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TCU is me.” We’ve seen the phrase emblazoned across billboards and bus banners, and we’ve heard it proclaimed in the catchy TV spots by community members and business owners, touting their sincere loyalty for what started out as Spokane Teachers Credit Union. For members and nonmembers alike, it’s been these ongoing marketing campaigns that have made us more familiar with the hyperlocal focus of STCU. Chances are, most of us know of at least one of the dozens of people — a family member, a teacher, a local business owner — who’ve shared their personal stories about STCU since the testimonial campaigns were first launched back in 2000. “The union is member-owned, so it makes sense that our members are the face of our marketing,” says STCU’s Vice President of Marketing Barb Richey. She’s been overseeing marketing since the second year of STCU’s move to testimonial-focused advertising. Richey herself was featured in one of the credit union’s earliest commercials, back before she started working there. At the time, Richey was an employee at Eastern Washington University. In her spot she candidly said
50 INLANDER BEST OF THE INLAND NW 2015
President/CEO Tom Johnson: “We have great employees at STCU who find great value in serving all of our members.” YOUNG KWAK PHOTO she’d been a member of the union since 1986, and that STCU is where she opened her first checking and savings accounts and took out her first car loan. Her story isn’t unique, and that’s partly why she says these always unscripted testimonials have been so impactful, helping grow STCU’s membership to the more than 134,000 members it serves today. “Every employee at the organization has an alabaster heart on their desk that signifies the heart of the member, and we focus on that to make decisions every day — we focus on that love of the members,” Richey reflects. “In turn, I think our members truly love us and some members feel like they want to share that love, and when they do, it just happens to be about their farm they’re working on, or the business they own.” If STCU’s story of growth seems a bit cloying, that’s because it is a throwback. In an age of corporate banking scandals and online convenience trumping face-to-face human interaction, sincerity and an unfettered devotion to its members is why STCU has simply continued to outshine itself year after year. Considering this, it’s also no wonder that
the credit union is now celebrating its 10th consecutive win in this category since 2006’s Best Of readers poll. Beyond STCU’s love of its many members is a wider appreciation of and love for the community where its members and employees live and work, Richey adds. One indication of its continued commitment to that effort is the growing participation in STCU’s “Who Do you Love?” campaign, held every February, and for the fourth time this year. Locals are invited to nominate and then vote for regional nonprofits to receive a donation from the credit union. The number of nominations and subsequent votes in the contest has exponentially increased since that first year, with 8,000 individual nominations submitted this year, compared to 500 in the contest’s first year, 2012. “We reciprocate that love,” Richey says. “We’re in the community, and our goal is to give back to the community whenever possible.” — CHEY SCOTT 2nd PLACE: Numerica Credit Union; 3rd PLACE: Global Credit Union