Who can resist baby bears? No one. It’s a scientific fact. So we invited several cubs to Baby Animal Days to promote the credit union’s youth savings accounts. You see, baby bears have huge growth potential…just like youth savings accounts.
USU Credit Union (USUCU) had participated in Baby Animal Days for years. Their previous exhibits consisted of a booth and a banner, but this year they really wanted to embrace the baby animal theme. We suggested bringing in black bear cubs from Yellowstone Bear World.
Black bears weigh a pound when they’re born and can reach 600 pounds as adults, so we promoted youth savings accounts with a theme of, “Huge growth potential. Feed them regularly and watch them grow.”
To direct people to their nearest USUCU branch, we passed along bear masks with a $25 gift certificate to open an account.
To save money, we did very little pre-event advertising, with the idea that word of mouth from the bear exhibit would bring in the crowds. We also submitted pitch letters to the local newspaper and television media.
RESULTS
On the second day of the event our exhibit made the front page of the local paper. The following day, Baby Animals enjoyed a single-day record 11,000 visitors, providing the credit union tremendous publicity and opportunity. To date, over 200 bear mask certificates have been redeemed to open new accounts.
client: USU Credit Union
role: concept, creative direction, copy, deliverables, exhibit, P.R.
