RICHMOND, Va. - When it comes to marketing to younger consumers, some of the more cutting-edge initiatives involve credit unions exploring the 3-D Internet space, modeling efforts after sites like Kaneva.com, moove.com and activeworlds.com.
On Kaneva.com, players name and create personal avatars after entering brief demographic data. Avatars are graphical images representing real people in virtual worlds. Players can then meet virtual friends, explore places together or play games using their avatars.
Richmond-based Virginia CU is partnering with fellow Filene Research Institute i3 members to create a “credit union island” using Second Life, a three-dimensional advanced social networking environment where avatars interact with their surrounding environment and communicate with others through instant messaging, CUNA reported.
Avatars visit the island to find out more information about the CU and make transactions using virtual currency called Linden Dollars.
The Filene Research Institute recently posted a video on its website introducing Second Life and its virtual social networking environment to credit unions. The video depicts a “SimCity-like” tour guide that conducts a flyby tour of the credit union island.
Scott Moriarty, vp of lending for the $1.5-billion Virginia CU, said that credit unions interested in pursuing the three dimensional program will need to have an open mind for technology. “Some (CUs) will see this technology as employees game playing and some IT managers will not allow access to the site because of firewalls, but we need to have access and presence here. You have to be open to offering something like this to members and staff,” he said.
Second Life, Second Wind?
Although Second Life has been around since 2003, the CU island version is a prototype game that is geared toward high schoolers which forces the player to make financial decisions, like buying a car or house, within the 25 to 35 minute game time.
The concept of using 3-D Internet simulations like Second Life received mixed reactions from bloggers on Open Source CUs blog who think find it hard to envision teens flocking to CU island to play financial games but many are taking a wait-and-see approach.
But Moriarty noted, “as we learn more about the 3-D Internet space, games like these are the way to go. It’s about 3-D space,” Moriarty concluded.
Other broad-based web initiatives approach the Gen Y market by offering financial literacy programs directly to youths or to their parents.
The $907-million California Coast CU based in San Diego operates a microsite called Ignition designed to appeal to high schoolers customary preoccupation with music.
The main page invites potential members to “start up your financial life with a playlist of accounts mixed just for 13- to 17-year-old members.” The difference here is that the accounts are real and use real money. Visitors to the site can enter a contest to win a $50 iTunes card by taking a quiz that tests the contestant’s financial knowledge. They do not have to be members of the credit union to enter or win.
CUNA’s main site has a section dedicated to promoting the CU difference to kids as young as preschoolers with its Thrive by Five, Save, Spend & Share and Value of a Dollar activity books and kits designed for parents to teach youngsters about saving.
CUNA’s microsite called Moneymix, is part blog part financial literacy but it differs in that it offers detailed credit union job descriptions along with average starting pay in different parts of the country. The site also keeps its ear close to the Gen Y pulse by culling articles from more than 300 college and university student newspapers on everything from finding affordable housing to deciding whether or not to attend graduate school in these lean economic times.
A growing number of university-based loan and credit programs are also sprouting up as credit unions find partnerships with universities to be an effective way to support growth by offering auto and credit loans to students on the cusp of entering “the real world.”
One such a program has been in existence since the summer of 2006 when Ent credit union was selected by the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs to develop a “one card” students could use for a number of purposes including as a Visa Check Card, meal card, bus pass, library card and student ID.
The result was the Lion OneCard, named for the university’s sports mascot. As of January, more than 1,165 Lion OneCards have been issued. Ent has also expanded its presence on campus by getting involved with Freshman Move-In Day, graduation events and summer orientations.
The $2.35-billion CU has a service center located in the UCCS University Center and three on-campus ATMs. Ent CU actively sponsors Gen Y oriented promotions like a recent iPod giveaway and a thumb drive promotion.
Michigan State University FCU offers incoming freshman a “Student Survival Package” that offers students financial education materials as well as mascot-based checking and savings products.
Students opting to “survive” by opening a membership with the $1.4-billion CU, can select a free box of Spirit/Shadows checks, open a Spartan Saver account or order a VISA check card. “When students apply for membership, we will send them a flash drive loaded with our educational podcasts that cover topics from credit to savings to understanding IRAs,” said April Clobes, MSUFCU vp of e-commerce.
Clobes said the credit union tries to create excitement by offering prizes and a drawing for a semester of free books.
Like many Gen Y marketing promotions, especially those based on new technology, ROI data is sometimes elusive but not always. The newer technology-based initiatives tend to be more investigative rather than hard-set marketing campaigns. “Honestly I don’t think we put any type of numbers out there as far as expectations,” said Chris Chippindale, director of operations at Ent. “I think it’s more of we want to track the success of what we’re doing over time for this initial go around.”
Youth Trumped Other Considerations
Chippindale said Ent’s efforts to reach out to the youth factored more strongly than other considerations in the decision to promote the Lion OneCard. “On individual campaigns, we may have targets that we are looking at and ROI that we’re certainly going to calculate, but for the program in the fall (Lion OneCard) I don’t believe that we’ve set any hard targets,” said Victoria Selfridge, Ent’s director of marketing.
“It really married very well with our mission, which is about improving quality of life for our members,” she said. “This helps us reach out to that Gen Y audience that we want to attract and also supports a lot of the education-related initiatives that we have going on here at ENT.”
MSFCU’s Clobes said the goal is to establish a larger footprint on campus. The CU offers a makeover contest for graduating students to give them a professional look and sponsors an etiquette dinner in cooperation with the alumni association. The CU also offers graduating seniors promotional rates on relocation and auto loans.
Clobes said the marketing efforts aimed at incoming freshman are especially successful.
“Last fall, we opened nearly 5,000 student accounts which is approximately 80% of the incoming class,” she said. “We still have 97% of the students that joined in 2004 which would put them as juniors or seniors this year.”
René McKee, vice president of marketing at California Coast Credit Union, said she considered the Ignition site to be very successful bringing in over 1,056 new accounts in the 13-to18-year-old age bracket by the end of Q4 2007.
“The number of new accounts that were opened via the Ignition microsite was 47% over our base marketing goals,” McKee said.
MORE
To read more about this topic use member feedback at cujournal.com and search the following bolded terms in the archive:
Web-Based Social Networking Sites: It’s Not Just For Teenagers Anymore
Baby Boomer, Gen X, Gen Y Customers Love ATMs
Keypoint Strategy Recognizes Facebook Not Just For Gen X & Y
For info on this story:
www.pscufs.com, www.projectnewage.com, www.entfederal.com, www.msufcu.org, www.filene.org/i3, www.cuna.org, www.cunacouncils.org, www.secondlife.com, www.vacu.org, www.calcoastcu.org, www.cuna.org, www.cunamutual.com
