United FCU Asks Gen-Y to Rant, Vent and Complain
United FCU project, dubbed “Matter,” invites those between the ages of 18 and 30 to rant, complain and express their feelings about financial matters. The campaign targets the much-coveted Gen-Y crowd, positioning United FCU as being an alternative banking experience.
The credit union says its primary goal is “to create an opportunity for interactive dialogue with Gen-Y, as opposed to pushing a one way channel of information.”
The credit union says the Matter campaign revolves around three primary elements:
- The Matter microsite.
- Rants – Rants about Gen-Y’s frustrations with the banking industry will be videotaped on college campuses will be uploaded to the campaign’s website.
- The t-shirt design component – Presumably an interactive t-shirt design module at the microsite where the most clever anti-bank creation wins something.
The core of the campaign is a microsite bearing the bold, aggressive, arguably hostile URL www.theantibank.com. At the microsite, United FCU encourages the Gen-Y crowd to “share your thoughts about all things financial. Everything from what’s up with those Washington bailout packages to why some people have pictures of kitties on their checks.”
“United FCU really is the Anti-Bank”
The credit union attacks Gen-Y’s lack of confidence in the banking system, while simultaneously
distancing itself from banks by aligning tightly with classic credit union messages.
The Rants section of United FCU’s Gen-Y microsite.
To promote the credit union’s products and services, the site’s sub-navigation includes links to “Personal,” Business,” “Loan Specials,” “Savings Specials,” “Today’s Rates.”
You can also “Join,” “Talk to Us Now,” or check out “My Account.”
The site has some pre-recorded rants and musings, some of which feel a little forced or staged. The credit union sequenced many of the rants together in this 5-minute long video included as part of its press release.
The campaign’s overall design is slick, with a moody, black-and-white graffiti feeling. Slogans scattered on the website make statements like “Always Be Moving,” and “You Are Tomorrow.”
All the videos are shot in a B&W testimonial style. Here’s what some of the pre-recorded participants had to say:
- “Interest rates are a joke. 0.5%? So what? I can make like $2 a year?”
- “Yeah, they give back a lot of sh*t.”
- “They make me feel stupid every time I ask a question.”
- “They piss me off.”
- “Overdraft charges rock!”
- “I think the bailout sucks.”
- “I hate ATM fees. They screw you every time.”
- “What the hell’s up with that?”
Heads Up: A bank in Australia invited folks to rant about banking last year. The online social media campaign backfired big time. People started railing against the bank hosting the website, which then spiraled out of control after employees bungled their attempt at damage control. However, this is less likely to occur in United FCU’s case because it looks like they will be limiting their rants to video submissions, which should be easier to moderate than comments at a blog or forum.
Key Questions: Besides being able to vent and express one’s feelings, what incentives are there to participate in the campaign? What’s at stake? What product offer(s) are tied to the campaign or targeted at Gen-Y? Where will “the dialogue” United FCU seeks to create take place?
Take a look at the Matter microsite, then swing back by and leave a comment with your thoughts.
The credit union will be targeting college campuses with what it calls “a highly interactive guerrilla marketing experience, [providing] a blank canvas for Gen-Y to creatively speak their minds.”
The campaign kicks off with visits to colleges in Arkansas and Michigan, and will continue throughout the country this fall.
United Federal Credit Union has 80,338 members and $849 million in assets.
This article © 2012 by The Financial Brand and may not be reproduced.
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I’m excited to see United do this and especially excited to see that they’ve paired an attractive, fresh presentation with desirable products like Interest-Plus Checking and Low-Rate credit cards. All the design in the world won’t get potential members past lame products.
While I’m always excited for credit unions to throw their hat into the young adult arena, I’m a bit leery of this approach. With that said, I have no idea what their focus groups said, or what research was done to steer them in this direction. This may very well be appropriate based on the feedback they’ve received.
On the other hand, from what we’re seeing, young adults are more hopeful than angry. The site seems more for appropriate for Gen Xers circa 1996. Maybe an Obamaesque approach would work better for capturing the mood of today’s youth (i.e. yes we can, change you can believe in, etc. etc.).
