Congratulations to STAR Seattle for closing a big piece of business with BECU!

Background:  Boeing Employees Credit Union (BECU) is the top Banking institution in Seattle (even beating the commercial banks in the Puget Sound) with a big advertising budget and clout.  Our radio stations have had a long-standing relationship with top management at BECU that spans decades.  We do a considerable amount of business with them DIRECT as well as through their agency of record.

Problem:  Recently an RFP came down from the agency for New Checking Accounts.  Our Radio Group is NOT one of the major cluster operators in Seattle and so we sometimes operate at a pricing disadvantage because we cannot offer 7 station deals with multiple stations no charged on the flight.  Our station mostly has to stand alone and CPP’s for our stations are usually much higher than the market.  Following submission on the RFP, we were told by the media buyer that our station likely would not make the cut due to CPP disparity. 

Solution:  This is where the data from COLONYLive, as well as our great client relationship, made the difference.  We changed the conversation from CPP to Results.  Since the credit union was looking for new checking customers, I contacted the VP of Marketing of BECU and let him know that I could offer BECU a unique opportunity to talk directly to over ONE HUNDRED of our listeners who said they were likely to change their banking relationships in the next year.  This got their attention fast.  No longer was I part of the CPP ‘herd’ because I now offered them concrete, discrete data about my listeners AND could provide them a direct channel to persuade them to switch their personal checking accounts to BECU.  We’re planning a text campaign to listeners/respondents who had declared a likelihood to switch financial institutions.

Results:  The agency buy came down quickly after that conversation and I have no doubt that COLONYLive was the difference maker on this $25,000 deal.  I also have no doubt that there will be future opportunities that will be ours as a result of the COLONYLive data.  And to take it to the next level, we are looking for ways to further integrate questions and listener interaction that will grow other brand categories within the credit union.

Thanks COLONYLive!

Bryce Phillipy, General Sales Manager, KPLZ Radio-Seattle

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