How Meridian Credit Union Uses Member Stories to Build Brand Trust
Scott Dane, Senior Manager of Brand Marketing at Meridian Credit Union, shares how Canada’s second-largest credit union is rethinking its approach to brand building by putting members and their lived experiences at the center of its storytelling. In this episode, Scott walks us through the research that led Meridian to shift away from competing with Canada’s big banks and instead focus on the relationships, values, and community impact that make cooperative banking different. Scott explains how this strategy inspired Meridian’s first large-scale storytelling initiative: a series of member-driven documentaries and companion films that highlight real people, their challenges, triumphs, and the deep support they’ve found through the credit union. We discuss how the team built a content engine to support the campaign, the unexpected learnings from casting and production, and why long-form authentic storytelling is helping Meridian stand out in a crowded financial landscape—both emotionally and strategically.
TRANSCRIPT
Scott Dane: Balancing the brand, as well as the authenticity and kind of directness of the story, was a challenge. And so, yeah, the team — we all worked together — figured out a solution to kind of pull out Meridian and the relationship with the member and double down on that. And so it’s really — it still has that really nice authenticity that our longform has, but it is rooted in the relationship with the member and Meridian. And so we're able to get so much more focus on that relationship. And what we can now do is: people who have seen that ten-minute documentary, we can now follow that up with a really nice companion piece that they can truly understand — like, the reasons to believe in Meridian and what we're doing, and how we showed up.
Jesse Roesler: Greetings and welcome to Content That Moves, the podcast from Credo Nonfiction and Brand Storytelling that pulls back the curtain to reveal how the very best in brand-funded films and episodic content is being funded, created, distributed, and measured. I'm your host, Jesse Roesler, founder of Credo Nonfiction, where we partner with brands to find and tell stories that reveal brand purpose and deepen brand meaning through short- and feature-length documentaries or episodic series.
Jesse Roesler: Visit credononfiction.com to learn how we can help you create real, moving stories for your brand. This podcast is co-produced by Brand Storytelling, bringing you the latest news, trends, and insights in branded content with top-of-industry events and in-depth industry coverage online. Brand Storytelling encourages a higher level of collaboration amongst advertisers, agencies, media partners, and creators in pursuit of a richer media environment.
Jesse Roesler: For more of the latest in the world of branded content or to explore event offerings, visit brandstorytelling.tv today. Today, we welcome Scott Dane, the Senior Manager of Brand Marketing at Meridian Credit Union. Over the past few years, Meridian has been rethinking how to connect with people in more meaningful ways — moving away from competing with Canada's big banks and instead focusing on its members and their communities, the things that make a credit union different.
Jesse Roesler: Scott shares how this shift inspired Meridian's first large-scale storytelling initiative: a series of memory-driven films that highlight not only the challenges and triumphs of everyday people, but also the deep relationships they've built with the credit union. We talk about the research and strategy behind the campaign, how the team built a content engine to ensure the stories could live across multiple platforms, and why investing in longform, authentic storytelling is helping Meridian stand out in a crowded financial landscape.
Jesse Roesler: Well, I have to say, Scott, you're the first credit union that we've had on the show, so that's a fun first for us. Thank you for giving us that.
Scott Dane: Awesome. Yeah, I know — it's a pleasure to be here.
Jesse Roesler: And set the stage for me at Meridian, maybe prior to beginning this new storytelling initiative. This is — I understand it — this is the first storytelling effort of this kind or of this scope. Is that right? So what did things look like prior?
Scott Dane: Yeah. So a couple of years ago, we went through a really big restructure — we got a new CEO — and prior to her joining us, Jan Guilfoyle, we were really trying to punch up against the big five institutions in Canada. We were trying to play the right game with them, etc., and that's not necessarily a winning proposition when they can outspend you and show you, etc.
Scott Dane: We went back to our roots of being good to our members, doing good for our community, and really the fundamentals of cooperative banking. And that pushed us on a path of a rebrand. So where do we go from there? And like, how are we different? And what came through with a lot of research was membership — really, while the big five are bound to shareholders, we are. Our reason for being is for our members: to give them products, services, solutions that will empower them to be financially confident and live their best life.
