrown banks.

“In a positive way, our message encourages consumers to look at where they are banking, who owns the bank, and where the owners are located,” said Nancy Bunte, vice president of marketing. “In many cases, the owners are not only outside Colorado but outside the United States.”

Westerra, which has received several prominent mentions in Huffington Post online and later in mainstream media, has been plugging its “Move Your Money Local” ads since the beginning of the year.

So far, the Huffington promotion has failed to bring on any big spikes in members, deposits or loans, said Bunte, but Westerra finds the campaign “very valuable to us in building name recognition and awareness that we are locally owned.”

The billboard ads along with spots in community newspapers and The Denver Post will start in September on a three-month cycle costing about $30,000, said Bunte.

Apart from the specific Huffington citations, Westerra, she said, has been seeing increases in new funds brought into a five-year flexible CD, although that could be attributed to the unique features of the product.

“Since the first of the year, we have seen an increase of 20% in that product,” she said.

Westerra has been offering special rates for those who open the new account.

“On our website, you will see a rotating banner featuring the Move Your Money Local campaign, which links to special higher CD rates when people move their money to us from another financial institution,” she said.”Our flexible CD is a unique product, which is also only available to those who bring $5,000 or more to Westerra from another financial institution.”

–jrubenstein@cutimes.com

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Westerra CU Hooks Onto Huffington Call and Focuses on the Local

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