UMassFive College Credit Union Goes Above and Beyond with their Ad Campaigns

UMassFive is a credit union located primarily in Western and Central Massachusetts. They first partnered with Soofa back in 2021 to bring their signature purple color to Soofa Signs in Downtown Northampton, in collaboration with the city of Northampton. Since then, the Soofa and UMassFive partnership has only continued to grow. 

We spoke to Craig Boivin, Vice President of Marketing at UMassFive College Credit Union, and learned how Soofa Signs have helped the organization see success as they’ve better connected with local people and small businesses.

Q: How did UMassFive first hear about Soofa Signs? 

A: I was initially intrigued when I saw Soofa Signs appear in Amherst (without any branding on them). If you visit our UMassFive website, you can tell we're really big into helping support people and our local community with green initiatives, so partnering with Soofa Signs seemed like a natural fit to extend what we’re doing in terms of sustainability efforts. Brad Funaki from Soofa reached out to us about sponsoring Soofa Signs in Northampton, and eventually we expanded to co-sponsoring the signs in Amherst as well. 

We do look at our Soofa Signs sponsorships as an extension of our brand. In Northampton, we have a full service branch a little ways from the downtown area. Other than an ATM located within Thorns marketplace, we don't have too big of a physical presence in downtown Northampton. Partnering with the city to bring these branded, solar-powered bulletin boards to the local community seemed like a win-win. 

Q: What other sustainable initiatives does UMassFive practice? 

A: We are known as a go-to financial institution in terms of our sustainability financing options. For example, we provide solar loans for people and businesses who are looking to go green with their homes and locations. We provide loans for people looking to purchase bicycles and simultaneously build their credit. Also, we help ensure the abundance of fresh, local produce in our area is available for everyone to enjoy, with our no-interest farm share loans.  

Q: What has it been like working with the Soofa Team? 

A: Living in New England, we know that the changing of the seasons can be a little bit rough on the vinyls, and our Soofa rep, Jeremy Walker, does a good job of coordinating with Soofa’s installation folks to ensure our branded signs continue to stay in top shape. 

The Soofa Signs in Amherst had originally been unbranded at the time of installation. We were able to work with Brad Funaki and the creative team, and it ended up being a really great collaborative effort between Soofa, UMassFive, and the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce in co-branding these signs.  

The Soofa folks helped design the wraps for this co-branded effort, as well. We provided our logo, brand standards, and creative direction, and the Soofa team built out the design, and helped us accentuate our purple brand color in a sophisticated way while working in the branding of the Amherst Chamber. 

Q: Internally and externally, how have people reacted to your ads? 

A: Internally, our employees were excited to see our brand in the downtown areas of both Amherst and Northampton. We've been in and served our local community for over 55 years, so people know us in our area, but we've never had that physical presence downtown. So, internally there was a lot of excitement for getting that exposure, and I think a sense of pride knowing that when people visit a local restaurant or a shop, seeing UMassFive is also now part of that experience. 

As for working with the towns, I know Northampton was really excited about bringing in Soofa Signs to the downtown area. We talked a lot about the digital divide, acknowledging that not everyone has a smartphone or technology to allow them access to important community information. UMassFive is proud to support the city’s efforts in providing information on Soofa Signs. I think that has been really well supported, and again, it's just really neat that the Soofa Signs are solar-powered since it ties right in with our brand and our sustainable values.

Q: What has excited you about advertising with Soofa Signs? 

A: A year or two ago, we came up with a great program with Soofa where we were able to provide local businesses with three months of free digital advertising on our branded Soofa Signs. It gave us the opportunity to provide a unique benefit to local businesses, while also allowing them to try out this advertising opportunity to see if they wanted to extend into paid advertising with Soofa. We’ve appreciated Soofa’s willingness to think outside the box with us to help deliver additional value to the partnership.

Q: How does UMassFive measure campaign success? 

A: I look at our efforts as either top of the funnel awareness, or reinforcing awareness with current folks who bank with us and that top of the funnel. I guess you could group all those out-of-home efforts together in terms of how we're growing. Our membership is also growing year-over-year by a couple of percent depending on the year. So it feels like the combination of those efforts are paying dividends.

Being able to work with and understanding foot traffic was definitely appealing as well when I first signed on. It’s been great to measure how many people are passing those signs and seeing the brand year-over-year.

Q: How do you describe Soofa to others? 

A: Soofa Signs are solar-powered digital bulletin boards that are helping provide information and event details to local communities!

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