Madison, Wisconsin - The CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council is seeking to showcase big thinking, bold ideas and forward-looking credit union professionals through its newest contest, The Pitch. The credit union which proposes the idea with the most potential for impact will receive $10,000 in funding, as well as support and guidance from Mills Marketing to implement their big idea.

“Many of the credit unions with the best ideas for meeting their members' needs are also the credit unions with the fewest resources to implement such ideas,” said Hilary Reed, Senior Vice President and Chief Relationship Officer at Inspire FCU. “The CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council wants to change that. The Executive Committee will be reviewing applicants' pitches for the best ideas and funding the idea we think will have the biggest impact on its credit union membership and the movement as a whole.”

Interested credit unions are invited to submit a two to three minute video, along with an application describing why they should be awarded the $10,000. The video can be serious or fun –whatever the credit union needs to convey their message. Entries are due February 6, 2015 at 5:00 pm CST and may be submitted at training.cuna.org/the-pitch.

The winner will be decided in two stages:

• Stage 1 – All credit union submissions will be reviewed by a judging committee from the CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council. The committee will narrow the submissions down to the top ideas that show the most promise.
• Stage 2 – The top contenders’ submissions will be presented during The Pitch general session of the 2015 CUNA Marketing & Business Development Conference, taking place March 25-28, 2015 in Las Vegas. The finalists will have the opportunity to play their videos onstage and pitch their ideas in-person to the conference audience. The final winner will then be decided based on audience text votes.

The final winner will be awarded $10,000 to implement their idea. Then, the winner will be formally invited back to the 2016 conference (all expenses paid) to present the results of their credit unions’ efforts.

“We are thrilled to be a part of The Pitch contest, and are honored to have been chosen as the marketing firm to work with the winner. We so look forward to not only seeing the innovative submissions, but helping the winner execute a successful campaign,” stated Mills Marketing President, Sarah Bacehowski.

For official rules, additional information and to submit an idea for funding, visit training.cuna.org/the-pitch.