If you want to know how Gen-Y feels about banking and financial institutions, just ask them. That’s what these three vendors in the financial industry did. They grabbed their cameras and hit the streets. Some of these videos were shot over a year ago. But has anything changed since then?

“What Is a Credit Union?”

Producer: Callahan & Assoiciates
Running Time: 4:49

Callahan & Associates sent its CYouth team out to ask Gen-Y what they know — and don’t know — about banks and credit unions. And guess what? Gen-Y doesn’t know the difference the difference between banks and credit unions.

Key Excerpt: Interviewer: “What do you think would be the biggest thing potentially holding you back from joining a credit union?” Gen-Y answer: “Umm, I’ve just never had any knowledge of them before. I’m not familiar with them.”

“This is Generation Y”

Producer: Weber Marketing Group
Running Time: 4:06

Weber Marketing Group created this video with a series of brief Gen-Y interview vignettes capturing Gen-Y thoughts about financial institutions.

Key Excerpts:

• “Our parents set up our accounts.”
• “When I go in to talk to [my bank], they aren’t friendly or helpful whatsoever. They talk to me like I’m stupid, pretty much.”
• “Honestly, I don’t know very much about credit unions.”
• “I’ve heard there are lots of benefits with being at a credit union, but I don’t have any idea what those are.”

“I Know Y – Getting to Know You”

Producer: The Garland Group
Running Time: 6:50

Major takeaways:

• Gen Y isn’t really clear how they choose their financial institutions.
• Gen-Y wants improved performance and functionality for online banking platforms.

The subject of a national campaign for credit unions has been widely debated over the years. Some argue about whether it should be a brand campaign or an awareness campaign. Others dispute what such a campaign should say. And a few even question the very need for this sort of campaign.

Regardless of who supports- or opposes the idea, one question bothers everyone: How would such a campaign be funded?

Here’s the easiest funding formula. Every credit union could contribute a proportionate amount relative to their asset size — a proposed multiple of 0.005% of assets. That’s 1/200th of a percent.

Where does this 0.005% number come from? Simple. As a rule of thumb, the marketing budget for a financial institution should be around 0.1% of its assets (it can be a little more for smaller financial institutions, and a little less for bigger ones). For example, a $500 million credit union should spend around $500,000 per year on marketing. That means if credit unions contributed 0.005% of their asset size to fund a national campaign, it would work out to around a 5% slice of their annual marketing budgets.

Key Question: If you’re a $100 million dollar credit union, could you afford to contribute $5,000 from your marketing budget to a campaign that benefits all credit unions? If you’re a $1 billion credit union, can you make a $950,000 marketing budget work while contributing $50,000 to a national effort?

Reality Check: Some credit unions are still spending almost 0.005% of their assets on advertising in the Yellow Pages.

If credit unions would contribute only 5% of their annual marketing budgets to some sort of nationally-organized effort, they could collectively build a $50 million annual war chest. Keep in mind that this isn’t additional marketing dollars; this would be a reallocation of money that’s already being spent. It’s simply about achieving economies of scale… and “credit unions helping credit unions,” as the expression goes.

What could credit unions do with this $50 million budget? Certainly they could run ads in print and on TV, as some credit union experts have suggested. But what if $50 million was spent all online (ads, SEO, etc.), pointing towards a website like JoinACreditUnion.com? How many Gen-Y members would credit unions draw? Or what if credit unions used the $50 million all for a coordinated public relations effort? How much more good press could credit unions pick up in the mainstream media? And what would happen if credit unions sustained this for five years?

Reality Check: This isn’t likely to happen — especially now. Beyond the massive pressure on everyone’s capital, CFO’s everywhere are wondering if- and when another “special assessment” might be coming. The notion of a national campaign probably just sounds like one more hit to the bottom line. The last thing most credit unions feel like talking about is another way to spend money. Don’t expect to see a flood of credit unions volunteering anytime soon.

Bottom Line: The majority of consumers have no clue about what credit unions really are, and/or don’t include credit unions in their list of primary financial options. Credit unions could afford a national campaign that addresses this reality…that is, if they really wanted one.

Key Questions: Can credit unions afford to not run a national campaign? What are the opportunity costs? What would have happened if credit unions had been running this sort of campaign throughout the financial crisis?

Reviewed and written by James Flores, CEO of Subcat Marketing. Subcat Marketing specializes in helping financial marketers reach “sub-categories” such as kids, teens, young adult and family markets. The firm develops fully-custom youth marketing and education programs for financial institutions across the country, and also offers a turnkey program for teens called The Elements of Money, the M3 Money Club for kids, and a financial newsletter for Gen-X parents.

