CHILLINWACH, B.C. - A Generation Y marketing program is seeking one credit union in each U.S. state and Canadian province to help persuade young bank customers to become CU members.
The Young & Free marketing program was developed by Currency Marketing after Common Wealth CU hired the agency in 2006 to help them break into the youth market in northern Alberta. It is an integrated program that uses social media along with conventional marketing–centered around a Gen Y spokesperson. The spokesperson creates YouTube videos, posts daily blog entries, and attends youth events.
“We saw a real opportunity with the emerging social web,” said Tim McAlpine, president and chief strategist at Currency Marketing. “Sites like YouTube and Facebook were just gaining popularity.”
It’s not surprising that Currency Marketing is hoping to expand the program now.
“On the numbers side, the program has exceeded everybody’s expectations,” McAlpine said. “After eight months, there are 2,010 members new to the Young & Free Account.”
Prior to launching the program, Common Wealth Credit Union had 5,500 members in the 18- to 25-year age group.
“The growth is significant.” McAlpine said.
Throughout these past eight months, there has been more than $200,000 in unpaid in-market media coverage, 2,010 Young & Free accounts, and $2,875,000 funds in Young & Free Accounts, McAlpine said.
“The average account balance is $1,430 in accounts that pay 0% interest,” he noted.
The website results from the eight months show 39,082 unique visitors, 120,852 page views, and 59,670 YouTube video views, McAlpine said.
“The soft results have been that the Young & Free Alberta program is an initiative that Common Wealth Credit Union’s staff and members have been able to embrace and rally around,” McAlpine said. “There is tremendous local pride and also tremendous awareness of the credit union.”
There are many reasons Currency Marketing wants to expand the Young & Free program.
“It goes right to our purpose as a company,” McAlpine said. “ … It is our purpose to help credit unions deepen their relationships with members and persuade bank customers to become credit union members.”
In order to do that, McAlpine said that CUs desperately need to engage and attract young people, and that the Young & Free program succeeded in doing that for Common Wealth CU.
“We can imagine a day when the Young & Free program has helped credit unions add tens of thousands of members to the credit union movement,” he said.
But of course in order to do that, the program must expand beyond Common Wealth Credit Union. And Currency Marketing has a plan on how to make that happen.
“Young & Free is a fully managed Generation Y marketing program offered by Currency Marketing, McAlpine said. “It is licensed to one credit union in each U.S. state and Canadian province. It combines a product launch with a spokesperson search wrapped in an integrated traditional social media marketing strategy. Each year, there is a new spokesperson search to keep the program fresh and exciting.”
Currency Marketing handles all logistics of the Young & Free program, including local marketing and public relations, spokesperson support, and guidance and support to help make the program successful for the CU.
“There is also no burden or risk to the credit union website or IT infrastructure,” McAlpine said, explaining that each CU licenses a fully customized Young & Free website with a content management system on its domain.
“For example, the Idaho partner credit union would have a website located at www.youngfreeidaho.com,” McAlpine explained.
CUs that cross state borders could choose to modify their domain with either a city or the credit union’s name.
“The point of offering an exclusive license is to provide that credit union with a truly differentiated brand and experience,” McAlpine said. “It literally allows that credit union to become the de facto youth-centered credit union in their region.”
For More Information
www.youngreealberta.com
www.CurrencyMarketing.ca/YoungFreeInterest(c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com
