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June 19, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Bonnie B. Larson, VP Marketing, SELCO (541) 686-5394
SELCO awards total of $11,000 in prizes, hosts premier event.
Eugene, Ore., June 19, 2008—In the glow of fake-paparazzi flashbulbs, a group of budding filmmakers had their 15 minutes of fame at the Gateway Financial Center on Thursday night as SELCO Community Credit Union hosted a screening and awards celebration to cap off the credit union’s “Your Big Break” commercial contest.
The first place $5,000 winner went to SELCO members Marshall and Haley Roeman with their video entitled “Grow With Us,” which depicted a young girl earning her first dollars at a lemonade stand.
The second place $3,500 award went to Elliot Heine for his untitled video that compared credit unions and banks. The third place $1,500 prize went to Dustin Dybevik of Dedo De Luna Productions for his “Can You Thank Your Bank?” video, featuring a preschooler with a guitar rapping the various differences between banks and credit unions.
The three grand prizes were selected through online voting at the selco.org website. SELCO members and the community at large were invited to participate in voting. More than 2,500 votes were received by the end of the voting period on June 6, 2008.
In addition to the winners selected by community voting, the SELCO Marketing Team gave additional recognition to five videos that they felt warranted special attention. Those five “Director’s Choice Award” winners received $200 cash prizes. The winners and their categories are as follows: the award for “Most Romantic” went to Henry Weintraub of 531 Productions for his video “SELCO Likes You Too;” the award for “Funniest” went to Roxana Trejo & Jose Gomez for their commercial titled “Recession is a Choice;” the award for “Best Choreography” went to Chris Kas for the video entitled “Hoop Happiness”; the award for “Best Use of the Word ‘Sizzle’ (the tagline for the contest)” went to Coty Werner for his “SELCO BBQ” video; and the award for the “Best Product Reference” went to Sarah Dodson of Bright Fauna Productions for the commercial titled “Meet the SELCO Crew.”
The SELCO Gateway Financial Center at 925 Harlow Road was transformed into a movie theater for the event—including popcorn, soda, candy, ice cream and nachos—and SELCO’s Vice President of Marketing Bonnie Larson acted as the event emcee. Larson was excited to thank her extended Marketing Team in person for their efforts and their unique points of view in conveying the experience of being a SELCO member.
Larson noted, “As a member-owned financial cooperative, our foundation as an institution is rooted in partnering and collaborating for our shared success. It seems only natural that we turn the act of telling our story over to the people we serve—both our members and the community at large.”
A complete listing of winners, complete video entries, and a photo gallery from the event will be made available in the coming days at selco.org/yourbigbreak.
Signed video and photo releases will be on file for all images related to the winners.
In the upcoming weeks, the winners and many of the other contest entries will be featured on local television for SELCO’s upcoming advertising campaign.
With a network of 13 branch offices located throughout western and central Oregon, SELCO provides services to more than 80,000 members locally and worldwide.
SELCO’s members can access their accounts through a variety of convenient, no-cost options including online banking, phone banking, online loans, bill payment, electronic statements, and no-surcharge ATMs.
For more information about SELCO visit selco.org.
SELCO members win $5,000 Grand Prize in commercial contest - MS Word Doc
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June 17, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jodie Rogers, SELCO Marketing Asst. Mgr. (541) 686-5389
Note to media representatives: SELCO invites you to attend the premier event. Because the event is after hours in one of our branch locations, we ask that you RSVP so that a SELCO representative will be able to identify and greet you at the entrance. Please contact Jodie Rogers at (541) 686-5389 if you are interested in covering the event.
Eugene, Ore., June 17, 2008—Popcorn, nachos, ice cream, soda, and candy—the SELCO Gateway Financial Center will be transformed into a movie theater for one evening for the unveiling of the winners of the “Your Big Break” commercial contest. The nearly 40 budding moviemakers who entered the contest have been invited to the Your Big Break Premier event on Thursday, June 19 at 7 pm, at the SELCO Gateway location at 925 Harlow Road in Springfield.
Beginning on May 12, SELCO invited visitors to the selco.org website to view and vote on their favorites from among the top 10 commercials. Voting ended on June 6, and SELCO will announce the winners of the three top cash prizes at the premier event on Thursday. The prizes include the $5,000 first prize, $3,500 second prize, and $1,500 third prize. In addition, the SELCO Marketing Team elected to recognize some “Director’s Picks,” which will be receiving small cash awards and extra rounds of applause at the event.
“We were truly overwhelmed by the high quality of the entries we received, and how well they depicted the experience of being a SELCO member,” notes Bonnie Larson, Vice President of Marketing for SELCO. “Three awards just didn’t seem like enough, so we selected five more commercials that we felt were worthy of additional recognition.”