When it comes to engaging kids, the greatest challenge facing any financial institution is sustaining interest. With Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Disney pumping out children’s programming 24 hours a day, the competition for the attention of a 10-year old is fierce. It’s this fact that makes ING Direct’s newly redesigned kids educational website, Planet Orange, all the more impressive.

Derived from ING Direct’s “Orange” brand, Planet Orange provides learning activities and games designed to teach kids (grades one to six) financial responsibility. Although not quite as entertaining as Spongebob or Ben 10, Planet Orange nevertheless succeeds in delivering much-needed financial literacy in an interesting package — suitable for today’s media-saturated kids.

We Have Liftoff

The Planet Orange website is a multi-dimensional world where kids can complete educational missions set within four exotic continents, each with a quirky ING-inspired name: Orangeopolis, Mandarin Mountains, Navel City and Tangy Town.

Before a child can begin using Planet Orange they must register, which is a pretty easy and safe process. Users provide a first name, grade, state, gender, password and parent’s email address. Kids are also asked to create an astronaut name which is used for their avatar throughout their Planet Orange experience.

Upon login, users find themselves at the Space Station which serves as home base for all the site’s activities. Two young astronauts, Cedric and Amy, serve as tour guides, inviting kids to play games, explore continents and personalize their station.

Here’s the cool part: the only way kids can access all this fun content is by earning and spending virtual money called Obux. Unlike commercial sites such as Webkinz and Club Penguin which require children to use real money to buy virtual items, kids can earn Obux only by completing educational missions or performing virtual jobs. In addition, to complete a mission a child must first buy fuel for their rocket to travel around the planet. Spend too much money on games and accessories, and you won’t have enough for your ride — just like in real life!

This is a great way of introducing the concept of needs and wants. Kids get to experience working, earning their own money and then spending that money responsibly. If they spend too much on fun stuff, there’s a tangible consequence.

Mission: Financial Education

The lessons taught on Planet Orange cover a wide range of topics including saving, credit, investing, inflation and earning income, with each continent dedicated to teaching a specific financial concept.

As my first educational mission I chose Mandarin Mountains, an ancient and mysterious continent containing many of the oldest secrets about money. My first stop was The Cavern of Time, which focuses on the origins of money, followed by Mandarin Museum (needs and wants), The Great Mandarin Hall (budgeting) and finally The Library of Saving (saving money).

Each lesson was well-written and divided into concise, manageable segments—an important factor when constructing educational material for children. It would probably take about 10 to 15 minutes for a 10-year old to complete each lesson—less time than a child would spend watching a single episode of their favorite cartoon. With four continents to explore, each containing four lessons, there are hours of great educational content here.

A big concern is the age appropriateness of the content. Planet Orange is promoted as an educational website for students in first through sixth grade. However, after reviewing the content and comparing it to established child development characteristics, the site seems more appropriate for third to sixth graders. This becomes even more apparent during the educational missions that cover more mature themes such as “inflation,” “choosing stocks” and “long-term planning,” topics that are simply beyond the grasp of most six- and seven-year olds.

Planet Orange omits crucial foundational concepts important for first and second graders to comprehend before jumping into “advanced” concepts such as investing and borrowing. “Identifying coins and bills” and “understanding that cash and checks are both money,” are just two of the types of lessons that need to be addressed if ING intends to serve early elementary students.

In addition, the content must be delivered at an age-appropriate reading level. A quick check for readability using the Flesch-Kincaid reading scale, and the site scored at nearly a third grade level. This may not seem like a big deal for some, but for a six-year old child, it’s like asking them to read on the level of a student who has had nearly twice as much classroom time.

None of this diminishes the quality of the content. However, ING has some room for improvement regarding how to best serve the needs of younger students. One solution would be to create separate tracks based on the level of each individual child. Since ING is capturing each visitor’s grade level at registration, each user could be sent to an appropriate version of the site. First graders would then have relevant lessons delivered to them, while older kids will have access to information and content suitable for their stage of development. Of course this would take a major overhaul of the back-end structure of the site, but the end result would be a more inclusive and personalized teaching tool.

The Fun Stuff

The Mandarin Mountains mission costs 150 Obux to fuel your rocket, but it is totally worth it. I was able to earn more than twice that much simply by completing four lessons and passing a quiz. So what should I do with my earnings? Spend some money!

“Most banks and
credit unions attempting to
create games fail to compete
with the range of options
kids play every day.”

There are three ways to spend money on Planet Orange: Play games, decorate your space station, or outfit your avatar. Being somewhat of a game junkie, I headed straight for the arcade. Now I must say, I’m not a big fan of games offered at financial websites for kids, so I was a bit skeptical going in. Most bank and credit union attempts games fail to compete with the range of options kids play every day.

