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09/15/2007

Bellco has balls! Forget the cooperative spirit, the gloves are off.

By Tim McAlpine

Here is a prime example of a growing trend in member acquisition: stealing from your credit union cousins.

Denver Colorado's New Horizons Community Credit Union has recently been acquired by a Texas-based credit union. To capitalize on this opportunity, New Horizon's competitor, Denver's Bellco Credit Union, has mounted an aggressive new promotion to steal New Horizon's members.

The campaign creative features a "Greetings from Texas" postcard with one of your happy $100 dollar bills waving to you from another state.

The copy is witty and gets right to the point. "Here I am in Texas! It's a little hot, but everyone wears those fun ten-gallon hats. Can hardly wait to come home to Denver."

And another zinger, "It will almost be as if you're with a big out-of-state bank instead of a friendly, local credit union."

Followed with a list of compelling reasons to switch and a great offer: "When New Horizons Community Credit Union members open a Bellco checking account now, Bellco will give you $100. Rather open a Bellco savings account? Bellco will give you $25. It won't cost you anything to join Bellco—in fact, you'll make money on the deal. It's an easy way to keep your money within visiting distance. And give it some friends to play with. Ready to give your money a better home, right here in Denver?"

Sounds pretty good to me. In the past, there was an unwritten understanding within the credit union movement that credit unions where all in this together and the banks were the enemy. The new reality, especially in multiple credit union markets, is a full-on, no-holds-barred fighting to the death (or merger).

You will either love or hate this approach. From a pure marketing standpoint, this microsite for Bellco is a stellar example of an aggressive member acquisition strategy. I don't know what the rest of the campaign looks like, but I imagine if I was a member of New Horizons Community Credit Union and I saw an ad that looked like this in my local newspaper, I would definitely take notice, probably visit the microsite and definitely consider moving my account.

This campaign begs the question: Is this a good thing for the credit union movement? Or does the ethos of the cooperative spirit and the collective credit union movement really matter anymore with everyone on a quest for more members and billions in assets?

I am torn between saying "Shame on you Bellco!" or "Great job Bellco!" It's kind of like laughing at a dirty joke when you know you aren't supposed to.

What do you think?

Update: There is also some good discussion on the Bellco story on Open Souce CU, BRUEN/BENSLEY Credit Union Blog and Ron Shevlin's Marketing ROI blog.

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Bellco has balls! Forget the cooperative spirit, the gloves are off.

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