Meridian goes bounce-free with new campaign

Meridian Credit Union has launched a branding campaign in Ontario that emphasizes the company’s personal touch with consumers and its new No-Bounce cheque service.
 
The campaign began yesterday with radio spots that include Meridian’s new tagline, “Your money. Your way. Imagine that.” Print, online and out-of-home creative will appear in mid-April, with two television spots set to follow by the end of the month.
 
Creative was developed by the Mississauga, Ont. office of OSL Marketing.
 
According to Dave Roberts, vice-president of marketing for Meridian, the objective of the campaign is to educate consumers about the differences between financial institutions generally and the benefits of Meridian specifically.
 
“We wanted to find a number of proof points – evidence that we offer superior service,” said Roberts. “When we went out and did research, we got the traditional response that financial institutions are [all the same], and we wanted to break through that and demonstrate that we were different.”
 
Roberts said that, for Meridian, those proof points are personalized care – one of the print ads emphasises that the credit union’s employees call customers by their first name – and services like No-Bounce chequing, in which customers receive a notice about impending bounced cheques and are given a chance to rectify the situation and avoid extra fees.
 
The radio and television spots feature actual Meridian employees. Roberts said this casting choice will resonate both inside and outside the company.
 
“It helps to build that trust (with consumers). These aren’t paid actors saying things about Meridian. These are employees making truthful statements about the services we offer,” said Roberts. “Secondly, it really creates a lot of excitement and pride within our organization.”