Scott Dane: So on that process, we really wanted to double down and demonstrate and showcase what our members do in their communities, how they give back, but also just who they are — how they live — their challenges, tribulations, and successes.
Scott Dane: So it was all part of this new rebranding effort and something that's been completely new to us. We've been marketing for — well, we started this journey about a year ago. And we're learning every single day from it.
Jesse Roesler: That's awesome. You mentioned research. So did you do some member — what did that member research look like to get you to the point where you got, “Here's what we've learned,” and that sort of drove this new strategy?
Scott Dane: Yeah. I think you can't be member-centric without knowing who your members or prospective members are. And so we had a lot of work to do to uncover who we were serving, what they needed, what we were delivering on, but also what the gaps were. And we also needed to understand who we needed to reach. We're a very values-driven organization. We're a purpose-driven organization. And so the people that we want to bring in — we want them to have the same values as us. We want them to see themselves in their financial institution, be proud of banking with us.
Scott Dane: And so we did a lot of segmentation research, but also focus group research where we pulled our current members and understood, verbatim, what they liked, what they didn't. And what kept coming up was how Meridian always knows who they are. When they walk into a branch, they're always greeted with a friendly face, name recognition. We know their dog. We know them. We know their kids. And we've worked with them in really challenging situations to say yes when many others have said no.
Scott Dane: And so all of that bubbling together, it gave us a feeling that we were on to something about our true difference, but also the impact that we make within the community — and that these people make within the community. So it really shot us out of a cannon to start exploring what we could do here, how we could push.
Jesse Roesler: Push it further. Yeah. I'm curious how you maybe utilized some of those findings — like that members appreciate being recognized, you know, the community-building aspect. Did you utilize that in a pitch to say, hey, let's start telling some stories about members? Or how did that all take shape? What did your pitch to your team look like?
Scott Dane: Yeah. What we really wanted to show was a human, empathetic approach. Our values are attributes that we're wanting our members to feel. And how our employees show up is truly — we want them to be empathetic and understanding. And when talking to members, we have to truly do that. But when we are showing up in content and pushing out our message, I think that also needs to be front and center.
Scott Dane: And so what could be more true, authentic than telling someone else's story and giving them a platform?
Jesse Roesler: That's the quickest way to inspire empathy, in my opinion, right? Is to show somebody's story and that you understand where they're coming from. You're literally putting someone else in somebody else's position.
Scott Dane: Yeah. I think it's really moving. I think it's powerful. And I think what is also really awesome is we're starting to double down on business banking. And in this current age — the challenges that small businesses have — this gives them a platform to really showcase who they are and their businesses.
Scott Dane: So I think it's really — we're telling member stories, their personal story — but then it's also a really nice advertising platform for them as well, to show who they are and get them out there. And it's doing a lot of really nice double-duty work for us.
Jesse Roesler: Yeah. So when you packaged what you were hoping to create, what was the initial ask, and who did you have to convince?
Scott Dane: We knew we were going to have some mass advertising throughout the year. But we also know that brand building is a consistent effort. And so what member stories and telling these stories does is it creates continuity and consistency throughout the year that we're able to build upon month over month, year over year, and story over story.
Scott Dane: And so that really was kind of the pitch. It's this really nice through line that we can always be leaning into to continue to build awareness, some traction, and have tangible proof points for people in the market looking for content — but then also financial service offerings. It's also allowing us to create a really strong, robust content engine and a place to pull from across our website, etc.
Scott Dane: And so when we were able to package that up and show the utility that we could get out of it — consistency of effort — that we're building something long-term. It's going to be incremental, but incremental gains are going to be driving what we need to be driving: awareness, recall, and consideration.
Scott Dane: The fact that we are able to sweat these assets a little bit more — have photography, short-form video, and then these long-format, brand-love-driving documentaries — people could see how they were going to show up, and how that was going to help the business move forward. And really, again, double down on our proof points.
