iDiz Incorporated

Be honest — how many of you have web sites that show a Big Scary Lawyer Warning (BSLW) like this when a member clicks a link to another site?

OH NOES! You are leaving the ABCFCU web site! ABFCU has no control over and is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of other web sites. ABCFCU does not endorse or guarantee products, information or recommendations provided by linked sites and is not liable for failure of products or services advertised on these site. So if you click a link somewhere else and your toes fall off, don’t come running to us!

Is this REALLY necessary? I don’t think it ever was. Yes, of course you should make it clear when someone is leaving your site, but do you have to remind people that you’re not responsible for the entire internet? Besides, who’s going to read all that?

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Do you know what geo-location means? If not, don’t feel bad, most people don’t. For those of you who have no clue, a geo-location app such as Foursquare (or Gowalla) allows mobile phones to not only tell you  where your friends are hanging out, but also where the latest special deals are when you “check-in” at businesses as you go through the day. You gain points with every check-in, and if you frequent one place more than someone else, you get to be the “Mayor” of that location and may even get a better deal.

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I recently took a long-weekend trip. I went home to celebrate my mother’s 90th birthday. I was filled with anticipation because I was throwing a surprise party for her. I was excited. Everything was perfect for the 3 days I was away. Then I tried to get home. My flight was messed up due to weather in Chicago, then the airline overbooked me on a flight the next day. To sum up: it took me about 35 hours to get home. Did it ruin my trip? Pretty much.

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We work with credit unions all across the country, and I’m always amazed by the incredible diversity in business models and in the people. It’s one of the things that makes working with credit unions a lot more fun than other industries.

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One of the great things about credit unions is the sense of community they foster. We’ve worked with several on projects that involved them giving back to their communities. Some spearhead volunteer projects or hold an open house  where they have activities for the kids, giveaways, music, and free food. Others sponsor local sports teams or charity races.

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The conversation never stops online, and we expect to be able to access it when and where we want. We are used to connecting to friends, family and coworkers in short bursts, interacting and building on comments and ideas, then moving on to the next topic of interest. There is no delay, no hierarchy, and no limits on who connects to whom.

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How often have you watched a TV commercial, laughed at it, but at the end you really couldn’t remember what it was advertising?

I would venture to guess that this happens far too often. Agencies or advertisers get caught up in the creative and lose sight of the message. Yes, the ads are entertaining and may even become part of our pop culture, but they aren’t very effective at selling.

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Brainlock, creative block, brick wall. No matter what you call it, everybody hits it at one time or another. But before you keep staring at the wall or start banging your head against your desktop, here are a few tips that might get those creative juices going once again:

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From the bizarre goings-on at NCUA to the expensive “consumer protection” legislation coming online, the only thing that’s certain is that things are changing fast for CUs. Sources of fee income are shrinking, expenses are rising, and margins are squeezed tighter than ever. Things are getting Weird with a capital “W”. It’s time to think the unthinkable and mull the outrageous.

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A former employer recently lost the head of their marketing department and thought it might be a good idea to get an outside opinion of the department before automatically hiring  a replacement. Since I had been their Art Director more years ago than I want to admit, they asked me to take a look and make some recommendations for improvement. So I spent yesterday talking to the people in the department and getting a sense of how things were running.

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I was an English major in college. I also grew up in a household where I was constantly corrected if I used incorrect grammar. I was taught at an early age to say “This is she” when the phone rang and someone asked for me. “This is her” would have resulted in a scolding and a rant from my father. Needless to say, I learned to speak correctly. I also learned how to write correctly.

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You’ve probably heard that creativity comes from the right side of your brain, and analytical thinking from the left. Well, scientists tell us it is way more complicated than that.

When you try to solve a problem, you start with the obvious and familiar. That is mostly a left-brain activity, trying to see if there is an immediate answer. If no answer comes quickly, both sides of the brain start working. The right side starts sorting through any relevant memories and serves them up to the left side, which looks for patterns and alternatives. Once a connection is made by the left side, the right side has to shift gears from random gathering in order to focus on that fleeting thought. These shreds of thought are pulled into a new single idea – that “aha!” moment.

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Scott Adams, creator of the serial documentary “Dilbert“, invented the term “confusopoly” back in 1998. Basically, it refers to the tactic of entangling consumers through sheer confusion rather than being directly competitive.

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In a recent poll we asked “Who is generally responsible for developing new products at your CU?” Over half of the participants said that “it changes with the moon” and another 23% of you said that “Our CEO has his ‘projects’”. Sadly, only 13% claimed that “Marketing has all the ideas.”

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A while back, I wrote a post detailing my finally becoming a member of a CU. I joined because I needed a Health Savings Account and this nice local credit union offered one. My bank did not.

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