How One Credit Union Found Life on Radio

Three years ago, Security Service Federal Credit Union in San Antonio was having an identity crisis.

Many of the 75 banks, savings and loan associations and other credit unions that it considered to be competitors were owned by large holding companies in Houston or Dallas that could afford to hire big New York and Los Angeles advertising agencies to do flashy TV spots.

“We wanted to be able to ask for people’s business, but our name is so long that we found people just didn’t know who we were,” said Paul D. Green, Security’s marketing vice president. “We’d either have to go on TV right next to these spots and spend significant dollars or find a way to compete in a less expensive medium. So we chose radio.”

After talking with the three major independent Los Angeles studios, Green hired Bert, Barz & Kirby. “We basically made fun of our long name,” Green said. “It did wonders overnight.”

One of the 60-second commercials won several awards in 1984 from financial industry marketing associations and helped put the institution on the map. It’s a prime example of “theater of the mind”:

VOICE 1: Hello, Albert’s Advertising Specialists.

VOICE 2: Albert, this is Security Service Federal Credit Union. Where are the matchbooks we ordered?

1: Oh, I’m trying to shorten your name to fit on the matchbook covers.

2: Shorten Security Service Federal Credit Union?

1: Uh-huh, to Security Service Federal.

2: No.

1: Federal Credit?

2: No.

1: Union?

2: Albert . . .

1: How about Security Service Federal Credit Union?

2: Albert, it sounds like a junior college. Can’t you make the matchbooks bigger?

1: Bigger?

2: Yeah, we want everyone to know we’re big, the seventh-largest credit union in the country, with over 100,000 members.

1: You want all that on the matchbook?

2: Uh-huh.

1: You want to be able to lift this matchbook?

2: Look, we want people to know Security Service is already like a bank, with CashPlus, our automated teller machines.

1 (Interrupting): Hold it, there’s not that much sulfur in all of Texas.

2: We’ve got IRAs, money-market accounts and other services to solve your money problems.

1: You know, if you prop up this matchbook along the highway, it’ll double as a billboard.

2: Oh, never mind. Now, what about the pencils we ordered?

1: Oh, I got everything on the pencil. That was a breeze.

2: It’s not too heavy?

1: No, but the eraser rubs up along the ceiling.

ANNOUNCER: Security Service Federal Credit Union. You’re going to know who we are.

The campaign was such a success that the institution even printed collegiate-looking T-shirts to capitalize on the Sec Serv Fed Cred U idea. Green said customers are starting to know the name and say, “Oh, you’re the guys with the funny ads.”

Green credits the humorous campaign with much of his institution’s growth. Since Bert, Barz & Kirby came on, membership has risen to 121,000 from 97,000, and assets have grown to $264 million from $159 million.

And the growth hasn’t come at too high a premium. Green said his institution spends $112,000 a year to produce the ads and buy radio time, whereas the bigger banks spend $2 million to $3 million on TV advertising.