Jesse Roesler: Did you have that listed out from the start? Like, yeah, we're making these stories, but guess what — we're going to have photography you can use on the web page, the billboard, all these other things. Was that part of your pitch?
Scott Dane: Yeah. Early on, we set out a really ambitious goal of not having any stock photography in any of our materials.
Jesse Roesler: I like hearing that.
Scott Dane: So we're well on our way to that. And it's funny — even the stock photography that we are pulling, because we don't have a full roster yet, we're only a few months in — our art and creative team keeps on asking, like, is this authentic enough? And it's a new lens they're putting on things to make sure everything is really consistent. But I think in a year or two, we're going to be seeing exclusively member photography through our channels.
Jesse Roesler: Awesome. Yeah. That's great how genuineness and authenticity can ring through a lot of different places from creating what you're creating. I think one of the things that seemed really smart and strategic was how you packaged this — maybe that was part of your pitch, or maybe it came later.
Jesse Roesler: You've got essentially these member stories as hero — you’ve got your hero documentaries that are like, what, eight to ten minutes? Something like that. That's really about the member's story, helping them elevate their business, their message, their community building — whatever they're doing. But then you have this companion piece that you're calling The Meridian Connection.
Jesse Roesler: Tell me about how those two things are different and how they support each other, and what the different metric or use cases for those are — and if that helped on your end.
Scott Dane: Yes. It was key to getting, I think, consistency up and down the chain. We want to be as authentic as possible and true to the member story as possible. And so that long-format, ten-ish-minute documentary needed — and needs — to be about the member and have them as the hero.
Scott Dane: We did receive quite a bit of feedback: where does Meridian fit into this video? How do we get financial confidence or products and services into this? And some of the things that we do really well, but may not necessarily fit within the narrative of the documentary.
Scott Dane: And so balancing the brand, as well as the authenticity and kind of directness of the story, was a challenge. And so, yeah, the team — we all worked together — figured out a solution to pull out Meridian and the relationship with the member and double down on that. And so it's really — it still has that really nice authenticity that our long form has, but it is rooted in the relationship with the member and Meridian.
Scott Dane: And so we're able to get — now I think it's even better — because we can get so much more focused time on that relationship. And we have great relationships with our members, so spending more time with it is a real win, I think. And so yeah. No, it's a full win-win.
Scott Dane: And what we can now do is: people who have seen that ten-minute documentary, we can now follow that up with a really nice companion piece that they can truly understand — like the reasons to believe in Meridian and what we're doing, and how we showed up when either others didn't, or when someone really, really needed them.
Jesse Roesler: I think that's great from a couple of different perspectives. From the business perspective, you can hold that piece up and go, look, all of our messaging is in here — everything we want to cover. And then from a storyteller's perspective, you're not shoehorning any of these messages totally into this story, which I've unfortunately seen done. Because when there's a lot of voices in a piece of content, how can you not?
Jesse Roesler: But yeah — let's lead with the story, and then here's a deep dive on what that relationship looks like. Seems really natural.
Scott Dane: Yeah. And I think it's being really purposeful off the bat and understanding — you know — planning of those shoots and making sure that you have enough time. Braden from Untold — he is a master at that — and making sure that we spend enough time with our heroes, but then also bring in the Meridian branch advisors that have helped these people along the way so that we can have that full dialog and you can really see the relationship, which is a beautiful thing to see.
Scott Dane: On—
Jesse Roesler: Screen. Yeah, absolutely. Well, give me a sense of the scope of what you started with when you said, all right, let's go. Let's make member stories. Did you commit to a number of stories up front? And how much did you have planned in terms of the release and the activation and all that?
Scott Dane: We were really ambitious off the bat and wanted to have four done within six months of last year. And by the end of last year, we had one done. I think what we didn't understand going into the process was what we didn't know. And really, like a lot of this work, it takes a long time.
