Project
sikorsky credit union branding and marketing
Overview
Sikorsky Credit Union has been around for over 70 years with their origins going back to seven employees of Sikorsky Aircraft. Since then, they have become a credit union open to not only employees of Sikorsky, but anybody who lives or works in Fairfield, New Haven, or Hartford counties in Connecticut. While they have always offered great rates on loans and low fees on their products, their membership base wasn’t growing and their brand awareness was low. Over the years, they drifted towards commoditized messaging that was very functional and was not helping create any differentiation between them and other banks and credit unions.
They approached us to help them get clarity on their brand, and then to revamp their marketing initiatives in order to ensure people understood what the brand stood for and what they offered. Our work began with them in the winter of 2019.
Insight
“It’s our members’ money. Let’s spend it wisely.”
This quote, uttered by the CEO during a collaboration session perfectly captured what made Sikorsky Credit Union different. That philosophy drove their ability to offer what are often the best rates on mortgages and other loans. It helped them keep fees down. They weren’t spending lavishly on executive perks or trying to find ways to squeeze more fees at of their members. As a not-for-profit financial institution they have a different approach then big banks.
A story was told to us about a member who was rejected for a loan for school from several other financial institutions. They came to Sikorsky Credit Union and after due diligence and conversations, they granted that person the loan who wrote a very thoughtful letter to the loan officer about how taking that chance helped him on a path towards a goal. It was because they looked at the individual, not strictly an application or profile, and that’s the way that they treat members. This was a powerful anecdote that captured the spirit of what we wanted to capture in our campaign.
Approach
We started by building the foundation and defining the brand positioning with the Sikorsky Credit Union team. As part of that collaborative process we zeroed in on defining the brand essence, which was:
“(Sikorsky Credit Union believes) that everyone deserves a bank/credit union that has their best financial interest at heart, because better financial decisions can lead to better lives.”
After defining the brand essence, we eventually got to a differentiated brand positioning that their actions could truly support:
Our communications platform was built on top of the positioning and we launched the campaign by tapping into a more emotionally-driven message. At a time when other banks were in the news about fraudulent practices, huge CEO pay packages, and trying to squeeze more profit out of their customers with extensive fees, we wanted people to know that when you bank somewhere that has your best financial interest at heart, you will see your relationship with your bank from a new perspective. Quantitative research also informed our targeting and messaging strategies.
Our creative style used clean, interesting imagery with bold, succinct headlines.
Our media strategy balanced brand building awareness tactics across cable TV, streaming TV, streaming audio and podcasts, YouTube, social media, broadcast radio, and more. We utilized geo-fencing around strategic locations that aligned with product messaging, such as target car dealerships with our auto-loan messaging and schools for Early Advantage savings accounts for kids.
Video/Commercial:
We evolved the campaign messaging to put the focus on the individual and how by making a few, small, but smart decisions about their banking can really set them up for future success. While competitors were putting themselves at the center of customers’ dreams of wealth, we wanted to be straightforward and real by saying that where you choose to bank isn’t going to make you rich overnight or make all your financial dreams come true, but when you make those right decisions they can add up over time and make a real impact.
In addition to awareness-driving tactics, we supported lower funnel initiatives to capture people currently in-market for the products and services that Sikorsky Credit Union offers, like mortgages, auto loans, home equity loans and lines of credit, and free checking accounts. Tactics included search engine marketing, email, social media retargeting, display retargeting, and more. In these, we took utilized more functional-driven messaging since at this point in the user journey people were much more likely to be doing comparisons against other financial institutions.
We segmented our messaging and creative based on our targeting and used a diverse set of people throughout our creative to ensure we were properly representing the communities that they serve.
And as market conditions changed where bank mergers were turning once local banks into large institutions where leadership was no longer local, we capitalized on what was in the headlines locally by reinforcing our local commitment and roots.
Results
Since the start of our work together in 2019, Sikorsky Credit Union has:
- Aided brand awareness has increased over 30%
- Annual membership has increased by ~10% YoY
- Goals for mortgages and auto loans have been exceeded in each year
- Serviced a record number of mortgages in the history of the credit union in March, 2021
- Been named Connecticut’s #1 Credit Union By Forbes two years in a row
- Increased their assets by over 70%
And while our campaign continues and we balance long term brand building with conversion marketing initiatives, we believe we’ll continue to see even stronger results.