In addition to announcing the three top-rated commercials and the commercials identified as “Director’s Picks,” the invitation-only premier event will include theater-style refreshments, an opportunity for the SELCO team, management, and Board of Directors to meet and thank all of the contest entrants, and a full screening of all the commercials submitted as part of the contest.
Larson is eager to begin using the commercials in an upcoming advertising campaign. “We are so excited about the different points of view, and the way that our variety of products and services are depicted in these commercials,” she says. “They do a wonderful job of explaining how belonging to a credit union like SELCO is different from other types of financial institutions.”
More than 2,500 total votes were received for the 10 finalists on the selco.org website.
With a network of 13 branch offices located throughout western and central Oregon, SELCO provides services to more than 80,000 members locally and worldwide.
SELCO’s members can access their accounts through a variety of convenient, no-cost options including online banking, phone banking, online loans, bill payment, electronic statements, and no-surcharge ATMs.
For more information about SELCO visit selco.org
SELCO to award more than $10,000 to local filmmakers - MS Word DOC
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May 19, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Bonnie B. Larson, VP Marketing, SELCO (541) 686-5394
SELCO Names 2008 High School Scholarship Recipients
Eugene, Ore., May 19, 2008—SELCO Community Credit Union has named its 16 scholarship recipients for 2008. The Oregon high-school seniors were awarded $1,500 each for their combination of scholastic achievement and community involvement.
The 2008 SELCO Scholarship recipients are: Ahren Baesler, a student at Pleasant Hill High School; Allison Coughlin, a student at Redmond High School; Charvey Dejanakul, a student at Redmond High School; Cameron Dixon, a student at Cottage Grove High School; Derek Duman, a student at North Eugene High School; Melissa Hale, a student at Sprague High School (Salem); Libby Heintz, a student at Willamette High School (Eugene); Casey King, a student at McKenzie High School (Blue River); Lindsey Leighton, a student at Springfield High School; Danielle Ragan, a student at Marist High School (Eugene); Zachary Roberts, a student at Mountain View High School (Bend); Belen Rodriguez, a student at Mid-Valley Christian Academy (Independence); Lindsay Smith, a student at Thurston High School (Springfield); Chase Thomet, a student at Churchill High School (Eugene); Blake Weber, a student at Springfield High School; and Trini Wilson, a student at Siuslaw High School (Florence).
“We are very impressed by the notable accomplishments from this year's group of scholarship winners,” says SELCO CEO Bob Newcomb. “Placing a high value on education is a cornerstone of SELCO's community-involvement efforts, and we are proud to be helping these students attain their dream of a college education.”
SELCO awarded a total of 16 $1,500 scholarships in 2008 to children of its members. Qualifying students were required to have a minimum GPA of 3.5, submit an essay and letters of recommendation, and describe their extracurricular and community-involvement activities.
With a network of 13 branch offices located throughout western and central Oregon, SELCO provides services to nearly 80,000 members locally and worldwide. SELCO currently has members in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, in addition to dozens of countries across the globe.
SELCO’s members can access their accounts through a variety of convenient, no-cost options including online banking, phone banking, online loans, bill payment, electronic statements, and no-surcharge ATMs.
For more information about SELCO explore selco.org.
Ready-to-use electronic photos of students are available by request (signed photo releases on file). Please email photo requests to the SELCO Webmaster (bwilliams@selco.org).
Sixteen Students Receive $24,000 in Scholarships -MS Word Doc
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May 12, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Bonnie B. Larson, VP of Marketing, SELCO (541) 686-5394
Eugene, Ore., May 12, 2008—The 10 finalists for SELCO’s “Your Big Break” video contest have surfaced to the top of a large pool of excellent entries. SELCO is now asking the public to vote for their favorite to help them identify the top three winners.
The response to the contest was overwhelming, with 37 individual video entries from individuals and groups throughout the community. This included both members of the credit union and non-members who put on their director and producer hats to create a fantastic variety of 23-second television commercials expressing why joining SELCO is so great.
“We were so impressed by not only the number of entries and their depth of resourcefulness, but also by the spirit and consideration people invested in their projects,” says Bonnie Larson, SELCO’s Vice President of Marketing. “Each gave us a new way to see SELCO Community Credit Union through different eyes. They all deserve a round of applause.”
SELCO is calling on the community to be the “studio audience” and vote for their favorite from the final 10.
Voting begins today and continues through midnight Friday, June 6, 2008 by visiting selco.org/yourbigbreak. Visitors voting for this contest are encouraged to vote once for their favorite video. The final three winners will be announced beginning on or about June 11, 2008. The first, second and third place winners will receive $5,000, $3,500 and $1,000 respectively.
