Co-op Vegas?

By Tim McAlpine

I attended the 1 Credit Union Conference in Las Vegas last week. The venue struck me as an odd choice. I wondered what kind of first impression Vegas would give the visitors from 60 countries. This tweet from Shari Storm summed up my initial thoughts, "Listening to the regal women of Zimbabwe marvel at how little clothing the young women in Las Vegas wear." Was Las Vegas the best way to show off the western world?

Then it struck me: Vegas is the perfect example of the power of cooperation. Don't believe me? Let's run Vegas past the seven cooperative principles.

Principle #1: Inclusiveness
Everyone is welcome regardless of how much cash they are carrying. From the penny slots to $5,000 minimum bets, Vegas has something for everyone. It does not discriminate. Vegas will take money from anyone!

Principle #2: Voice
Vegas is a democratically run ecosystem, entirely controlled by consumers' wants and desires.

Principle #3: Benefit
Consumers directly participate in the financial success of Vegas by emptying their pockets on gambling, dining, entertainment and taxis. Surpluses are returned to consumers in the form of an occasional jackpot to make everyone believe it's possible to beat the odds!

Principle #4: Independence
As your plane descends, you are struck with how isolated (and illuminated) Las Vegas is.

Principle #5: Education
Financial literacy in Vegas? Heck yes. There are gambling hotline posters displayed in every casino. This service is free and available to all.

Principle #6: Cooperation
Cooperation among casinos is vital. If there was only one casino or one show in Vegas, it wouldn't work. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Principle #7: Community
Every visitor to Vegas shares a common bond and shares the famous motto, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!"

All joking aside, Vegas is a great example of people and organizations working together to make something much bigger than would be possible in isolation. All of the stakeholders in Vegas pool their money and market Vegas as a whole. There is real power in this co-op marketing model that credit unions could learn from.

P.S. I'm not sure what principle this falls under, but I would argue that nowhere else on earth has a group of innovators made better use of air conditioning than in Las Vegas!

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Change is beautiful. Are inspirational musings by the great Carl Weathers what credit unions really need?

By Tim McAlpine

This is quite possible the strangest credit union marketing campaign I have ever seen. The Credit Unions of Washington State have banned together to hire Carl Weathers to wax on about change. The actor is most famous for his role as Apollo Creed in the Rocky movies. Watch the videos on the Change is Beautiful microsite to see what I am talking about.

After viewing all of the videos, I honestly don't know if this one is weird-good or just weird-weird. What I do know is that it is different and that the Credit Unions of Washington should be congratulated for sticking their necks out there. The fact that this creative made it through a committee environment is very admirable, if not downright unbelievable. Approving edgy work takes collective courage!

I have a couple of easy suggestions that might make the campaign more successful.

Suggestion 1: Embed videos from a video sharing site like YouTube, Vimeo or Viddler rather than locking the videos down in a closed player. This choice to block others from discovering the videos randomly or sharing the videos on their own websites or blogs will limit the campaign's chances of gaining widespread popularity (I've been told I shouldn't use the V word). Perhaps Mr. Weathers contract didn't permit this type of usage.

Suggestion 2: Since this campaign is designed to get people talking, why not let them talk? Include a simple mechanism for people to post comments or their own Change is Beautiful stories.

Here is some more background information on the thinking behind the campaign. Will this oddball approach be successful? It has garnered some positive local media coverage, but time will tell if Apollo really fairs better against the bank world than he did against Rocky Balboa.

What do you think?

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