Situation
A Janesville-headquartered credit union grew in five years from $320 million in assets with six branches to just under $600 million in assets, 50,000 members and 12 branches from Stoughton to Janesville to Kenosha. It was making a strategic investment in the community and its statewide brand. Leaders sought external expertise for announcing its $30 million investment to revitalize downtown and build an ecosystem for innovation.
Home to the country’s oldest running General Motors (GM) assembly plant, a new 10,000 square-foot Legacy Center plans to honor the families of this region as part of a 130,000 square-foot plaza to fuel the area’s economic growth and to serve as a model for other U.S. cities hit hard by a past recessions.
Complication
During the 2009 downturn the credit union helped bridge people during tough times and funded many seeking to become entrepreneurs. The plant’s strong ties to the community made it a natural fit for the credit union and its mission of supporting citizens at every stage of their lives. We helped position the organization’s leaders nationally as visionaries and catalysts for new growth and to dispel the myths of an endless economic depression and hopelessness fueled by the 2012 documentary, “As goes Janesville,” and 2017 book, “Janesville: An American Story.” Unlike several U.S. cities that fell on hard times recovering from setbacks, the region’s pride and resilience coupled with organizations like the credit union set the city up for success.
Solution
Our integrated PR campaign included an earned media and shared (social) media strategy that positioned Blackhawk Community Credit Union (BHCCU) nationally as a model for how American cities can revitalize. The story needed to be retold a decade later, honoring the community’s roots and demonstrating a turn around.
Our initiatives also included an owned media campaign to further amplify the story with the use of credible, third-party sources, to convey how BHCCU continued the GM/United Auto Workers history and the many families and generations that worked and raised children to call the Janesville area home.
Results
News coverage was secured in eight statewide publications with content amplified nationally (239 outlets) including: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WISC Channel 3000, NBC15 (3 pieces), GazetteXtra (3 pieces), Beloit Daily News, WCLO 92.7 fm, Edgerton Reporter and Kenosha News (statewide); US News & World Report, Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal, Tampa Bay Business Journal, South Florida Business Journal, The Business Journal Serving Greater Milwaukee, Chicago Daily Herald, Rockford Register Star, ABC Channel 3 (Carterville, IL) and more. PR efforts generated awareness for BHCCU with more than 83 million impressions, helping position the organization as an example for other city renewals across the country.
Three dedicated blogs and engaging social media posts highlighted the story’s reach:
- The organization’s highest-performing Facebook post, with:
- 7.1k reach from 26 shares
- 220 positive post reactions
- 36 comments
- 17.5k Facebook organic campaign impressions and 837 LinkedIn impressions (48 percent of all account impressions to date)
- An increase in Facebook following by two percent in less than one month and additional followers on LinkedIn.
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