The credit unions of Maine love to share! Beginning February 1, Mainers could win $500 to share with a friend simply by submitting a video, photo or written entry about their favorite things to share. The Maine Credit Union League (MCUL) is accepting these entries as part of the Shared Branching Network “Share It” campaign.

This statewide campaign will promote the unique advantages of Maine’s credit unions, which cooperate with each other to share over 120 branches. “One of the primary challenges of shared branching is low member awareness about this convenient service and how it works,” said Karen McGaughey, VP Client Services at Weber Marketing Group. “Our challenge was to craft a simple and engaging message that supported the benefits of shared branching and the cooperation of credit unions to provide this service to their members.”

The “Share It” campaign will be promoted using both social and traditional media, and will integrate with the MCUL’s statewide awareness campaign. The “Share It” campaign was introduced to participating credit unions which were very eager to participate in their own contest to win $500. Credit union teams were asked to submit a Top 10 List of why one should use shared branching. The most creative entry will be awarded $500 to share with a favorite charity.

Other campaign elements include a fun training video for staff, strong campaign messaging on MCUL’s home page, static and animated web banner ads, in-branch campaign post-it notes, radio, in-branch merchandising and a prize patrol! Synergent, a part of the Maine Credit Union League, will visit nearly all participating Maine shared branches and will be awarding shared branch users with $20 cash, $10 for them and $10 to share with a friend.

Beginning February 1, 2010 you can visit the campaign Facebook page by searching for “Maine Share It” or by visiting mainecreditunions.org. The campaign will run through the end of March.