The games on Planet Orange are somewhat entertaining, but don’t work as a virtual carrot for learning and earning money. ING will need to up the ante if it expects to create stickiness, especially for older kids. Maybe users can pay more Obux to access higher quality games. It could be a lesson on value and price.

On the other hand, if a child chooses to spend their money decorating or buying clothes for their avatar, they’ll be pleasantly surprised. The ING team did a great job of offering a variety of ways for kids to put their personal stamp on their avatar and space station (note: these type of customizations are a favorite online activity of girls in particular).

“There are tons of decorations and accessories for kids to choose from — definitely enough stuff to keep them coming back for more.”

With my earnings I was able to add a lava lamp, hang a disco ball, change the flooring to a groovy purple polka dot pattern and even purchase a pet robodog. When it came to outfitting my avatar, I opted for the XJ Series 3000 Helmet, Star Modulator Chest Console and Hyperlaunch Jet Pack. There are tons of decorations and accessories for kids to choose from — definitely enough stuff to keep them coming back for more.

Space Travel for Parents and Teachers

The Planet Orange website also has sections for teachers and parents. With the Teacher Center, ING provides comprehensive classroom resources for educators including tutorials, lesson plans and worksheets. Unlike the missions contained in the Planet Orange kids site, the lesson plans are divided by grade level, written to comply with most state standards. By aligning the lesson plans with state standards, ING not only helps bring much-needed financial literacy into the classroom, but also helps teachers meet their state-mandated goals. Definitely a win-win situation and an effective way to position ING as a partner to the educational community. The best part for cash-strapped schools—all these resources are free!

In the Parent Center, there’s the requisite children’s privacy statement, program FAQs, and a handy video which explains the program. The Parent Center seems a little light on useful information, especially when compared to the Teacher Center and the Planet Orange site in general. It would be nice to see content written specifically to parents addressing the challenges they face trying to raise money-smart kids in today’s consumer environment. Topics like “helping kids deal with financial peer-pressure,” “managing allowances,” and “helping kids decipher commercials,” could go a long way in providing the tools parents say they need.

Mission Accomplished

Planet Orange is a huge accomplishment. It’s not perfect — there could be better games, separate grade tracks and expanded content for parents. But it goes a long way towards raising the quality of financial literacy programs offered to younger generations.

ING effectively executes the outerspace theme, which should help keep kids engaged long-enough to consume the lessons. There’s plenty of content to keep them busy, and the ability for kids to earn and spend virtual money is a smart way of teaching financial concepts. It’s this transactional element that is at the heart of Planet Orange and provides the educational heft of the program. Although lessons, exercises and quizzes make up most of the content, it’s the experiential education that will stay with a child long after they sign off the site.

“Planet Orange is a huge accomplishment. It’s not perfect, but it goes a long way towards raising the quality of financial literacy programs.”

Planet Orange’s redesign comes only months after J.P. Morgan Chase announced the cancellation of the School Savings program, an unfortunate casualty of Chase’s purchase of WAMU. The program was an 86-year-old institution created by WAMU, and provided financial education to literally hundreds of thousands of elementary school students across the country. Whether intentional or not, Planet Orange appears capable of filling the void left by this loss.

At a time when so much buzz and attention is being placed on attracting the older segment of Gen Y (ages 18 to 28), it’s refreshing to see a financial institution focus on the youngest of Gen Yers. After all, when it comes to teaching kids positive money habits, the sooner the better. The lifetime benefits of early financial education makes it well-worth the effort. Hopefully we’ll start seeing more educational initiatives of this quality geared toward this age group.

Here are some of the major innovations and significant online/technology trends that financial marketers should watch in the coming years. (Please note: This is by no means intended to be a comprehensive or definitive list.)

What do you think will be a major trend shaping financial marketing in 2010 and beyond? Please leave your thoughts and comments below.

1. The Megasite

The once-simple microsites financial institutions made for their marketing campaigns have ballooned into massive undertakings. Look at the monstrous scale of Umpqua’s “Save Hard, Spend Smart” website or GTE Federal Credit Union’s “U-22” site. These are major undertakings with multiple layers and dozens of pages.

Nowadays, creating an immersive and engaging online experience requires a lot more work. Figuring out how to integrate the array of social media platforms — Twitter, YouTube, Facebook — is a struggle.

Megasites will be a continuing trend through 2010 and beyond. Just be sure to create brand/image synergy between your promotional subsite(s) and your primary website.

2. Financial Edutainment

Financial education will have to become a lot more entertaining and interactive in 2010 and beyond. Check out BofA’s “Morris on Campus,” or their comic attempt with “Mo Rocca on Banking,” to get a good idea for how high the bar has been raised.

