Musings from the CU Suite

Written by Anthony Demangone

By now, you've heard the news. After almost 150 years, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus has decided to close.

The circus was one of the several businesses units owned by Feld Entertainment. The group also owns Monster Jam, and Disney on Ice, among others.

Why close? Elephants, partly.

While circus ticket sales had been declining, the huge drop in revenue came after the circus transitioned elephants out of its acts. That decision came after years of protests, as well as some changes in customer demands. The owners said the revenue drop-off was far more than they expected. 

I saw them once. Growing up in rural Pennsylvania, Ringling Brothers never came to my town. But my sister took me to a show in Washington, D.C. when I was in my teens. 

Holy cow. 

It was the greatest spectacle I 'd ever seen. And within a generation, it is gone.

So it got me thinking. 

• Consumer tastes and cultural norms change. 
• If those changes conflict with your business model...game over.

I'm no expert, but I see two cultural norms changing that could affect credit unions.

• People want to work with organizations that make things easy. They want to do what they want to do. And when they want to do it.
• People want to work with community-minded organizations that they respect.

Is that good or bad for us? Depends.

We have a wonderful story. We are part of our communities. We strengthen them. We support them. We're "farm to table" banking. We're local. 

Do we make things easy for our members? I can't answer that one for you.

But if you do, and if you tell your story - I think changes in consumer behavior and values work in our favor.

Disagree?