Meet the CO-OP THiNK prize finalists and VOTE!

On today's CU Chat Up, I had the privilege of having the three CO-OP Think prize finalists on to discuss each of their projects. They are competing for $10,000 in seed money to get their idea started. Check out a summary of their projects and listen to the show for more details.

Candace Vogelsong's project is to help credit unions develop social media strategies using platforms such as: Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare. Small credit union - this cooperative program makes it easy.

Matt Weidler's project is to develop a system for members to use their credit union account at an ATM via their mobile phone. No ATM card - no problem. 

Shari Storm's project is to create a mobile application that automatically moves money from your checking account to a special savings account, when the member forgoes a usual expense. Skip your fancy coffee today - save that money for tomorrow!

Listen or download the show here: CU Chat Up - CO-OP Think Prize Finalists or you can use the radio show player on the right of this page.

Once you have a favorite, please support them and VOTE! You can vote one time each day through May 6, 2011. (Only credit union employees are eligible to vote)

The winner will be announced at the CO-OP Think 11 conference. Registration is still open for the conference. There is an impressive line-up of speakers from different industries! If you can't attend, check back here for comprehensive coverage.

Bank bashing, customer-owned ... credit union commercials? Nope!

Credit union advertising has often focused on the fundamentals of credit unions: not-for-profit, cooperative, member-owned, volunteer board of directors, and on and on. ... 

While these are all true characteristics of the credit union, it is the same for ALL credit unions. Is that the best way to market and brand your credit union? And, is it even unique? Interestingly, an insurance company has started an advertising campaign based on similar principles, check it out!

Another, more recent trend has been for credit unions to bash banks in their marketing. The banks are the bad guys and credit unions are the good guys. Negative advertising. When we get to election time, people complain about all the negative advertising. Why would consumers like bank bashing ads? In my opinion, some of these ads work, while others don't; there is a fine line between the two. If there is a bit of humor in the ad, you can sometimes get away with it. Or, if you don't simply discredit the bank, but draw comparisons between your credit union and the bank - making it clear why you are a better choice.

Credit unions aren't the only ones using negative bank advertisements, check out this one from my local community. West Suburban Bank differentiates itself from the big bad banks.

I wanted to share these examples, because if you replaced "West Suburban Bank" in their ads with a credit union name, it would work. Or, if you replaced "Nationwide Insurance" with your credit union, the ad would work as well (How exciting would it be to have Dale Earnhardt as your CU spokesman?). When you advertise, are you showing what makes your credit union uniquely different from other credit unions, community banks, and mutuals?

Do you read enough?

Do you read enough? I'm not talking about 100s or 1000s of 140 character tweets. I'm not talking about 500 word blog posts. I'm talking about really reading ... a well-thought out article, research paper, a book ....

When was the last time you read something that really made you think or taught you something?

Somehow I got away from reading quality in-depth materials. On the internet, people generally want to read short and quick items. These have value, don't get me wrong, but those pieces are meant to share knowledge in small bits or to spark an idea.

I started reading an article on FastCompany.com  and got to the bottom and saw it had 5 pages. What? FIVE pages? Crazy, right? I realized I had the actual magazine and hadn't read it. So, I got off my computer and read it magazine in hand. There is something to be said for reading it that way, I learned tonight. But, I'll save that for another day.

There is a credit union in Chicago where the IT department takes every Friday afternoon to learn. Each employee can decide on their own what they want to read. It can be a book, magazine, technology manual, web materials - anything. The manager feels it is important for the employees to continue to learn, and learning doesn't mean a webinar or sitting in a classroom. 

Do your employees read industry news? CU Times or CU Journal? Credit union magazines? Wall Street Journal? Banking newspapers or magazines? Business resources? Blogs? Twitter? All of these resources have value for employees.

If an employee were "caught" reading one of the above resources would they be told "Get back to work!"?  

Learning stimulates the mind and makes for better employees. I know I'm going to make a concerted effort to start reading a variety of materials again. Please share what you generally read or what your credit union does or doesn't do now. Your suggestion will help others.

CU Chat Up - Employee Engagement

Matt Monge, Director of Education and Training for FCFCU and consultant for The Mojo Company, was on CU Chat Up this Wednesday to discuss the importance of employee engagement and creating meaning at work. 

