2018 Diamond Award Winners Honored at CUNA M&BD Council Conference
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Lauren Williams – CUNA Communications; (202) 626-7642; lwilliams@cuna.coop
Julie Lang – CUNA Councils; 800-356-9655, ext. 4018; JLang@cuna.coop
MADISON, Wis. and WASHINGTON (March 15, 2018) – Elevations CU was awarded the Diamond Best of Show Award – the highest honor in the CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council’s Diamond Awards competition – during the Council’s 25th annual conference, March 11-14 in San Francisco, Calif.
This year’s Diamond Awards competition received 1,210 entries. Six credit unions won Best of Show Awards, 60 won Category’s Best Awards and 253 won Diamond Awards.
Diamond Best of Show Award: Elevations CU in Boulder, Colo. was honored for their Elevations Commitment to Fort Collins Campaign. By speaking of their strengths to a new market using proof points about size, market share, readers’ polls, mortgage strength and a variety of awards, Elevations CU built brand awareness by talking about what they believed in rather than what they sell. By displaying their “Commitment to Fort Collins”, Elevations CU emphasized their connection to the community and were extremely successful in creating excitement and engagement.
Other 2018 Best of Show honorees included:
Color Award for Brilliant Use of Art: The Summit FCU in Rochester, N.Y., was awarded the Color Award for Brilliant Use of Art for their Color Your Future campaign. To emphasize the individual and beautiful nature of transformation during their annual report, The Summit FCU presented it as an adult coloring book. This showed members visually how they provide a framework of products and services while allowing the members to customize each to their individual needs. As no two people are alike, neither are their financial needs.
Cut Award for Most Edgy: Tulsa FCU in Tulsa, Okla., won for their HELOC'd it on.....Most Edgy entry. After introducing a new HELOC product in Q2 2017, most branches of Tulsa FCU were uncomfortable talking about these loans, creating additional pressure on marketing to be creative in their awareness campaigns and encourage online application. Tulsa FCU came up with the inventive solution of changing the word HELOC into a verb, “HELOC’d” to create a workable call to action as opposed to “apply now” or “get your loan rate”. This created awareness for the product in a way that resonated with member lifestyles and what they could do with HELOC.
Clarity Award for Most Sentimental: Listerhill CU in Muscle Shoals, Ala, won for their Listerhill Cares – Sheffield VFW Post 8640 video. After uncovering a particularly important and moving story during a sponsorship request for Sheffield VFW Post 8640, a post helping veterans find housing, apply for benefits, get counseling, and adjust to civilian life, Listerhill CU decided to set up a video interview to share their story after donating $5,000. After one month, the video reached a total of 8,227 people and Listerhill CU proved their dedication to going above and beyond monetary contribution by providing extraordinary donations, a team of volunteer help and social media awareness for a worthy cause.
Carat Award for Greatest Impact: Houston Metropolitan FCU in Houston, Tex., won for their Hurricane Harvey Member Outreach. After the City of Houston was hit extremely hard by Hurricane Harvey this past August, many of Houston Metropolitan FCU’s members lost everything. With $52,000 in Hurricane Assistance Grants, low payment Disaster Recovery Personal Loans, Auto Replacement Loans, waived ATM Fees, skipped payments, and grief counseling, Houston Metropolitan stepped up and proved their commitment to their community.
Best Use of Humor Award: Tulsa FCU in Tulsa, Okla., won for their HELOC'd it on.....Humor entry. Tulsa FCU’s decision to reframe their new HELOC product by changing the word into a verb, “HELOC’d”, was an entertaining and deceptively simple solution to the problem of awareness. This allowed them to increase their share in a saturated market. Competitive rates and diluted share of voice made introduction of new products difficult, but Tulsa FCU’s inventive, relatable campaign raised awareness and made their new HELOC product successful.
“These credit unions represent the best and brightest in marketing and business development,” said Amber Scott, Chair of the CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council’s Diamond Awards Committee and VP Marketing & Communications at 1st MidAmerica CU. “Their inventive, passionate and exciting initiatives inspire us to take chances, be bold and try new and untested approaches.”
The Diamond Awards, representing the pinnacle of credit union marketing and business development, honor credit unions in 35 categories, ranging from direct mail to website marketing to public relations to social media. Judges evaluated entries based on strategy, design, production, creative concept, copy, communication and results.
A complete list of award winners is available online at www.cunacouncils.org/awards.
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About CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council
The CUNA Marketing and Business Development Council is a member-led community of marketing and business development professionals dedicated to providing relevant resources and tools essential for success to its members. The CUNA Marketing and Business Development Council is one of seven CUNA Councils, a network of thousands of credit union professionals nationwide. For more information, visit www.cunacouncils.org.
About CUNA Councils
The CUNA Councils are member-led organizations dedicated to connecting passionate people, great ideas, original content and relevant resources to find solutions and inspire achievement through the power of peer collaboration. The CUNA Councils serve thousands of members nationwide in seven areas of credit unions including CEO; lending; marketing and business development; finance and accounting; human resources and organizational development; technology; and operations, sales and service. For more information, visit www.cunacouncils.org.