University Federal Credit Union (UFCU) is a full-service credit union with over 360,000 members and $4 billion in assets, serving multiple institutions of higher education throughout Central Texas. In 2018, UFCU’s board of directors took action to pivot the credit union toward a social purpose brand positioning, updating its vision, mission, and values to reflect its commitment to strengthening community and individual financial health across three impact areas. Our assignment was to articulate this new strategy to its many internal and external audiences.

We began with extensive employee, member, and non-member research to understand perceptions and attitudes around financial health, the three impact areas, UFCU’s brand, and its standing relative to its competitors. Based on our findings, we developed new social purpose-driven brand messaging and a creative campaign, and then tested our approach, leading us to a winning campaign concept: “We’re Here to Make Change.”

The campaign is bold, energetic, youthful, and designed to grab the attention of 21- to 40-year-olds, a prime target audience for member growth. The campaign launched in April 2022 and included a new website landing page, out-of-home and digital display advertising, social media content, in-branch marketing, member emails, and a corporate brand video to energize employees around the repositioning.