Assignment
The Memphis Area Teachers’ Credit Union is a non-profit organization that offers services comparable to that of a traditional bank. MATCU had not previously advertised heavily to the general public and wanted to communicate several key points:
- MATCU is no longer a private institution exclusive to teachers despite its name.
- MATCU offers the services of a traditional bank but has more competitive rates and costs.
- Being a non-profit means that any profits are redistributed back to the members.
- While MATCU offers bank services, it is actually much more than a bank.
In addition to communicating these points, MATCU challenged us to find a way to bring people into their locations to personally experience friendliness and an accommodating atmosphere.
Process & Challenges
MATCU had a unique story to tell consisting of more information than could effectively be communicated in traditional advertisements alone. Our main challenge was to capture several minutes of our audience’s time and get them to respond.
The MATCU website is tailored for customers; cs2i wanted to reach prospects. We knew that traditional advertising mediums are already flooded with bank messages. It was determined that the blend of traditional and new media to communicate our message was the key. The traditional advertisements would be unique, not appear to be in the bank genre, and exist primarily to drive visitors to a new media platform where rich content methods could be used to communicate our message.
Solution
The cs2 creative team developed a campaign playing off of the “teacher” aspect of MATCU’s name. They developed the concept of “bank detention” – a type of purgatory where traditional bank customers languish. The campaign would use teachers, chalkboards, pop quizzes and other school icons to keep the message light, interesting and unique for a bank-type institution. Once the direction was determined, cs2 and cs2i worked together to create the two campaign components:
- Traditional Media: An outdoor campaign, communicating the concept of Bank Detention, was created and placed for the sole purpose of attracting visitors to a micro-website.
- Micro-Site: Independent from the MATCU website, Bankdetention.com is an interactive site designed to inform and entertain prospective clients. With humorous visuals and witty content, users were invited to take a Pop Quiz, which would help get him or her out of Bank Detention. Once the quiz was complete, the user was awarded a pass from Bank Detention, and an invitation to pick up a free “I Got Out Of Bank Detention.com” coffee mug at their nearest MATCU branch.
Results
The blend of traditional and new media allowed us to reach our audience and direct them to a measurable platform. Utilizing the quiz as the primary communication method resulted in the visitors' average time on the site to be well above most website averages, and opened the door for us to track and gather useful information.
All quiz answers are tracked, providing information on what the general public knows about MATCU and how they are perceived in the community. An analytics package and “goal funnel” were setup on the site to determine the number of visits, how many visitors took the quiz, and how many requested the certificate for award. The certificate serves to gather email address and provide incentive to come into a MATCU location.
In the end, we effectively hit all of the project goals. The on going campaign is a success, with many people taking the quiz and visiting an MATCU location. If you live in Memphis and are a traditional bank customer, what are you waiting for? Visit www.bankdetention.com and take the quiz for yourself.