Financial Services
Marketing & Creative
How BCU Streamlined Marketing Project Management
About Baxter Credit Union
BCU is one of the largest credit unions in the U.S., serving over 360,000 members across 50 branches in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Known for exceptional member service and employee satisfaction, BCU’s marketing team drives multi-channel campaigns across the organization to engage members in every channel.
Primary Use Case
BCU’s marketing team relies on Workzone to manage a high volume of creative and strategic projects across departments. From intake to delivery, Workzone serves as the centralized hub for campaign planning, content production, and stakeholder collaboration—bringing visibility, structure, and scalability to a once chaotic workflow.
Previous Solutions
BCU’s marketing team was relying on an Excel spreadsheet as a master document to track project statuses and due dates.
Chose Workzone Over
Chose Workzone spreadsheets, emails, and paper-based reviews that created delays and confusion. BCU chose Workzone for its flexibility, centralized project tracking, and responsive support—giving their team the tools to grow, streamline, and confidently manage complex credit union marketing operations.
Coordinating marketing efforts that support over 360,000 members, 750+ employees and across 50 branches and a 750-person organization spanning the U.S. and Puerto Rico, BCU—one of the nation’s largest credit unions—needed a smarter way to work. Headquartered in Vernon Hills, Illinois, BCU has a strong reputation for both member service and employee satisfaction. Sarah Johnson, a 24-year BCU veteran, leads the project management for the 23-person marketing team that supports the needs across the organization.
“We joke that we do #allthethings,” Johnson said. “From multi-channel campaigns with billboards and branch signage to emails, push notifications, and internal newsletters— we do it all – ensuring we meet our members where they are, in every channel.”
That scale of marketing effort—spread across dozens of locations—requires thoughtful coordination. For a long time, however, the tools and processes didn’t match the complexity of the work.
Before Workzone: Manual Workarounds and Missed Deadlines
Before adopting Workzone, project management for BCU’s marketing team was, in Johnson’s words, “very chaotic.” Most requests came in via email, many of them untracked. Proofs were printed out and walked around for sign-off. A spreadsheet may or may not have existed to track progress.
“There was no central intake,” she said. “Nothing was streamlined. Things were falling through the cracks.”
They knew they needed a better system—something purpose-built for project management in financial services, where compliance, consistency, and speed are non-negotiable.
Why Workzone: Custom-Built for Credit Union Complexity
When BCU set out to find a better system, Workzone stood out for its balance of power and usability. “It checked all the boxes,” Johnson said. “It could do everything we needed—and at a competitive price.”
For a marketing team handling dozens of project types across all departments, the ability to configure the tool around their workflow was key. “The customization options were huge for us,” said Johnson. “Workzone gives you the nuts and bolts, and then lets you build what works for your team.”
One standout example: conditional formatting. When BCU first implemented Workzone, that feature didn’t exist. Johnson’s team suggested it, and Workzone listened. “We saw that request go from idea to implementation,” she said. “And now we use it constantly—it’s been a lifesaver.”
Workzone’s responsiveness left a lasting impression. “I give the help desk a 15 out of 10. I’ve never had a help desk respond as quickly as Workzone does,” Johnson added. “They’re fast, they understand our needs, and they actually take action on feedback. That’s not something you find everywhere.”
Tangible Results: Efficiency, Visibility, and Real Project Management for Financial Services
With Workzone, the marketing team now runs all projects through a centralized system. Intake is standardized. Files are uploaded and marked up in-platform. Progress is tracked against realistic timelines. “It’s our single source of truth,” said Johnson. “Work is routed properly, tracked clearly, and intelligently assigned—eliminating the guesswork.”
Project delivery time has improved. So has visibility into workloads and bottlenecks. “Now we can say: a poster takes this long, an email takes that long. We can set better expectations.”
The platform has also helped the team scale. “We’re such a visual team, and Workzone gives us that bird’s-eye view. We set milestones, block time, and manage capacity far better than before.”
And the collaboration? “Absolutely better,” Johnson said. “The transparency helps a lot.”
From Spreadsheets to Scalable Success
For financial institutions still relying on spreadsheets or struggling with tools that weren’t built for their complexity, Sarah Johnson has a clear recommendation: “Make the switch. You won’t be disappointed.”
As the Senior Marketing Project Specialist at BCU, she’s seen firsthand how Workzone has transformed project management for financial services—bringing order, visibility, and efficiency to a high-volume, high-stakes environment. Her advice to teams just getting started? “Start small. Build the basics. Get people comfortable, then grow from there.”
Over the years, the platform has grown alongside BCU’s evolving needs. As the marketing team scaled up in scope and responsibility, Workzone introduced meaningful enhancements that helped them stay ahead—like the markup tool for creative reviews and reporting functions for added transparency into workloads and timelines.
“As Workzone enhances, we’re able to improve our own efficiencies. It’s not a set-it-and-forget-it tool—it keeps getting better, and that allows us to keep getting better too,” Johnson said.
The result? A more scalable, organized approach to marketing execution that keeps BCU nimble and aligned, even as demands increase. For financial services marketing teams, that kind of agility isn’t a luxury—it’s a necessity.