National campaign launches to raise awareness, reputation of credit unions among policymakers

America’s Credit Unions has launched "Once Upon an American Dream," a national policymaker influence campaign targeting federal policymakers with a sustained message on the economic role credit unions play in American communities. As the industry’s leading national advocacy organization, America’s Credit Unions is committed to ensuring lawmakers, administration officials, and regulators recognize the impact on people and communities and support policies that allow credit unions to thrive.

"Credit unions have been steadying American families and communities through every period of crisis and growth for more than a century," said Scott Simpson, president/CEO of America's Credit Unions. "This campaign underscores that strong advocacy is essential to advancing the credit union mission, ensuring policymakers fully grasp what becomes possible when credit unions thrive, and what communities stand to lose when they don’t."

Exclusive coverage of the campaign launch was featured in Politico Morning Money.

The campaign runs across connected television, online video, LinkedIn, programmatic display and audio, podcast sponsorships, and direct buys aimed at key Congressional members and staff, executive branch and regulatory targets.

The campaign focuses on several themes that demonstrate the power of credit unions, including:

• The credit union movement's historic credibility, highlighting that today's 4,374 credit unions have served members since 1909, contributing more than $352 billion annually to the U.S. economy and supporting 1.3 million jobs. 
• The transformational stories behind that economic impact, featuring real members whose credit unions helped them buy homes, start businesses, and build stability. 
• The stakes of protecting the credit union model, underscoring that the largest 100 banks already control 75 percent of all depository assets, up from 41 percent in 1992, and that policies weakening credit unions accelerate a consolidation already leaving communities behind.

View some of the ads that are currently running here; additional assets will consistently be released over the course of the campaign.