(Federal Way, Wash.) June 21, 2005- Cooperative advertising contributions by credit unions in Washington state passed the half million dollar mark this week. Nineteen credit unions contributed $512,500 dollars to the voluntary campaign spearheaded with leadership from Washington State Employees Credit Union and facilitated by the Washington Credit Union League.
 
“ Reaching this significant milestone allows us to continue our promotion of shared branching. It also expands our campaign to include the credit union difference and how to join a credit union,” said Washington Credit Union League, President and CEO, John Annaloro. “This accomplishment is a testament to the enormous success of the first-round of advertising and the outstanding spirit of cooperation by our credit unions.”
 
The new campaign will feature television advertisements on both the ABC and CBS Seattle affiliates, broadcasting to the twelfth largest media market in the nation. Broadcast elements include credit union commercials during Super Bowl XL and during the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon to highlight existing community involvement and educate viewers on the credit union difference.
 
This is the first year that Washington’s credit unions will cooperatively advertise a credit union difference message. The success of last year’s shared branching campaign helped to rank Washington as the fastest growing shared branching state in the nation. First-round participants saw the number of shared branching transactions increase since the start of the campaign, and overall awareness of the service among credit union members increased as well.
 
Additional plans for this year include having a separate regional campaign for eastern Washington credit unions to run in the Spokane media market.
 
Steve Dahlstrom, CEO of Spokane Teachers Credit Union, is among the leaders participating in the regional cooperative campaign.
 
“ We were impressed with the results our colleagues got on the other side of the mountains,” Dahlstrom said. “It made sense for us to form our own regional cooperative campaign group that piggybacks on the success of the first round.”
 
In addition to the credit unions that will form the regional campaign in the Spokane area, the cooperative group in the central Puget Sound region also has attracted new participation including Sound Credit Union and School Employees Credit Union of Washington.
 
BECU was an early and major participant in the cooperative campaign and has renewed their commitment for this year’s advertising. Gary Oakland is BECU’s President and CEO.
 
“ Our significant expansion of this campaign is targeted to produce the same results for membership that we’ve experienced with shared branching,” Oakland said. “We’ve hired an agency that is results-oriented to create a message and brand that will drive membership. This is far more than a feel-good campaign. Our goal is new members.”