the impetus and driving force gained by the development of a process or course of events

I started to see it when I was introduced to Ondine Irving – via Twitter. She was able to slip outside the credit union bubble of information and influence and get the attention of Suze Orman. She did it quickly and effectively by having a very narrow target, a differentiator and a ton of tenacity. Like the old Faberge’ commercials, Suze told two friends – Larry King and Oprah – and they told two friends, and so on and so on.

A few filmmaker friends in a restaurant created MoveYourMoney.org. Not necessarily for credit unions, but The Wall Street Journal made the connection for us. Again, this is way outside of our credit union bubble of influence.

This week The Consumerist blog latched onto an OregonLive story about my little credit union. When you read this, and I sincerely hope you will, try not to see this as a negative. It’s momentum. Like we’ve never experienced before. People outside of our cocoon of influence (CUNA, NAFCU) are rendering opinions, facilitating conversations and raising awareness.

This is our national brand campaign! It’s word of mouth. It’s trusted, it’s being debated, and it matters. Members are marketing for credit unions again.

What will your members say about you?