NEFCU Advertising Partnership

By Joyce Moed, Reporter

WEST SAYVILLE, N.Y.–Nassau Educators  FCU’s newest advertising campaign is literally spelling out its name.

NEFCU’s advertising partnership with Hasbro and Scholastic Magazine allows the credit union to use the Scrabble game in its advertising.

“Scrabble is one the country’s most recognizable and classic board games, so we felt this partnership gave us a real way of defining our identity and spelling out our value and full range of financial services,” said Eileen Nolan, SVP of marketing and community relations for the $1.3-billion credit union.

The Scrabble campaign centers on TV, print and radio advertising.

“It’s really an integrated campaign,” Nolan said.

It is also supported with concurrent initiatives with the Scholastic educator brand. NEFCU partnered with Scholastic to provide teachers with a gift of a customized calendar planner that details classroom tips and easy access to benefits NEFCU membership provides.

In 2006, Nassau Educators FCU branded itself by its acronym, NEFCU. So it seemed only natural for the CU to align its advertising campaign with a classic board game spelling out the name in tiles, Nolan said. “It’s a game very well known,” she said. “And it’s aligned with education.”

“We initiated communication with Hasbro and Scholastic, and told them what our intent was,” she said. “We went through the legal process so we could use the game in our advertising. Hasbro approval took several weeks–about a six or seven week period.”

The campaign began in July of 2008, and is still running, and is planned to run into next year, Nolan said.

NEFCU declined to share the cost of the campaign, but said they are experiencing a significant ROI.

“We’ve seen 7% membership growth,” Nolan said.

The CU also did a brand-awareness study last year, and found it to be to 10%, from 5%.
“Our goal is really to continue to get the NEFCU name out there, and to maintain levels of awareness and grow those,” Nolan said.

“We’re also trying to brand ourselves that we are not only for teachers, not only for educators, but also for professionals,” said Edward Paternostro, president/CEO.

The partnership does not allow the CU to offer Hasbro employees membership, as the company is not located in the area, Nolan said.

But still, the CU is not hurting for members. Despite today’s economic climate, NEFCU is still growing, Paternostro added, with two new NEFCU branches have opening in the last year, and membership growth has exceeding the 130,000 mark.

The reasons for the growth are simple, Nolan said.