Scott Dane: You have to find the right people. You have to find the right stories. And they also have to be open and willing to have those conversations. It's a very vulnerable thing for people to show and share their lives — and especially the challenges around those situations. And so we just really didn't know how long that would take.
Scott Dane: And again, you're working with people, and so people's schedules don't line up. And I think knowing what we know now, we would be far more realistic and understand how much goes into this to prepare. Because while we got a lot of really great content from shorter format, written content, video stuff takes a long time.
Scott Dane: We also built a story collection engine from scratch, so—
Jesse Roesler: Say more about that.
Scott Dane: Yeah. We had to find the right characters. So we had to go out to our full employee — our whole staff group — and ask them who they knew. What was going on, who might be great people to profile within this work. And so we built a specific questionnaire and process for them to participate and bubble up some members that could be a strong interview.
Scott Dane: And then we also went to members with a similar survey, provided them what we were doing, where we were going, and asked them if they wanted to participate. We got a lot of really great feedback and people who wanted to participate. But again, it does come down to the story — how invested people want to be on camera, etc.
Scott Dane: And so, yeah, it was certainly a learning experience.
Jesse Roesler: So you’re sending them to, like, branch advisors to say, who do you know that's interesting?
Scott Dane: Yeah. So our frontline — as I mentioned — our frontline are amazing. They know every member who comes in and out of the branch. And they've got these amazing relationships with members. And so they were able to share some really impressive people with us, really impressive things they were doing in their communities, giving back, and give us some strong leads on people that Braden and we could interview and vet and see if there was something there.
Jesse Roesler: Cool. And then I imagine if you're committing to say, four of these, you probably want to not only cast for strong characters, great stories, but diversity of stories, right? You don't want three that are too similar.
Scott Dane: Yeah. What we found is business stories are much easier to come by. People want to promote their businesses. I think it also is like — businesses, and being an entrepreneur, is incredibly personal, but it's kind of arm's length, right? The business is a different entity and you're not really talking about yourself. And so maybe you can be a bit more vulnerable there.
Scott Dane: And so we've seen really great success with our business projects and how those are coming to life. I'm not gonna lie — these personal banking, retail experiences… it's a harder piece to cast for and to try and tell.
Scott Dane: And so a learning we have is: how do we sharpen our pencils on that a little bit more? How do we uncover some more of these stories and encourage people to participate? One of the things we didn't have the benefit of as we were starting off is a finished product to show what it looks like.
Jesse Roesler: Yeah.
Scott Dane: Here's what it looks like. This is what you're going to be a part of. And so people didn't really know what they were getting themselves into. They were taking a big leap of faith with us. Now that we've got almost three under our belt — we've got one launching on the 20th of July — we have that tangible product that we can say, this is what you can be a part of.
Scott Dane: And it's powerful. And we are being as truthful and authentic as possible.
Jesse Roesler: So from the get-go, I love to hear: what was the plan to release and activate these? And now that you've done a couple, how are you adding to that, amending it, evolving it? What does the release and distribution activation look like?
Scott Dane: It's changed since the first one, for sure. The first one, we were primarily using YouTube as our distribution vehicle — and social. But if you build it, people don't necessarily come. And so you have to be able to get these stories in front of people.
Scott Dane: So we put long-format pieces on YouTube, which is not always best practice from a media completion-rate perspective. Sometimes shorter-format pieces are seen as more beneficial. But what we saw was kind of the opposite. We saw really great traction with our YouTube pieces. Viewers were really strong, and that encouraged us to double down on that YouTube approach — while also ensuring we were getting this in front of the right people.
Scott Dane: We wanted to make sure we were focused on our target growth segments — people with similar beliefs, values, etc. — and that we knew would want to hear more from us. And so we were going out specifically to them, and we saw really great traction.
Scott Dane: We also followed up with really short-format pieces on social to help drive to these longer-format pieces. And we have blogs on our website that showcase both the long-form storytelling as well as the Meridian Connection film with some written content, which helps bolster the story and give a little bit more context to both pieces, and these members and our relationship. So that's kind of where we started, and we saw strong traction off the bat.
