Financial services
Community Engagement
Media Relations
Strategy
Writing
North Shore Credit Union (NSCU) decided to dissolve its charitable foundation and the assets within it – which totaled $1 million – to pursue a new giving program.
Rather than donate the funds to a variety of community causes, NSCU wanted to create a more significant impact by giving-away $1 million to one worthy non-profit group via a grant application process. Epic PR was retained to gain positive community and media attention of the gift, and to increase understanding and recognition of NSCU’s brand.
The PR program involved four core strategies: member engagement, proactive media relations, member communications and external marketing. The media relations outreach culminated in a month-long Public Service Announcement on Channel 9 featuring CTV’s newscaster Pamela Martin and the song “If I Had A Million Dollars” by the Barenaked Ladies, who gave us complimentary rights to use the song in the PSA. Epic PR pitched CTV to become a pro bono sponsor of the one million dollar give-away.
The PR program resulted in extensive media profile, a whopping 140 expressions of interest, enthusiastic community engagement, reinforcement of the NSCU brand, and a lasting impact in the community. CTV News produced the PSA in-house for free and the PSA aired during prime time – an estimated value of $500,000 in advertising equivalency. This unique competition, carried out under the glare of province-wide television, also provided money-can’t-buy co-branding opportunities for both CTV and NSCU.