The other thing that could be done differently is eliminating the third party links. Appropriate or not, United has done a great job of capturing a particular mood throughout the site, but then when a user wants real information (like within the Learn section), they are ushered out to another site that doesn’t convey the tone they’ve set. It kinda goes from angry grunge to happy-go-lucky in a single click. I’d like to see the credit union develop their own content (or license it) and host it within their site. This will help maintain continuity, and most importantly, credibility.
With that said, it looks like a lot of work went into this project and I truly hope the program is successful!
Finally, financial services branding that actually asserts a voice and empathic views. It is great brand work. But as they say, “you can dress a pig, but it is still a pig.” Checking / Savings / Credit Cards/… all pretty much commodities. But hey, that’s the way to serve up commodity products – strong pre-emptive positioning and empathic branding.
Excellent.
@James – You point out the overarching strategic question: Which is more likely to resonate with Gen-Y? The passion of idealism and activism? Or anger and frustration? If United FCU has picked a direction that connects with Gen-Y, we should know fairly soon. It will be interesting to see what types of rants — and how many — get uploaded to the site as time passes.
Here’s another observation about the contrast in these two separate strategic directions. One (hope, idealism) implies a feeling of empowerment – I can accomplish something by participating. The other direction (anger, frustration) delivers the satisfaction of venting and “telling it to the man like it really is,” but it doesn’t really seem to offer any recourse or reconciliation — I’m pissed, but what can I do about it? The implicit call to action is that if you philosophically align with United FCU, you should do your banking there.
I like that they’re making an effort to reach Gen Y. The website looks professional and has an interesting navigation style. It will be interesting to watch and see if youth respond by participating.
One thing confused me on the “We are not a bank” page. It says “Number two. Community is our number one priority.” Which makes me think, why is it number two then?
I am happy to see more and more credit unions reaching out to the next generation of members. Gaining more Gen Y members is critical for the longevity of the industry.
I think United FCU’s over-arching “Matter” theme is excellent. The collateral materials and confessional that are featured in the media room are very well done and will get attention. I really like the T-shirts as well.
While it is well coordinated and consistent in its execution, I can’t help but feel depressed after spending time on the microsite. I was left with a feeling of helplessness in a bleak, colorless and negative environment. The spray paint, stencil, distressed type and images and the graffiti feels so at odds with the credit union’s corporate website and actually feel dated to me. They feel like a throw back to the early eighties Seattle grunge scene.
Banks are down and out and have very few fans. Add onto that the bleak economy and overall feeling of uncertainty, we are in a depressing time right now. There is already so much negativity swirling around and this initiative is clearly attempting to capitalize on this feeling, but I think it may have a negative effect and associate United FCU with doom and gloom. People deal with more than one institution and credit union members are also bank customers. Being so overly anti-bank can definitely backfire.
I also do not like agency-created videos posing as user-generated content. I think it is OK to seed with one or two clearly marked examples, but a library full of fake rants doesn’t feel right to me.
Maybe to soften the negativity, United FCU could slightly modify the concept to include love and hate? What do you love or hate about your bank or credit union? Not everyone is a hater. One other easy modification would be to include a discoverable RSS feed to encourage return visits. There is an e-mail/rss updates function, but in my experience, only a percentage of a microsite’s visitors are willing to fork over personal information just to know when something has changed.
Obviously, this comment is filled with personal bias and I am not a member of Gen Y living in United FCU’s market. I know I am definitely more of an Oprah person than a Jerry Springer person and I prefer rainbows over thunder storms. But I really believe that people respond better to positive story telling versus negative ranting and bashing. And I grew up in the age of the rant listening to Pearl Jam and Nirvana!
Tim McAlpine:
Just one thing..you are an extreme [xxxxxx xxx].
[Moderator's note: This comment has been edited for containing abusive language.]
Tim McAlpine:
You are an extreme [xxxxxxxxx].
[Moderator's note: This comment has been edited for containing abusive language.]
Thanks for all of your candid comments about our new Gen Y initiative. We are trying a very different approach to reaching Gen Y, and so far our response from the target audience has been overwhelmingly positive. It’s been very exciting.