Jesse Roesler: But can you actually share — I think you shared this morning — some of those metrics? Are there any that you can?
Scott Dane: Yeah. Our YouTube completions on a ten-minute documentary are over 20%, which is really great. It's like double what the benchmark is for YouTube. So having that volume of people watch these stories all the way through is showing we're doing the right thing and that people are hungry for this kind of content.
Scott Dane: I think right now more than ever, people want real, authentic stories. People are hungry for it. And so being able to see real people, real lives, real triumphs — I think it's working, and people want more of it.
Scott Dane: And then since then, we've begun doing launch events for these stories where we bring in people that are close to the story or would have ties back to the story.
Scott Dane: For our second wedge film, it's about an amazing brewery in Uxbridge, Ontario, just north of Toronto. They've faced several challenges, but are kind of a hub in the community. And so we're having 70-plus people out for a screening at their property — with the mayor and a lot of great people and thought leaders — where we can get a little bit more press, a little bit more pub, and get those stories out a little bit more organically.
Scott Dane: And we've started some new and unique distribution methods with the Toronto Outdoor Pictures Show. This is a not-for-profit in Toronto. They do about 40 to 50 showings of free movies in the park across Toronto — incredibly values-driven, incredibly community-driven. And so having that cross-pollination of our values and their values — the people who attend these events are our exact target demo.
Scott Dane: So now we're able to show our stories to these like-minded people in a really unique setting, on beautiful nights, and give them a unique experience.
Jesse Roesler: Do those play with other shorts or with a feature? How is it?
Scott Dane: Yeah, exactly. So we are kind of a trailer going into a feature. And so we're the presenting sponsor. We've got several occasions where we get that ten-minute long-format into the run of show. And the times that we don't have that long-format piece in the run of show, we've got a shorter piece where people can use a QR code, get the longer-format pieces, and get the frequency up and get our message out there.
Jesse Roesler: That's a really unique partnership and distribution method. That's fun. Makes it experiential and festive.
Scott Dane: Yeah, exactly. We're also really focused on showcasing the business impact of these stories. And one of the things that we're doing to help demonstrate the impact, especially of an offline event, is trying to translate it online. And so what we're doing is we're geofencing all of the locations where our spots are playing.
Scott Dane: And so we are now able to say that we had 2,000 of these people watch our video. And so we've captured all of their device IDs. And we can now re-message them with our Meridian Connection film or a different Meridian long-format piece so that they can again be immersed with that content, and we can bring them on the journey to hopefully become a member at some point in time.
Scott Dane: We're continuing to add to our distribution. I think showing up in spaces and places that make sense for our target market to expect us — or want to engage with us — is really important. We launched a Roku channel about five weeks ago, again trying to create a space where we can host all of our videos.
Scott Dane: And so we're going to continue to add to that as we go along. No results on that yet — still early days — but I think trying to think a little bit differently about how we're approaching distribution is certainly something we're trying to do.
Scott Dane: And we're working with a partner called Subgenre, who — and Jesse says, Brian’s a great guy — and his Brian is tremendous. And he and the team are showing us other ways to show up, whether it be film festivals or values-alignment events or causes that we can piggyback on and demonstrate our impact with.
Jesse Roesler: Yeah. Very smart. I always love to ask everybody: is there anything here that inspired you — like some brand storytelling that you saw that inspired you to take this track — or just something you've seen recently that you're fired up about?
Scott Dane: That's a great question. I consume a lot of content. I’m — well, you have to.
Jesse Roesler: It’s your job.
Scott Dane: I'm on YouTube a lot. But the things that I watch are very niche. I'm really into architecture, and I watch everything by The Local Project. They're Australian-based. They do modernist architecture. They show amazing spaces throughout the world, but predominantly in Australia, and really key architects. I love that — it's like a slow watch — but I think it's therapeutic and amazing to watch.
Jesse Roesler: Yeah. There's something to be said for content like that that can almost feel meditative and relaxing. For so long, everyone was like faster cuts, short attention spans — and yeah, that has a place. But depending on who your audience is and what your subject matter is, I think it makes a lot of sense.
