
At a glance
Credit Unions offer the same products and services as banks, with a business model that puts people before profits. So why do so few Americans put them front of mind for first choice of financial institution?
We created the first category-wide campaign to convince people to reconsider joining one of America’s 5,500 credit unions. In the first state to launch, we helped deliver a record-breaking results for new members in the campaign’s first year.
The full story
CUNA (Credit Union National Association) commissioned regional qualitative data to identify barriers to membership, along with a nationwide quantitative survey to assess the relative weighting of each barrier. The research revealed two key issues: people didn’t think they were eligible to join a credit union, and people perceived credit unions as local institutions so thought they would be tied down to one location. These weren’t product problems, they were misperceptions. We set out to change them.
To unite the association’s 5,500-member credit unions, we first developed a category-wide brand platform and messaging guide to execute research-backed communication with consistency. Next, we developed ‘Open Your Eyes to a Credit Union’, the industry’s first category-wide advertising campaign.













11.7%
Increase in the number of consumers in the state likely or very likely to join a credit union
30%
Consumer recall of the Open Your Eyes ads (beating benchmark by 100%)