Washington CUs kick off viral marketing campaign

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. (7/9/08)--The Washington Credit Union League has kicked off a viral marketing campaign, "Change is Beautiful," featuring webisodes with a well-known actor.

Carl Weathers, who has appeared in "Rocky," "Predator" and "Happy Gilmore," plays a philosopher who travels from spot to spot, dropping Confucius-like affirmations on unsuspecting humans (Focus Newsletter June 16).

The webisodes with Weathers are available at changeisbeautiful.net. The site allows people to sign up and receive a weekly message from Weathers, the league said.

Since April 14, commercials from the campaign have appeared on channels in Washington during programs such as "American Idol," "Ghost Whisperer," "Survivor," "Law and Order," and "Biggest Loser."

The current commercial features a 20-something woman driving with three others through a four-way intersection.

The Cooperative Advertising Committee and Big Bang advertising agency developed "Change is Beautiful". The effort is supplemented by discovercreditunions.com.

This year's campaign is similar to last year's, but the viral portion is new. Bill Grant, Big Bang representative, said the viral content has more entertainment value.

"The single most important insight about this campaign is that young bank customers are an apathetic lot," Grant. "Engaging them creatively will help result in them rewarding us with a little more active thought about an alternative banking experience."

The Credit Unions of Washington Cooperative Advertising Committee funded the campaign through commitments from credit unions.

"The more support this effort gets, the better off all of the credit unions in Washington will be," said Kristina Walters, committee treasurer and vice president of marketing and business development for Washington State Employees CU, Olympia.

courtesy of cuna.org