Premier America Credit Union
Premier America Credit Union X Rival: Turning Performance Media Into a Business Engine
Turning Performance Media Into a Business Engine
The Tension
Premier America Credit Union was operating in a category defined by low media sophistication and conservative execution. Like much of the credit union space, its media program had become fragmented, spread across platforms that didn’t connect, optimized toward surface-level metrics, and disconnected from real business outcomes.
This wasn’t unique to them, but it created a clear opportunity. In a category where the convention was for media to be simply an afterthought or a tick box exercise, Rival saw a chance to connect media spend to growth for Premier America.
The Belief
Rival rejected the category’s quiet acceptance of performance theater, the idea that engagement metrics were a sufficient proxy for success.
Through deep interrogation of Premier America Credit Union’s media execution, measurement strategy, and category norms, we were confronted with the fact that media was being optimized for what was easy to measure. Not what mattered. Not for growth.
So we took a clear stance. If media couldn’t be tied to real business outcomes, it wasn’t performance. This belief became the foundation for rebuilding Premier America Credit Union’s media system, redefining success, restructuring audiences, and reconnecting platforms to the business they were meant to serve.
How We Challenged It
Rather than layering new tactics onto an under-sophisticated system, Rival embedded itself as an extension of Premier America Credit Union’s internal team.
We took over media management and worked hands-on to reset how performance was measured, optimized, and understood. This included coaching Premier America Credit Union on why shifting toward conversion-focused optimization would naturally change results, ensuring improvements were contextualized rather than over-claimed. We focused on breaking legacy habits early and building a smarter, more accountable media foundation from the start.
Making It Real
We reorganized accounts, audiences, and targeting strategies around geography, product prioritization, and customer value, replacing generic segmentation with a structure aligned to real business priorities. We introduced more sophisticated automation, including early experimentation with Google’s AI-powered search capabilities, a meaningful step forward for a regional credit union.
We also pushed Premier America Credit Union into new placements and channels, including TikTok, to reach younger audiences such as college students — a segment the category often struggled to engage. Custom dashboards were built to make performance legible and actionable, reinforcing the connection between media activity and outcomes and continuing to evolve.
What Changed
Most importantly, Premier America emerged with a media engine that was more connected, more sophisticated, and aligned to the business, positioning them ahead of the regional credit union category and setting a foundation for smarter growth going forward.
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