ZOMBIES, ROBOTS HELP IC FEDERAL CU WIN OVER INTERNET GENERATION Why A Series Of Offbeat Digital Videos Is Translating Into Big Membership Gains For The Fitchburg Institution By Matt Brown Banker & Tradesman Staff Writer
Clever animated shorts featuring robots and zombies are paying double dividends for IC Federal Credit Union. They serve to educate members about the virtues of credit unions and the importance of life insurance, respectively, and, more importantly, are driving new, younger members to the Fitchburg-based institution.
Credit: contributed photos Just before the Great Depression, the Immaculate Conception Credit Union was founded in the basement of Fitchburg’s Immaculate Conception church. Today, IC Federal Credit Union makes bloody marketing videos featuring zombies. Just as the transition to the IC Federal name was an adaptation to changing times, the production of animated YouTube videos to promote the institution and its products is a way to try to keep up with the quickly changing tastes and attitudes of the under-30 set. Young people are in what are sometimes called their “prime borrowing years,” and the credit union industry has been aggressive recently in trying to steal market share from banks, especially big banks. The whole “bank transfer day” concept pushed by the credit union industry last year didn’t result in big gains for IC Federal, according to Senior Vice President of Marketing Judy Kaddy. The off-beat, clever and
generally amusing videos IC has produced are a way to get away from that kind of overt salesmanship.
The challenge, as it has always been, is getting them through the door in the first place. Generations X and Y – people aged roughly 18 to 35 – have been living with the internet for all or most of their lives. They recognize right away when they see old-fashioned marketing poorly dressed up to appear hip. So it’s not hard to see where this would cause problems for institutions that use their age (old) as the cornerstone of their marketing efforts. IC Federal’s videos “are a stark departure from where most financial institutions go,” Pond said. That may be an understatement.
NO HARD SELL “It is not the hard sell,” Kaddy said. “It SAUSAGE-MAKING is to educate, and the research shows that So far, IC Federal has released an aniwhat Gen X or Gen Y wants is to be edumated video comparing big banks to ghastly cated in order to make purchases down the interplanetary robots, and the aforemenroad, and in future videos coming out, we tioned zombie video – which aims to teach are not about selling. That has to be top of customers about life insurance by demonmind.” strating in graphic detail Jim Pond, founder of how life insurance will IC Federal’s videos Compassed, the Gardprovide for your family “are a stark departure ner-based creative serif you should be killed vices firm hired by IC to and eaten during a zomfrom where most financial produce the videos, said bie apocalypse. institutions go.” there’s something else “If we don’t do this, about young folks that no one is going to pay credit unions would do well to know: Once attention,” Pond said. “For content, the they enter a relationship with an institution internet is a graveyard, and with a generalike a bank or credit union, “they are likely to tion that is very conscious of when it’s being stay with you for a long time.” sold something, you have to push the envecontinued on page 23
18 | centerpoint | summer.2012