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Case Studies

National Foundation for Credit Counseling

Branding an Association with Care

Situation

The National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) is the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit organization providing money management counseling and financial literacy services. Since 1951, NFCC’s network of nearly 1,500 affiliated offices has provided credit counseling, debt management, budgeting services and financial education programs to more than a million consumers. Despite these robust numbers, NFCC was losing market share.

In order to stem the organization’s alarming market erosion, NFCC required a complete brand makeover and a step-by-step plan to help accomplish this.

Objectives

  • Re-establish NFCC in the marketplace, while maintaining its brand equity.
  • Reintroduce NFCC as the preeminent source for providing comprehensive credit counseling and financial literacy services.
  • Distinguish NFCC member locations and specialized services from competitors.

Tactics

First, Boscobel began work on a comprehensive strategic marketing plan based on market research with members, creditors and clients. Boscobel arranged and conducted in-depth interviews and found that there was a lack of clarity around how the organization helped consumers.

The plan implored that NFCC’s message make the organization very real, human, caring and compassionate. It was summed up best by the creation of NFCC’s new tagline: People Who Care.

The tactics urged in the plan led to Boscobel implementing the following renovations to NFCC’s brand:

  • A new logo and stationery package, which portrayed a warmer image of NFCC and incorporated the new tagline.
  • New collateral materials in both English and Spanish, featuring the new image and updated copy.
  • A set of Internet, print, billboard and transit ads (in both English and Spanish).
  • New radio and TV Public Service Announcements.
  • An internal and external public relations campaign intended not only to raise awareness of the parent organization, but also the awareness of agencies at the grassroots level.
  • A quarterly scholarly journal for which Boscobel developed the look and feel while acting as editor in chief.
  • Two new websites.

Results

The work produced for NFCC was both effective and award-winning. Membership’s confidence in NFCC — helped partially with executive appearances/ interviews with CNN and Reuters — was reflected in the number of agencies that joined/decided to renew their NFCC membership.

Boscobel was recognized for its efforts with awards from the International Association of Business Communicators (Silver Inkwell for Special Print Communications) and by the Vision Awards, both for the TV PSA and for the www.nfcc.org and www.debtadvice.org websites.