Paint By Numbers

I'm in Atlanta visiting our friends at Delta Community Credit Union. Great restaurants, good company... plus, I got to see one of their new number-themed commercials we just finished up for them on my TV at the hotel this morning!



I never get to see their commercials "for real" because, well, duh, I live in Oklahoma City, and it never seems quite real until you see one of your spots during Project Runway or Top Chef, or in this case, the news. Which I only ever seem to watch when I'm in hotels or airports.



Me. In my PJs. Watching the news (just because there aren't any reality shows on TV at 6:00 in the morning).



Director: David Stepp / Animator: Steve Jones / Audio: Lucky Dog / Photography: Simon Hurst

These TV spots were all about Ten Reasons to Switch in 2010 to Delta Community. These spots turned out so cool. We wanted to bring these numbers to life to create a memorable and optimistic new membership campaign for Delta Community for the new year (a fuzzy number five dog, a number three sonogram)...



Plus, it was as about as close as I could get to living out my lifelong dream to work for Sesame Street or Jim Henson. I mean, our big orange fuzzy number five was definitely muppet-worthy.



This is Doug. He's the bad ass who constructed all these props for us back at his shop at Eaton Quade. He doesn't even flinch when we say, "can you make a giant number eight shrubbery for us?" Which is good, because then his cigar might fall out of the corner of his mouth. We think he should have a reality show about his shop, like American Chopper.



American Chopper with giant Fruit Loop colored numbers everywhere, that is!



Actually color was a big deal when planning for this shoot. Kathleen was the master mind of all things fuzzy, paint sample chippy, paper leafy, etc...



Tons of planning went in to creating the props and the perfect color palette, from deciding to paint the studio "Decisive Yellow" as was named on the swatch, to buying lots of coordinating wardrobe for all the talent. And, of course, Kathleen also stood in as the model for the test shots.



I know Delta Community is excited to kick off the new campaign.



And I was excited to take home the fuzzy five (just for one night) to show my number one five-year old.

Every Credit Union Should Have a Simon

Simon is the guy who knows what's going on the inside – the staff side – of the credit union.



Simon isn't afraid to share. He's a enthusiastic giver of information, motivation (and self-proclamation.)



Simon has got your back. Even if you don't know it, or aren't quite sure you want it once he's literally standing in your cubicle.



Simon is the friendly face of people working and bonding together behind the scenes.

Amanda and I (pictured above and below) just got back from a two-day planning session with the always enthusiastic and welcoming marketing team at Delta Community Credit Union in Atlanta. I saw "the Simon head" up on the shelf, and asked one of their team members, Jeff Deck, who is always "Simon" and always a good sport, to get on the get-up and give us an impromptu photo shoot.



Did I mention Simon is friendly? We'll just assume this especially friendly moment is because it's really hard to judge appropriate personal space when you're wearing a giant foam head and have limited sight and depth perception. Right?



And, hey, cut the guy a break. He usually exists completely online. Simon is basically the portal for all employee communications on the Delta Community Credit Union intranet.



Simon lets employees know about upcoming credit union events and news, job opportunities, new employees and need-to-know stuff like processes and procedures. The intent is to create a friendly, consistent and current source of info for the internal staff – taking the idea of reliable, people-helping-people positioning that the credit union works so hard to continually reinforce externally to its members and community, and bring a little of that attention to one of its biggest group of advocates – its own employees.



Although the taped glasses and tie are always staple Simon character traits, Simon has a lot of looks for all the different types of information he shares.



Third Degree created the Simon character together with the Delta Community marketing team . We wanted Simon to be fun and a little offbeat (he was even a robot first for about two rounds of concepting). We wanted people to, well... pay attention to him. Almost everyone is guilty now and again of ignoring a breakroom flyer or a mass company-wide email. Our hope in creating Simon, was to create a memorable messenger.



And, if mischievous members of the Delta Community team, who are always up for a practical joke, ever start to really have some fun with Simon (this printout was mysteriously tacked up in marketing one morning, although Simon had already been returned damage free), it just goes to show he's truly become one of them.

Speaking of returns – can an organization like a credit union measure the R.O.I. on fostering happy, informed, all-on-the-same page employees?