Numb to the Numbers
Every credit union wants to talk about rates. Foothill Credit Union talked about how people actually feel—and built a campaign around that, instead.
Walk into most credit unions’ marketing departments and you’ll hear the same three notes on repeat. Better rates. New loan products. And, maybe a laundry list of services nobody asked to hear about.
None of it lands. Not because it’s untrue—credit unions genuinely do have better rates, better service, fewer fees. It’s because “we have better rates” is a fact, and facts don’t make people feel anything. You can’t out-fact a Chase or a Bank of America. That’s a fact. They’ll spend more, print bigger, and say the same thing waaaay louder.
Know what you aren’t and lead with that.
Foothill Credit Union, out of Arcadia, CA, came to us already knowing this. They didn’t want another rate war. They wanted to say, plainly, that they’re not a big bank—and that the difference is worth feeling, not just reading about.
So the campaign doesn’t sell products. It sells the relief of not being treated like an account number. No APR. No “checking accounts starting at.” Just the honest, slightly bruised feeling everyone’s had standing at a big bank counter, getting nickel-and-dimed by an institution that doesn’t care about you. We didn’t invent that feeling. Foothill just gave us permission to run with it.
Loyalty is a quality only found in relationships.
Here’s the part credit unions keep missing: you’re not actually in the banking business. You’re in the relationship business. The belonging business. Rates change. Products get matched. But nobody ever felt loyal to an interest rate. People feel loyal to the place that treats them like a person instead of an account number—and that’s a feeling, not a feature, so it needs to be sold like one.
Foothill gets this. They didn’t ask us to cram their whole product lineup onto a board. They let the work be a gut check instead of a brochure. That takes nerve, honestly—it’s a lot easier to hide behind a bullet list of services than to hang your whole message on how a big bank made someone feel small—they’re poking the bear.
More credit unions should try being brave like that. Say less. Feel more. The rates will still be there when people walk in the door.
Feelin’ like your billboards could be hitting harder?
We’re Up To Something—a two-man OOH creative shop that builds billboard experiences for brands of all sizes. If you’ve got something to say, stop whispering into the wind with boring bullet-point billboards, let’s talk. And get others doin’ the same.