With a network of 13 branch offices located throughout western and central Oregon, SELCO Community Credit Union provides services to nearly 80,000 members locally and worldwide.
SELCO’s members can access their accounts through a variety of convenient, no-cost options including online banking, phone banking, online loans, bill payment, electronic statements, and no-surcharge ATMs.
To learn more about SELCO, visit selco.org.
SELCO Community Credit Union Asks the Public to Vote for the Final Three Videos in Its “Your Big Break” Contest MS Word Doc.
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April 28, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Bonnie B. Larson, VP of Marketing, SELCO (541) 686-5394
Credit union provides free shredding of outdated financial documents as part of a larger focus on consumer security and identity fraud prevention.
Eugene, Ore., April 28, 2008—Now that tax time is finally over, there’s only one last thing to do—make some room in our file drawers for this year’s paperwork. SELCO Community Credit Union and CDI Vaults are partnering to help local consumers to free up some much-needed storage space, and keep outdated documents out of the landfill—and out of the hands of potential fraudsters.
The SELCO East Bend location will once again be the site of the SELCO ShredFest. Cars, vans, and pickups filled with bags and boxes of old documents will line up in the parking lot, where team members from SELCO and document-management company, CDI Vaults, will transfer the tons of paper onto its shredding trucks for free, secure, onsite shredding and recycling.
The event is scheduled for Saturday, May 3, from 10:00 am until 2 pm at the SELCO East Bend Branch at 501 NE Bellevue Drive in Bend.
SELCO is the first financial institution in the region to host such an event, which was originally born from a member suggestion submitted to the institution’s telephone service center. “A member was wondering how to dispose of her sensitive documents, and didn’t know where else to turn,” relates Jan Burch Director of Community Involvement. “As a credit union that prides itself on responding to the needs of our members, we thought this was something we could try. The response was overwhelming, and we continue to receive positive member feedback every year.”
There is no cost for the onsite shredding service, and SELCO members and the general public are invited to bring up to one trunkload of documents (the equivalent of six grocery sacks or three banker’s boxes) for shredding. Documents including staples, paper clips, and even rubber bands are accepted. Please, no magazines or newspapers.
In conjunction with Earth Week, the Bend ShredFest will also feature the appearance of NextStep Recycling, a Eugene nonprofit specializing in the recycling of electronics and computers. The NextStep team will be there to securely collect and recycle obsolete computers, cell phones, and other devices for reconditioning and reuse. Some devices require a nominal recycling fee (cash and checks accepted). No televisions will be accepted at this event.
The ShredFest has grown to become a key component to SELCO’s established leadership role in the area of account security and consumer fraud protection. In addition to this annual event, SELCO has implemented other products and services to continue the battle against identity fraud, beginning with its early adoption of Online Banking in 1994, continuing with such services as Bill Payer in the late 90s, paperless eStatements in 2004, the implementation of the SELCO “Safe Squad” section on the selco.org website in 2006, and its Identity Protection checking-enhancement package, released in May 2005.
A SELCO exclusive, the Identity Protection feature notifies the user by email or cell phone any time it detects certain pre-selected activities on the user’s Equifax credit file. The package also includes customizable email alerts, “no news is good news” monthly messages when no activity is detected, and a generous
$20,000 in Identity Fraud Recovery Insurance in the event that fraud does occur. This package is an optional enhancement to the SELCO Select Checking Account. Offered elsewhere for a retail cost of $9.95 or more per month, SELCO offers an enhanced version for only $5 per month, and is also available at no cost for many members with certain account relationships.
With a network of 13 branch offices located throughout western and central Oregon, SELCO Community Credit Union provides services to nearly 80,000 members locally and worldwide.
SELCO’s members can access their accounts through a variety of convenient, no-cost options including online banking, phone banking, online loans, bill payment, electronic statements, and no-surcharge ATMs.
For more information about SELCO visit selco.org.
CDI Vaults is an Oregon-based document management company providing a full range of services, including document and data storage, software escrow, document shredding and secure data destruction, and more. For more information about CDI Vaults, visit cdivaults.com.
NextStep Recycling is a nationally-recognized, Eugene-based non-profit organization educating and empowering low-income and disadvantaged people by providing refurbished computers and access to the advantages of technology, as well as providing work opportunities for many who are considered unemployable. By refurbishing and carefully recycling older electronics, NextStep further benefits the community by preventing tons of toxic materials from reaching our local landfills. For more information about NextStep, visit nextsteprecycling.org.
SELCO Community Credit Union Hosts Fifth Annual ShredFest Event- MS Word Doc.
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