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May 2008 - Strategy Magazine
Special report

cause + action top champion - Vancity
City for the people

by Carey Toane
page 18

Vancity boasts an impressive history of social-change firsts in the financial category, from the first in Canada to offer mortgages to women in 1960 to the first socially responsible mutual fund in 1986 and the first loan for the purchase of a low-CO2 emission vehicle in 2003. So it's hardly surprising that when the Vancouver-based credit union decided to overhaul its marketing last year, the end result included a few more firsts.

Inspiration

Its commitment to the community and standing as a financial institution place Vancity in a unique position to effect change, whether that be fighting climate change and poverty or growing the social economy. Vancity's current strategy focuses on those three pillars as it connects with members, staff and community.

This strategy is illustrated best with products and services such as the Shared Success program, through which Vancity members and the community all get a share of the credit union's profits, or the Bright Ideas home renovation loan, which funds renovations in accordance with a Natural Resources Canada EcoEnergy retrofit program.

The brand is built on this foundation of community leadership. Vancity conducts ongoing reputation monitoring which shows that consumers consistently rate it the most respected organization in Vancouver, the Lower Mainland and Victoria - and not just among financial institutions. And now the brand works to deliver advertising that is as effective and powerful as the "good things" it does in the community.

Execution

Vancity began leveraging green and community aspects in its marketing in 2005, with agency TBWA\ Vancouver. Prior to that, its campaigns were largely "me too" executions similar to most FIs. From 2005 to 2007, Vancity created several campaigns, but hadn't yet truly brought its brand differentiator, "benefits to you and the community can come in the same package," to life.

Last year, Vancity stopped worrying about what to say, and instead focused on how to say it. It wanted advertising that took a "sum of parts" approach to showcase the various elements of the brand offering, while at the same time showing how they all tie together to contribute to the larger brand identity and personality. This worked to make the individual offerings more relevant, and also provided a chance to experiment with different ways to engage the community.

All parts of the campaign were aligned with the tagline "We all profit," which clearly states Vancity's point of difference as an FI that fundamentally believes that no one has to profit at the expense of others, the community or the environment.

Marketing Efforts

One of the "parts" of Vancity's "sum" was a community experiment called the Vancity Bike Share program. The idea was born out of the need to reduce car usage, a major contributor to climate change. Because habits are hard to break, Vancity wanted to see what would happen if people got a little push and, in this case, some pedals.

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