Scott Dane: Yeah. I think right now everyone's really optimizing toward the social space. And yes — sharp, fast cuts — everything's really exciting and in your face. What we've seen with the content that we're producing, and the content that I'm consuming, is that there is a space for a little bit more of a lean back. Take it in. Really feel something. And strong takeaways.
Scott Dane: So I think repositioning our thinking on that — and not trying to go for the really flashy thing — it can be a challenge, but ultimately what we've seen so far is it's working and people want it.
Jesse Roesler: And knowing your audience too, right? I don't know how much target-demo you've done — I imagine the age range isn't the younger kids. Maybe some are. But for older audiences, they probably appreciate that lean-back entertainment. So yeah — it's smart strategy.
Scott Dane: Yeah.
Jesse Roesler: Any parting advice for marketers — whether that's financial institutions or any industry — that have been doing traditional ads but want to try a more story-driven approach?
Scott Dane: Yeah. I think finding the right partners is incredibly important. So be really focused and true with who you want to partner with.
Jesse Roesler: I think in creative and production, both are kind of—
Scott Dane: But I think co-creation is incredibly important. What we built is not something that was necessarily briefed on a piece of paper. It was something that we had so many conversations about over many, many months and continued to build with a common understanding of what we were trying to do.
Scott Dane: And so it's fine and good to have an ambition and an ongoing plan — an idea of what you want to do. But I think what leads to the best work is that allowance for co-creation and allowing people to bring their skill sets, but also go beyond your traditional subject-matter expertise to deliver a best-in-class product.
Jesse Roesler: What are some of those qualities, broadly speaking, of the ideal partner?
Scott Dane: For me, it's trust. Without trust, there's really nothing there. And I think the way you can earn trust is finding partners that are open, honest, and have tangible skills — their work is really solid — they can demonstrate their value.
Scott Dane: I think case studies are amazing. People being able to demonstrate what they can do — whether it be around the area you're trying to impact — is great. But then taking a step further: really understanding the people that you're working with, what motivates them, and making sure you're a true partner and you're on the journey together.
Scott Dane: So I think it's a lot about building a longstanding relationship. Like, we started on this journey and it took so many meetings. And I think the more rapport you have with someone, you either know it's going to work really well, or it's not going to work at all.
Scott Dane: And so I think testing the waters — I think that's what co-creation also allows you to do, right? If you go in with a brief and you're like, let's deliver on this, we're just going to run with it, it could be a risk. But if you're taking it a little bit slower and you're building with each other, you have a little bit more time to understand the nuances — whether you're going in the right direction — and when you are, you know it's going to be magic.
Jesse Roesler: That's great advice. I think the difference between older-school, more traditional video marketing — you’d often have an agency in the middle, they'd have three production companies bid it out, there was no long-term relationship formed.
Jesse Roesler: And there's a knowledge that comes with working with a client over a long period of time — you develop a shorthand where it's like, I understand your business. I'm not just invested in telling great stories; I understand your business. And in telling these longer-format stories, you need a partner that can be with you over the longer haul. It's a different ecosystem and a different setup than what traditional video marketing was.
Scott Dane: Yeah. For us, this isn't a one-and-done, right? This is a program that's going to be years. And so, yeah — very well said. This is a build. This is a relationship we're going to continue to build on.
Jesse Roesler: Awesome. Well, thank you for sharing a little bit about this campaign. We'll be excited to see the other ones out soon, it sounds like.
Scott Dane: Yes, I'm really excited for everyone to see the work and what's more to come.
Jesse Roesler: To watch Meridian's first member story, Foundations of Change, along with the companion film The Meridian Connection, visit Meridian’s website — we'll include the link in the podcast description — or you can find them on Meridian's YouTube channel. As always, I hope you've been enjoying the show, and I'd love to hear from you. If you have ideas for guests or topics for future episodes, drop me a note at jesse@credononfiction.com.