Many credit unions are using “savings challenges” to stimulate interest in lessons of thrift. Umpqua’s “Save Hard, Spend Smart” initiative has a number of financial education components. ING DIRECT’s “Planet Orange” is another great example. And Nevada State Bank hired the world’s most celebrated conman to create a series of online educational videos about fighting identity theft and financial fraud.

3. New Channels for Customer Service

Live online chat has been around for a few years, but financial institutions are deploying it at a quickened pace. With instant online chat, you can address people’s questions and concerns right at the point-of-sale, transforming an otherwise static, one-directional marketing tool into an interactive sales/service experience. Expect to see a continuing increase in the uptake of live chat.

BofA was the first bank to provide customer service via Twitter. Wells Fargo, Wachovia and others have joined in. Now, BofA is getting serious. They have a whole dedicated Twitter team, and a new fancy CMS tool to manage their Twitter-based customer service interactions.

But you don’t need to be on Twitter to provide next-generation customer support. For example, you can text “unhappy” to the State Bank of India and they guarantee they will respond to your complaint within 48 hours.

4. Online PFM

Few things have made as big a difference to consumers over the last couple years — from a practical perspective — as the introduction of online Personal Financial Management tools. Online PFM is like a more robust, next-gen version of desktop applications like Quicken, enabling consumers to track spending and manage their money. One big feature is that many PFM solutions aggregate information from multiple financial institutions in a single view. Other PFM features can include financial advice, community features, and visualizations.

Companies offering online PFM services like Mint, Geezeo and Jwaala have taken the financial industry by storm. Now, white label players are coming into the market, and some banks are even deploying their own proprietary PFM solutions. Any financial institution that underestimates the significance of the PFM trend is making a big mistake.

5. “We’re Listening”

Financial institutions who believe that their primary purpose on the social web is to listen will solicit feedback — both the good and the bad — from the public, and do so publicly. They are out there on the web saying, “Go ahead and tell us what you think.”

HSBC’s FirstDirect, with a website displaying good and bad customer feedback, is one of the most notable examples. HSBC also invited folks to speak up on its “Soapbox.” There’s also Westpac in Australia with its “Truth Pod.” USAA hosts “What’s on Your Mind.” And United FCU created “Matter” so Gen-Y could rant and complain.

6. Proprietary Applications

ING DIRECT was probably the first to introduce an API for Twitter with its “Fee Tweeter” application. And Vantage Credit Union’s “Tweet My Money” is a fully-proprietary innovation that allows people to access account information and make transfers via Twitter.

Chase hosted a contest for charitable donations using its own proprietary Facebook app. And SunTrust recently launched its “Swap A Solid” Facebook application enabling people to trade durable goods with one another.

Netbanker.com has written extensively about iPhone innovations in the financial industry. Check out their archive of iPhone articles. They even produced a comprehensive (and meaty) report.

7. Remote Deposit Capture

Whether by mobile phone (like USAA and WV United FCU), scanner (like Jefferson Financial) or even the honor system, enabling people to make deposits remotely will be a big trend from now until checks go away.

8. Online Reviews, Q&A Forums

Allowing actual users of your products and services to publicly comment on them at your website is Web 2.0 at its purest: open, honest, transparent and accountable. America First Credit Union was one of the first financial institutions in the country to let people rate and review its products. You can take it a step further and let people ask and answer questions, as USAA has with its “Member 2 Member” forums.

9. Online Contests for Charity

Financial institutions will wake up in 2010 and realize they can be making engaging online promotions out of their charitable donations. Just look at what Servus Credit Union and Wells Fargo have done. None of this was really feasible before social media tools came along. And you don’t need to give away a lot of money, as one credit union proved with its $2,000 scholarship giveaway.

10. UGC

While nothing new, UGC (short for “User-Generated Content”) will continue to be one of the primary ways financial institutions integrate social media tactics into their marketing mix. Financial institutions will host blogger contests, photo contests, “my ugly [fill-in-the-blank]” contests and make-your-own TV contests. Just be careful that you don’t “salt the mine” with your own submissions, as one bank painfully learned.

11. Making “Community” the focus of Online Communities

Instead of building self-serving online social media communities, some financial institutions are trying to help improve their real, offline communities. Check out what this bank and these two credit unions did to help their communities during the recession. To see this strategy lived out to its fullest, take a look at the myriad of ways Caja Navarra supports its communities online. This Spanish bank will put most non-profits (and not-for-profit credit unions) to shame.

12. Automatic Savings Plans

BofA was one of the first to introduce automatic savings programs, with its “Keep The Change” project. Then there was Wachovia’s “Way 2 Save.” Citizens Bank recently introduced “GoalTrack Savings,” a goal-based savings account with rewards. Third-party products like Bancvue’s “Kasasa” are integrating automatic savings options. You can even include automatic savings into your auto loans.

