5 Credit Union Marketing Campaigns That Made Us Laugh

We remember what makes us laugh or smile. We often recount (somewhat less funny) versions of laughter-inducing events to our family, friends, and coworkers. 

Research from Oracle confirms that humor is memorable: 90% of people surveyed are more likely to remember ads that make them laugh. But that’s not all. When a company successfully deploys a funny marketing campaign:

• 80% of consumers will recommend the brand
• 72% will choose that brand over a competitor
• 63% will spend more with that brand

It’s no wonder, then, that Super Bowl advertisers trip over one another in an attempt to make their 125 million viewers laugh.

Budweiser has it easy—beer and laughter go well together. Credit unions have a taller order. But if a talking gecko can make insurance funny, then hey, anything is possible. Here are five credit union marketing campaigns — some older, some rolled out this past year — that nailed it. 

Best use of surprise

Ever think a story is going somewhere, and then it goes somewhere else entirely? What’s brilliant about this ad from U.S. Eagle Credit Union is that it starts off feeling so familiar. As viewers, we hear the cheesy music, see the sweet-looking elderly woman gardening in the sunshine and we immediately think, “Yep, another pharmaceutical ad.”

Then, just as we think we know exactly how this will all play out, the sweet-looking elderly woman drops an F-bomb. “I’ve been doing my banking at the same place for years,” she says. “But you know, I’d switch in an instant to someone who doesn’t charge any f***king overdraft fees.” It’s so unexpected, I found myself laughing before I even fully processed what had happened. Not only that, the F-bomb perfectly encapsulates how most of us feel about overdraft fees, so as we’re laughing, we’re also nodding along.

Best plot twist

This ad from Navy Federal Credit Union also hinges on an element of surprise, though it’s via a more subtle turn of events. In it, a dad tentatively approaches his teen son and says, “Now that you’re getting older, you might be getting curious about certain things.” 

The son, who assumes this conversation is headed in the same direction as the audience is led to believe, responds with: “Please don’t do this.”

Then the father continues: “You’re, uh, eligible to be a member of Navy Federal Credit Union.”

While this plot twist stands on its own, it can also be repurposed in multiple scenarios. In another Navy Federal Credit Union commercial, a woman tells her fiancé, “So our wedding is in a couple weeks, and I’ve been thinking things over. I just needed to tell you this face to face.”

Of course, she needs to tell him that he’s now eligible to be a member of Navy Federal Credit Union, but that isn’t where the fiancé thought the conversation was headed. For viewers who are already familiar with the ad campaign, the humor isn’t lost on us because now we’re in on the joke. It’s the reaction of the person who isn’t that elicits that chuckle. 

Best use of clever animation

Animation can certainly widen the net for possible storylines and potentially humorous scenarios. It’s also hard to do well, so if your credit union is going to employ it, you’ll want to make sure that it’s both necessary and actually drives the laugh you’re aiming for. 

In this “Get Your Money Working” ad, part of a campaign that was a recent finalist for a MACQUEE from the Marketing Association for Credit Unions, America First Credit Union succeeded on both counts. An animated five-dollar bill plays a bed-lounging, phone-scrolling teen whose concerned parents tell him he needs to make more friends. 

“Because I’m not enough by myself?” the five-dollar bill demands. “Because you would love me more if I was always bringing home new money friends?”

To which his father replies: “.... yes!” And his mother adds: “It’s called earning dividends, dear.”

Like Navy Federal’s aforementioned ad campaign, the “Get Your Money Working” concept is highly repurposable. America First has released a whole slew of ads featuring animated bills for products ranging from savings accounts to credit cards to home equity loans.  

Best laugh on a budget

Do the ads we’ve featured so far all seem a little too… polished for your budget? Does humor require deep pockets? Luckily, if your answer to the first question is yes, the answer to the second question is no. 

We’ve all seen high-budget Superbowl ads that fall flat and no-budget TikTok or YouTube videos that make us belly laugh. In fact, sometimes the restraints imposed by a lower budget can help you get more creative. 

We love this video from ORNL Federal Credit Union for exactly this reason. The “home video” look is intentional but also conveniently cheap. And while comparing a homebuying process to a person falling flat into a pile of leaves could have… well, fallen flat, they succeeded in combining well-placed copy and strategic timing to craft an ad that delivered.

Best parody

In another low-budget video, three employees at Ohio-based Fremont Federal Credit Union re-enacted a well-known scene from the movie Office Space to bid goodbye to their old ATM machines and unveil their new ones. Footage shows them swearing at and kicking an old ATM machine, then returning with a baseball bat to do it in.

The parody itself is hilarious for anyone familiar with the movie, but the credit union earns bonus points for its open recognition that its old ATM machines were outdated and offered a frustrating user experience. 

The stunt also unintentionally earned the credit union media coverage when police were called to the scene. Luckily, no arrests were made and only one ATM machine was harmed in the making of this video. While not all credit unions may feel comfortable allowing their employees to publicly take a bat to their equipment, no matter how outdated, the video did successfully draw attention to the new ATM rollout and likely attracted some new brand ambassadors in the process.

Final thoughts

Humor may not be the best route for all credit unions, but I would argue that the movement overall would benefit from a little more creativity and a little more fun. There are potential downsides, of course. Nobody likes telling a joke that doesn’t land, and if your attempt to be funny elicits more eye rolls than laughs, it may hurt your brand. 

Additionally, what’s funny to some people might be outright offensive to others. It’s unlikely that everyone appreciated the F bomb in U.S. Eagle’s ad. If you’ve never watched Office Space, you might be bewildered, or even downright disturbed, by Fremont FCU’s video. And to be honest, not all the high-budget “Get Your Money Working” ads worked for me (no pun intended) — quite a few fell back on tired stereotypes of clueless husbands and fed-up wives.   

On the flip side, there are many different ways to work humor into your marketing, and it’s a vastly underutilized component of creating a remarkable and memorable brand. Test drive ideas in lower-stakes contexts, like on TikTok or Instagram, to see what resonates and what falls flat. Always be authentic and genuine to your brand’s voice. If done right, the smiles (and revenue) will follow.

This article originally appeared in CUInsight.