Scaling creativity: Alliant Credit Union’s journey to in-house video excellence

Alliant Credit Union is one of the largest and most respected credit unions in the United States, operating entirely digitally with no physical branches. Because of this, every touchpoint with members and prospects must work hard: communication with customers must be clear, accessible, and engaging.

That responsibility falls, in part, to Scott Olason, Senior Manager of Creative Services. Olason leads Alliant’s in-house design team, which manages everything from social media graphics and digital ads to internal presentations and campaign landing pages. His team is also the steward of the Alliant brand, ensuring consistency across every channel.

“Our primary goal is to make sure that all the marketing materials that we create are on brand, visually engaging, and surprise and delight both our members and prospects.”

The challenge

By 2023, demand for video at Alliant had skyrocketed—spanning product explainers, recruitment campaigns, internal communications, and member education.

Alliant’s small creative team had limited in-house video expertise, so they relied on outside agencies and vendors. However, the results were uneven: some partners delivered quickly and exceeded expectations, while others dragged projects out for months and charged tens of thousands of dollars. Video quickly became a major pain point.

When video costs climbed above $150,000 a year for fewer than 20 videos, Olason’s team realized they needed a more cost-effective way to scale fast enough and meet the organization’s growing appetite for video. 

The Alliant team invested in a media room, bought cameras and lighting, and even added animation staff. Yet even with those upgrades, they knew they needed something more: a solution that could make video creation faster, more consistent, and more sustainable.

“The reflection point for me was going, hey, we need to figure out how to scale this better. We need to figure out how to build some capabilities in-house.”

The solution: SundaySky + Allied Solutions 

Olason had been aware of SundaySky for years, but video had always been a “nice to have.” That changed in 2024 when Alliant embarked on a complete re-platform of its digital banking experience. With such a large-scale initiative, educating and reassuring members would be critical, and the creative team knew video would be the most powerful medium in which to do it.

That’s when a new video platform went from “nice to have” to “must-have.”

From the moment Alliant’s team got their hands on the platform, the impact was immediate.

“Right out of the box, we saw value. A content person on my team, not even a designer, built a prototype video within minutes, and it was shockingly high-fidelity. That time to market diminished with us significantly.”

For a team that once waited months for agency deliverables, the ability to spin up polished prototypes in minutes was transformational. With the help of deep expertise from Allied Solutions Enablement & Services team, suddenly, video wasn’t a bottleneck or an afterthought—it was a tool the team could use proactively, every day, without fear of blowing budgets or missing deadlines.

The video journey

With SundaySky, Alliant quickly broadened the role of video across the organization. Financial education was one of the first areas to take off. The Money Mentor Minute series repurposed existing blog content into short, one-minute explainer videos, giving members easy access to practical advice in an engaging format.

The team also leaned into storytelling for culture and community. For Alliant’s Bring Your Kids to Work Day, they shot simple point-and-shoot clips, then transformed them into a polished video series using SundaySky templates. Those videos now play on screens across Alliant’s offices, celebrating the event and reinforcing the company’s culture.

The team also uses the video platform for customer education. For example, the team created 5 Fund Facts About HELOCs to educate customers in a fun and simple way through video.

Social media became another proving ground. Quarterly testimonial videos showcased members’ stories, while internal communications got a boost with videos like a CEO welcome that was filmed and produced in a matter of hours.

“I don’t think people [at the company] understand that it’s us doing it. They still think we have this great agency creating broadcast-quality commercials, but it’s my small team using SundaySky.”

Lessons learned

Along the way, Alliant’s creative process began to change. Traditionally, projects flowed linearly: writers developed content first, then designers brought it to life visually. With SundaySky, the workflow became more fluid—sometimes a designer would start with visuals, then the writer would add content later. This shift encouraged more collaboration and experimentation.

Olason also credits the platform and the Allied Solutions onboarding team with sharpening their storytelling instincts.

“I think the big eye-opener for us was getting the hook even earlier. We were setting things up in the middle of the video… so that was a real key lesson for us.”

The ease of use also created a cultural shift. Video stopped being something intimidating or outsourced and became an everyday creative option.

“We can be in a meeting and say, hey, let’s use video as a tactic… knowing that we could go into SundaySky and use the AI feature to spin something up just as an idea starter is pretty valuable and interesting.”

Results

In its early days of using SundaySky, the qualitative results at Alliant are powerful. Alliant’s videos now rival agency-quality work—so much so that colleagues often assume the team is still outsourcing.

“I have a pretty high standard, and I look at what my team delivers in your platform, and I think, oh my gosh, these look like broadcast commercials. That’s how impressed I am.”

The internal feedback at Alliant has been overwhelmingly positive. What once felt out of reach—producing consistent, high-quality video at speed—is now part of the team’s daily reality. The transformation has unlocked creativity, confidence, and new opportunities across the organization.

Future plans

Looking ahead, Alliant is eager to push SundaySky even further. Olason is especially excited about experimenting with AI voiceovers and avatars, including the possibility of creating a digital avatar of a celebrity financial partner.

Personalization is another high-priority goal. The team plans to integrate SundaySky’s data capabilities to deliver one-to-one, personalized video experiences, which is particularly critical as Alliant rolls out its new digital banking platform.

“When we relaunch our online banking platform, personalized video showing people how things work is going to be critical to retain members and bring new members online.”

Ultimately, what began as a search to rein in costs and production headaches has become a strategic shift in how Alliant communicates, educates, and builds relationships with its members.