In the midst of your holiday preparations and jubilations, you — along with the rest of America — probably missed the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. Played on December 23, the game pitted the barely-ranked Utah Utes against the unranked Cal State Bears. (FYI – Utah won.)

No one, it seems, likes this name of this bowl game.

It’s almost impossible for sports writers and bloggers to mention the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl without ridiculing the name. Gentler critics describe it as the longest name for a bowl game, perhaps in the entire history of bowl games. Others think it is “the least catchiest name in sports.” Some go so far as to call it “grand champion for worst bowl name ever,” such as U.S. News & World Report who included San Diego County Credit Union in its list of “The Worst College Bowl Sponsors.”

Comments from general public on the name hold no punches:

• “Who the f*** wants to play in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl????”
• “Come for the low-rate fixed home loans and poisonous plants, stay for the football!”
• “What’s better than your bowl being named after a plant? Having a local credit union sponsor it!”
• “San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl? Longest bowl name ever. Like I’m gonna buy your product now. I live in [effing] Alabama.”
• “How the f*** is a credit union big enough to host a bowl game? I smell a ponzi scheme.”

Reality Check: At seven words and 15 syllables, the name is so long and so unwieldy that it will inevitably get shortened. “SD County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.” “SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl.” Or just the “Poinsettia Bowl.” Can you imagine being the announcer for this game?

San Diego County Credit Union has sponsored the Poinsettia Bowl ever since it was created in 2005. SDCCU recently extended its title sponsorship through 2010, with options for 2011 and 2012. With $4.8 billion in assets, over 200,000 members and 25 branches, San Diego County Credit Union is the largest in its area.

The Poinsettia Bowl committee says it has created an aggregate impact on the local economy of $45.5 million since the game’s inception in 2005. According to the committee, last year’s game generated $17.6 million for the San Diego area.

“With the addition of the Poinsettia Bowl four years ago and its pre-Christmas playing date, we are filling hotel rooms and providing patrons for restaurants and shops during one of San Diego’s slowest weeks of the tourism year,” said 2008 President Larry Baber.

Key Questions:

• Is any publicity or exposure good, no matter the context?
• What does this sponsorship cost? If it only cost $50,000, would it be easier to forgive the awkward name?
• Where is the strategic alignment of audience and opportunity? Why sponsor a nationally-televised bowl game when your geographic field of membership is limited to one county in one state? (The credit union’s field of membership actually includes three counties.)
• Is the primary San Diego audience likely to make positive connections between the credit union and the impact on the local economy? Or are they more likely to cringe at a strange and silly sounding name for a bowl game (like the rest of America)?

There are now 35 games in the bloated bowl season schedule. Fourteen bowl games are played on- or after January 1, including the venerated FedEx Orange Bowl and the Rose Bowl presented by Citi. Sports fans know that these are the games that matter. There are another 21 bowl games played before New Year’s Day, most of little consequence because they pair teams with records barely above .500. With names like the “R + L Carriers New Orleans Bowl” and “Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl,” it’s not hard to understand why so few people care.

The Financial Brand sat down with Shari Storm, VP/CMO of Verity Credit Union, and Terrell Meek, Verity’s Marketing Manager, to talk about their latest online social media project, Verity Mom. Verity Credit Union is no stranger to the Web 2.0 world. They are credited with being the first credit union in the U.S. to launch a blog, “Verity Voices.”

Verity Mom puts a mommy twist on the internationally acclaimed Young & Free “challenge marketing” promotion from Currency Marketing. The basic formula in this strategy starts with a huge marketing push to recruit a spokesperson (or “spokester”) who will blog on behalf of the financial institution. An online contest determines the winner of this paid, part-time position. Then over the course of a year, the spokesperson uses online social networking services like blogs, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook to share various perspectives about personal finance issues and the financial institution they represent.

In all the previous deployments of Young & Free, the recruited blogger has been a member of Gen-Y. The use of a mommy blogger represents the first significant variation of Young & Free.

More information is available on the Verity Mom campaign in the project’s Online Media Center, a Fact Sheet and this FAQ.

What’s the strategy behind Verity Mom?

We wanted to launch a program that increases awareness among moms. We also want to use Verity Mom as a vehicle to increase our new member numbers within our community. The account we want to introduce to this market is our Cartwheel Checking (a Rewards Checking product), designed with busy moms in mind.

Verity is phasing out Velocity Checking account, its original high-interest checking option, and is replacing it with Cartwheel Checking, which reduces the maximum balance earning a higher interest rate to $10,000. You can keep as much money as you want in Cartwheel, but only the fist $10,000 get paid the bonus rate. The interest rates on both accounts are the same.

Why moms?