What you see currently on our new site is Phase One. I totally agree with James and Tim when they pointed out that connecting to links on our “traditional” UFCU site is like day and night. We have plans to update our traditional site to have more of a “family” look and feel – not exactly the same since the target is different, but elements that will at least let you know that you’re still with the same organization. As you cam imagine, this has been a major project and it will be an on-going journey with improvements & embelishments as we proceed.
The first group of rants that were placed on our site were done pre-launch, but that does not mean that they are not legitimate rants. These are real Gen-Y’ers that were asked to speak their own opinions and were not scripted. Just yesterday (April 15th) we launched the initiative on two college campuses in our local market. Many students took the opportunity to record their own “rants” which will be uploaded within the next week. These will not be edited except for profanity. We want to be authentic, so we will take the bad with the good. We have additional college and community events coming up which will be added as we go forward to keep the site fresh and relevant.
Thanks so much for your feedback – it helps us greatly!
@Donna – Thanks for your comment and clarifications. One could look at the project as a complete sub-brand targeting a specific audience — it is essentially an whole, entirely new website for the credit union, featuring most of its products and services… just with a lot of Gen-Y specific components. (I’ve heard there is some sort of “confessional” video booth. If you send a photo of it, I’d be happy to add it to the article.)
@Justin – Abusive and derogatory comments will not be tolerated. Feel free to argue your point of view, but future ad hominems will result in a permanent ban.
@Justin. Judging by your very visceral reaction, you must be involved with this initiate. If I offended you, I apologize. I gave an honest opinion and offered some constructive feedback. As someone new to the Financial Brand, this type of open discourse of ideas and opinions may seem harsh, but I assure you that it is not out of the ordinary on this website. That’s what makes the Financial Brand one of my favorite financial services marketing resources.
As I am now the target of a rant, it only confirms my feelings. Ranting is associated with hating and loathing and I stick with my opinion that associating a people-before-profits credit union with negativity just doesn’t appeal to me. But again, that’s just me.
Overall, I give UFCU huge props for getting in and attacking the industry-wide-lack-of-Gen-Y-members issue and I wish you all the best. I applaud you for running a fully integrated marketing program and not just putting up a blog and hoping for results.
Glad to see more credit unions addressing the younger generation. This should certainly ramp up the conversation as it has done here. I hope that over time the coversation includes some tongue and cheek humor as well as some positive credit union experience. In any event it will be interesting to see how it evolves. Kudos to United for not only joining, but encouraging the conversation. Perhaps the rants will educate us all on what we should be doing better.
Agree that the site is innovative albeit dark. The black and white video treatment of the rant videos make them even darker.
Two observations:
1. If the African American gentleman in the ball cap (rant video) is Gen Y then I am Royalty from an exotic land. Also I have not a clue what his rant has to do with dissatisfaction about banks.
2. Why, if this site is a play for Gen Y is there no mention of any social media. No Facebook, no Twitter, no blog, nothing. A contact page with a generic contact form is not an innovative way to connect with a highly connected generation. And, as @Tim pointed out, the RSS link feels like a ploy to get an email address for a mailing list – not a way for me consume content via reader.
Very clever Phase One as @Donna replies. If you need assistance with new media/social media if delighted to consult
@Donna, I’m looking forward to seeing the latest rants! It’s great that we can all learn from United’s new initiative. Nice work and I hope it continues to be successful.
@Justin, I don’t want to revive anything negative, but I want to say after 10+ years of working with Tim McAlpine, I’ve never known him to be “an extreme xxxxxx xxx.” He’s an extreme credit union advocate, an extreme social media lover and sometimes an extreme goofball (in the best possible way), but never an extreme xxxxxx xxx.
[...] Financial Brand wrote about United FCU’s Gen-Y program ‘Matters’ a few weeks ago. Here’s some offline media — a pair of print ads. The one on the left [...]
[...] Australia with its “Truth Pod.” USAA hosts “What’s on Your Mind.” And United FCU created “Matter” so Gen-Y could rant and [...]