A few of the topics we discussed included defining employee engagement, surveying your employees, identifying engagement in your credit union, and creating meaning in the workplace. Matt presented some tips that you can use right away and also some longer term suggestions to make sure your organization has a positive culture.

Do you know what success looks like for your position? Do you think your work matters?

You can listen to the show here: CU Chat Up - Employee Engagement or you can listen on the player on the right or download the podcast into iTunes.

Make sure to check out the Matt's blog post that we discussed during the show: Fighting the Idea of Irrelevance. 

Please share your thoughts on how credit unions can improve employee engagement and job meaning. What does your credit union do? 

CU Chat Up - Interchange and other CU Advocacy Issues

Ryan Donovan, the VP of Legislative Affairs at CUNA, stopped by CU Chat Up on Friday to discuss the current status of the interchange issue, the possibility of credit union taxation and member business lending. 

You can listen to the show here: CU Chat Up - Interchange and other CU Advocacy Issues or you can listen on the player on the right or download the podcast into iTunes.

During the show, we discussed different resources that your credit union can use to take the interchange issue to your members. Here are links:

CUNA Interchange Video

Interchange microsites: Save my Free Checking, Don't Lose your Shirt, Don't Make Us Pay

CUNA Capwiz

If your credit union is doing something different or you know of any other advocacy sites, please put them in the comments.

A new "flash mob" by Wells Fargo

I've written about a few different performances from financial institutions before including from Innovations FCU and ING Direct Canada. Today, Wells Fargo posted their "flash mob" on YouTube. Over the last year, I've seen the feeling about these performances change. 

While there is a place for these public appearances, they aren't really flash mobs and trying to present them as such can come across in a negative way. For example, when I wrote about the ING Direct performance, I referred to it as a flash mob. They never referred to it as such and that's when I was schooled in the difference between a public performance vs. a flash mob.

Companies should be careful about usurping that term for their publicity stunts. It was one thing to call them that years ago, but now they should sell these for what they really are - public performances. It sounds fun to use the term "flash mob" but it is not authentic and disingenuous. 

What do you think? Here is the video:

Did I enjoy it? It was fun to watch, but rates near the bottom of similar videos I've seen. For example, it was better than the ING Direct Canada video mentioned above, but I enjoyed the Innovations FCU and some of the mall videos I've seen before much more. 

Interestingly, I didn't see any Wells Fargo references at the performance. It appears the promotional value was intended to only come from being a viral video promotion

The video is on the Wells Fargo YouTube channel and titled the "Wells Fargo Flash Mob -- Times Square", so they get recognition there. But, they went further at the 3:00 minute mark (if you made it that far - the video is a bit long) a Wells Fargo logo appears in the bottom right hand corner and remains through the rest of the video.

Overall, what are your thoughts? I'm not sure this video was good enough to have much reach. But, then again, I'm writing about it and spreading the word.

Another resource for CUs to use for interchange advocacy

The Credit Union National Association (CUNA) has provided a video for credit unions to use to bring the interchange issue to their members. The video includes comments from Bill Cheney, President/CEO of CUNA, Harriet May President/CEO of GECU in Texas, and Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz from Florida.

For additional options, check out the post from last week regarding: SaveMyFreeChecking.com, DontLoseYourShirt.org, and DontMakeUsPay.com

Is your credit union bringing this issue to your members? What are you doing?

Ohio Credit Union League's inVest 48 Recap

The last two days, I have spent time in Columbus, Ohio at the Ohio Credit Union League's inVest48 convention. They launched a new convention title "inVest48" to signify the 48 hours spent at the convention as something in which the attendees invest.

There were three main components of the convention: 

• Participate
• Collaborate
• Advocate

inVest48 had both an educational track and an advocacy track. I participated in the educational track and tweeted the sessions that I attended. 

Tuesday's sessions included: Tucker Carlson providing political analysis, Bill Cheney discussing credit union advocacy, Elizabeth Vale talking about the CFPB, a session for Up and Comers in the industry, Jason Lindstrom sharing tips on CU advocacy, and Mark Arnold on marketing on the cheap.

Wednesday's sessions included: Howard Putnam, former Southwest Airlines CEO talking about overcoming turbulence times, Joe Sullivan discussing redefining growth for CUs, and lastly former Heisman Trophy winner, Eddie George talking about overcoming challenges.

I will be posting some takeaways from these sessions, but in the meantime, you can check out some of the tidbits from the sessions in the below replay of tweets from the event.