Mothers control 83% of all household spending. Ironically, they have largely been overlooked in the financial industry.

Not only are mothers a powerful market in their own right, they also have tremendous influence on where their kids do their banking. Every financial institution struggles with how to attract younger members. We want to bring in more families into our credit union.

Like most other credit unions, our membership continues to age and we need a blend of members in different stages of their lives in order to balance loan and deposit growth.

Mothers are incredible sources of referrals. We love the quote, “If you can please a mom, you can please anyone.” We want to design products and services that please moms and, in turn, have them tell their networks about us.

Why a blog?

We had been watching the amazing things that Currency Marketing had been doing with Young & Free and we wanted to try something like that. When our board decided that resources were going to be spent reaching the mom market, we approached Tim and his team and asked if we could do a Young & Free, but with moms. And so Verity Mom was born.

VERITYMOM.COM BLOG & MICROSITE

How did you choose Rosemary Garner as your mommy blogger?

“Moms matter!
Verity Credit Union
wants to hear what
moms have to say,
and I’m the voice
to make that happen.”
– Rosemary Garner,
2010 Verity Mom

We used LinkedIn and Craigslist to let people know about the recruitment phase of the project. Rosemary Garner was one of the 34 applicants who submitted an online application — a 60 second video and blog post — in our 2010 Verity Mom contest. Rosemary emerged from our internal judging as one of the top three candidates. After that, she was selected based on votes from website visitors. Thousands of votes were cast.

[Note: For winning the competition and becoming the 2010 Verity Mom, Rosemary gets a $20,000 annual salary, a 13" Apple MacBook Pro notebook computer and a Flip Mino HD video camera.]

What other components are there beyond the blog?

In addition to the microsite, there is a YouTube account, a Twitter account and a Facebook page, each with content provided by Rosemary.

While Rosemary is a great writer, her talents and experience lie in video. She has been a documentary producer for many years. Video will be the most powerful component of Verity Mom.

Rosemary posted her first video this week. She actually interviewed the lead singer of The Presidents of the United States of America, who is doing a side project on a CD for kids. The video is great and he gave a shout out to Verity. It was really fun.

SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS
The Twitter account (left) has 120 followers, and the Facebook page (right) has 23 fans. The five videos uploaded to the YouTube account (below) have been collectively viewed over 2,100 times.

What are you doing to promote the initiative offline?

While we were running the contest, we placed several ads in local newspapers. We also had branch signage and floor decals. We also handed out temporary tattoos all over the place. We were fortunate to get some traditional PR as well. There were a few stories written about the contest in local newspapers, and Rosemary will be attending some community events… perhaps making a TV appearance or two.

TEMPORARY PROMOTIONAL TATTOOS

How are you measuring success? What metrics are you using?

We are looking at new member numbers in our communities as the measure of success.

How long do you plan to run the Mommy blog?

Rosemary will be our Verity Mom spokesperson for one year. Beyond that, we are taking a wait and see approach.

Shari, can you tell us a little bit about new book, “Motherhood is the New MBA.”

Thank you for asking. I recently published a book through St. Martin’s Press on how the skills you use as a parent are the same skills you need to manage people. It’s gotten some good press. It’s been in Costco Connection, HybridMom, Body & Soul, BusinessWeek online as well as Martha Stewart’s radio program, to name a few.

It can be purchased at Amazon.com, or you can get a signed copy through Elliott Bay Book Company.

It has been interesting to have this hobby of writing a book for the mom market and having that overlap so much with what we are doing at my credit union.

Reviewed and written by Jeff Stephens, CEO/Creative Brand Communications

Servus Credit Union, the third largest in Canada, has just about wrapped up its “Cash in with Your Camcorder” promotion, a make-your-own-TV-commercial contest highlighting the financial institution’s signature Young & Free Chequing Account.

The promotion is part of the credit union’s Young & Free Alberta initiative, a broad, multi-year “challenge marketing program” from Currency Marketing that has deservedly received much acclaim.

INTRODUCTORY VIDEO
An unshaven Myles Peterman, the 2009 Young & Free spokesperson, dons an undershirt while introducing the contest from his bedroom computer cam.

The Cash In With Your Camcorder contest invited residents of Alberta, Canada, between the ages of 18-25 to create 30-second video commercials about “why the Young & Free Chequing Account rocks.” Prizes included a $2,000 grand prize, and a $1,000 second place prize.

“You could buy an airport for that,” observes 2009 Young & Free spokesperson Myles Petermen says. “It would be made of Legos, but it would be an airport.”

In addition to getting cash, winners may also find their videos used in future advertising.

