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Consumers trust CUs-more than other financial providers-to look out for their interests.
PRIOR TO launching the National Credit Union Brand Campaign in the late 1990s, the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) conducted more than 20 national focus groups to find out what aspects of a credit union resonated most with members. We learned that, even more than being not-for-profit and member-owned, credit unions' brand strength was rooted in trust. It wasn't the "safe harbor" kind of trust, though that also was important. It was that members trust their credit union to care about them as individuals and to treat them well and with respect.
Trust and respect thus became the premise underpinning the national brand slogan, "America's Credit Unions: Where people are worth more than money."
Seven years later, the feelings consumers espouse toward credit unions remain very much in evidence-most recently in "customer advocacy" survey results released in May by Forrester Research, Cambridge, Mass.
Forrester explains, "Customer advocacy is the perception...