COASTHILLS' “DEALS FOR ALL WHEELS” WINS 2009
MACQUEE AWARD

CoastHills FCU won top prize in the Marketing Association of Credit Unions’ (MAC) 2009 Awards Competition, announced at the group’s virtual award ceremony held on May 28th, 2009.

Scott Coe, Senior VP Marketing, accepted the award for the California-based credit union. The other three MACQUEE finalists were FAA First Federal Credit Union, Pacific Service Credit Union and Valley First Credit Union.

CoastHills’ “Deals for all Wheels” campaign was designed to offer auto-loan competition to the popular manufacturer’s discount and to remind members that they have alternatives to other local lending agencies. Coe commented that, “The manufacturer discounts and rebates often apply to a limited set of vehicles and high-demand models typically don’t offer factory incentive financing. Accordingly, CoastHills could compete by financing these vehicles. The offer was good on virtually all new and used vehicles and the financing also applied to motorcycles, which is a niche market, but it offered the credit union additional opportunities.”

The successful campaign encompassed an impressive amount of media and Data Based Marketing, a full-service marketing agency, assisted the CoastHills marketing team. “We needed a visual metaphor to quickly convey that the offer was good on virtually all vehicles. That one location where you can see all kinds of vehicles is at a drive-in movie theater,” said Dave Dawson, Principal of Data Based Marketing. “Once we had the drive-in movie theater marquee as the signature of the campaign, we went overboard with the creative,” added Coe. Along with a 30-second TV spot produced at a local drive-in theater, other marketing items included direct-mail postcards and brochures, statement envelopes, email blasts, ATM posters, branch floor graphics, teller mats, wall posters, in-branch television screen graphic, front-page newspaper sticker, billboards, bus tails, and multiple in-branch promotions.

The campaign was offered from April 1 through July 31, 2008 and resulted in over $100 million in auto loans, which was over five times the marketing goal. In addition, the credit union achieved 3,750 new member accounts, another remarkable and goal-breaking result.