On March 28, 2023, Zeal Credit Union was recognized with a Credit Union National Association (CUNA) Diamond Award at CUNA’s Marketing and Business Development Conference in Orlando, Florida. The Credit Union’s 2022 “Here’s to the Hardworking Americans” campaign was honored in the Brand Awareness category.
Galapagos worked with the Livonia-based credit union to develop this campaign. Zeal Credit Union has long held the tagline, “Hard Working Americans Bank On Us.” Over the years, the connection with the tagline had been lost. A brand awareness study conducted by Galapagos in 2021 revealed that the market connected with the tagline and Zeal’s core values of character, empathy, and passion, but overall, were not aware those attributes belonged to Zeal.
The objective of the brand awareness campaign was to highlight Zeal’s tagline and core values, connecting the credit union with how members live out those values in their daily lives. The imagery and copy personified Zeal’s values with focus on the outcome of hardworking Americans. By illustrating people’s actions, Galapagos sought to humanize the values and create a collective vision of ourselves, and by association, Zeal Credit Union.
This campaign utilized outdoor and digital advertising to target middle-class Americans between the ages of 30 – 55. However, because younger and more mature audiences displayed connection with the tagline and the credit union’s core values, the campaign was driven to the masses in Zeal’s geographic markets.