CONTEST ENTRY – “FINANCIAL IDOL”
This submission comes from the previous Young & Free spokester, Larissa Walkiw. The singing trio in this video uses the same stick-figure style as the video that catapulted Ms. Walkiw to international credit union fame back in 2008. With over 75,000 views, Larissa’s “The Difference Between Banks & Credit Unions” is the most-watched YouTube video in the credit union industry…worldwide. If you’re one of the few that hasn’t seen it, you should take a look.

Launched in late October, participants have been submitting their home-made commercials to the credit union. The credit union provided a “starter kit” of standard elements and other video graphics (such as logos) to help contestants with their entries.

People were able to vote for their favorite submissions on the Young & Free Alberta site through the month of November. Winners will be announced on Friday, December 4.

YOUNG & FREE ALBERTA MICROSITE
Shown here in the voting phase of the contest.

MARKETING MATERIALS

In addition to promoting Cash In With Your Camcorder on the Young & Free website, Peterman also pushed the contest on the Young & Free Facebook page (278 fans) and Twitter account (720 followers).

The Young & Free Chequing Account, available to the 17-25 year-old Alberta crowd, features free and unlimited withdrawals from network ATMs, account transfers, point-of-sale transactions, cheques, bill payments, and more. It is positioned as a simple and easy-to-understand product for those just starting to manage their own finances. The product is unique among Canadian financial institutions who seldom offer free chequing accounts.

There is an online application for the Young & Free Chequing Account integrated directly into the the credit union’s microsite that is so fantastically simple, you’ll have to see it to believe it.

Analysis

• The primary benefit of the campaign for Servus Credit Union is the super cheap marketing they get for their youth account. Giving away $3,000 in prize money is much more cost-effective than having a professional commercial made.
• The secondary benefit is increased website traffic and word of mouth, since contenders will be pushing all of their friends to visit the Young & Free Alberta site and vote. It’s highly a engaging promotion, regardless of the number of submissions.
• Contestants are in it primarily for the cash prize and the shot at getting their creative work used in real advertising. For former spokester Larissa, who is currently pursuing a degree in film, having her ad used by a company for commercial purposes would look good on her resume.

Key Takeaways:

If you’re going to hold a “make-your-own-TV-commercial contest,” there are a few things you should learn from the Cash In With Your Camcorder promo:

1. Consider defining the specific focus of the commercial, as Servus did when they asked contestants to concentrate on the credit union’s unique chequing product. If you don’t provide a range, then you better be prepared to receive entries encompassing the full spectrum of possibilities — loans, savings, checking, brand… who knows?
2. Provide your logo, slogan, colors and other creative resources to assist entrants with their submissions. This also helps create a standardized framework or “visual vocabulary” for entries.
3. Never promise the winning video will run on TV. With any kind of online vote, you can never be sure of the turnout, so don’t obligate yourself to publicly running a commercial that would make you (and your CEO) uncomfortable. You can entice contestants with the mere possibility that — if their submission is appropriate — it may actually air.

Bottom Line: All in all, Cash In With Your Camcorder is one of those smart contests where the winners benefit, but the credit union gains even more.

———————————————————————————————————————————
About the author: Jeff Stephens is founder and CEO of Creative Brand Communications (CBC), a full-service bank and credit union branding and marketing agency. CBC helps financial institutions find their story, tell it, and most importantly, prove it.

Yesterday’s article about the archaic credit union term for checking accounts (“share draft accounts”) sparked a wider debate about the very future of what checking accounts should be called. As Bryan Link with Brightleaf Financial wonders, “The name ‘Checking Account’ implies its main purpose is writing checks, although for a growing segment this account is mainly for automatic drafts and debit card transactions.”

Key Questions:

• If fewer and fewer people are using checks, why are they still referred to as checking accounts?
• If the trend towards paperless payments continues and you look ahead 15-20 years, how many people (regular consumers, not businesses) will still be using checks? For that matter, how many people will still be using cash?
• When will paper checks become obsolete? When that happens, what will checking accounts — as a category of financial products — be called?

Are ‘checking accounts’ obsolete?

As more financial institutions respond to people’s environmental concerns, and as they increasingly shift consumers to online channels, they’ve renamed their checking accounts accordingly:

• e-Checking
• e-Account
• Green$ense
• Greener Choices Checking
• Totally Green Checking
  (where you get your first box of checks free)

Key Question: If you offer a “green” checking account, why would you offer checks? In which case, why would you call it a “checking account” at all?

Some of the new names proposed for checkless checking accounts include:

• Debit Accounts (suggested by Ron Shevlin, senior analyst with Aite Group)
• Transaction Accounts
• Spending Accounts (suggested by Tim McAlpine from Currency Marketing)
• Cash Accounts (suggested by Brent Dixon, a financial marketing/design wizard)
• Virtual Accounts (suggested by Carla Day from CU Chat Up)

Further Discussion: What do you think? What suggestions do you have for the future name of “[Checking] Accounts?” What terms do financial institutions in other parts of the world use? Will people still refer to them generically as “bank accounts” no matter what name they’re given?

“If it walks like a duck
and squawks like a duck…
…it’s a duck.”
– Ron Shevlin,
Senior Analyst
Aite Group

What should credit unions call checking accounts? It’s not a trick question. Hundreds of U.S. credit unions still use the technically accurate term “share draft” to refer to their checking accounts. But most experts in the credit union industry agree that this is a big mistake. They warn that consumers who already struggle to understand the basic concept of credit unions are likely to be confused and frustrated by such an obscure term.

Chuck Bruen, CEO First Entertainment Credit Union says the term “share draft” is as awful as it is unnecessary. “To me it is like fingers on a chalk board.”

Bruen, a self-professed credit union old-timer who says he knows all about the history of “share draft,” wonders why a credit union would ever try marketing something called a “share draft account.”

“First, whenever you use it you have to explain what it is,” Bruen explains. “And second, it sounds like something less negotiable than a check.”

“Credit union marketing folks only have a sliver of time to sell to members,” Bruen points out. “They should not waste that moment on misguided philosophical or legal positions.”

Bruen isn’t alone. Plenty of his credit union peers share his disdain for “share drafts.”

“They come looking for CHECKING. They want online BANKING, too. We have to speak their language,” says Joe Mecca, Marketing Communications Manager at Coastal Federal Credit Union.

“Consumers identify with ‘checking,’ so that’s what we use,” explains Eric Acree, EVP/Vantage Credit Union.

Reality Check: Ron Shevlin, a senior analyst with Aite sums up the sentiment shared by most financial marketers. “If it walks like a duck and squawks like a duck, it’s a duck.”

[Editor's Note: A paragraph that appeared here has been removed because the person quoted did not approve the use of a comment they made on Twitter for use in this story.]

“’Share draft’ differentiates credit unions in the same way a three-legged chair does from four-legged one — confusing and noticeably awkward,” says John Waupsh, CEO, FIRST ROI.

Mark Arnold, a consultant and author in the financial industry, agrees. “If consumers don’t know what ’share draft’ means, it can’t be a differentiator.”

“Find ways to be different other than with old terms,” Arnold advises.

“This is where the marketing needs to step up and put another confusing industry term in the historical time capsule,” recommends Randy Schultz, VP Marketing for Weber Marketing Group.

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For Discussion: Malinda Wood, Vice President of Marketing, UT Federal Credit Union in Knoxville, doesn’t use the term “share draft” at her organization, but sees “value in reinforcing ‘shares’ as ownership.”

• How else can credit unions communicate the concept of “ownership?”
• What real value or benefit is there to being a member with a “share?”

Further Reading: This fascinating article from 1977 reflects a time when it was illegal to pay interest on checking accounts. Credit unions were drawing bankers ire as they started offering “share drafts” despite never receiving authorization from Congress.

Reviewed and written by Jeff Stephens, CEO of Creative Brand Communications,
with Jeffry Pilcher, Publisher of TheFinancialBrand.com.

“Visions FCU Rocks.
Where young people
do their banking.”
— Visions FCU
Facebook page

Despite having a branch near Binghamton University, home to over 14,000 students, Visions Federal Credit Union struggled attracting young adults. Over the past few months, the credit union has tried to fix that with its Vision FCU Rocks program. The initiative involves a number of traditional- and non-traditional marketing tactics designed to raise their profile in the student community.

Coinciding with the start of fall term, Visions launched a youth-oriented microsite at VISIONSfcuROCKS.org. The site is geared towards students, taking the unusual approach of promoting financial products at two specific age segments:

• For ages 13-17, the credit union offers Smart Start Loans (to $350), computer loans, auto loans and Youth Visa Credit Cards.
• For ages 18-25, Visions offers auto loans, computers loans, no-fee Mastercards, Student Visa cards and student loans.

Key Question: Why doesn’t Visions promote any checking, savings or other DDAs to either group? Why is it all about loans?

The microsite streams contemporary music tracks while visitors can learn more about the credit union’s various promotions, such as its “BFF Photo Contest.” The current promotion on the VISIONSfcuROCKS.org website invites participants to rewrite the lyrics to “The 12 Days of Christmas.”

VISIONSfcuROCKS.org

12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS LYRICS CONTEST
“We’re asking you to come up with some new lyrics to this old song, ones that reflect the things that you really want! Be creative, be cute, and be crazy!”

On the surface, the microsite looks good, but a little digging reveals that it isn’t very robust. Over half of the links open to pages on the main Visions site, which is visually very different. It would be better to have all secondary pages on VISIONSfcuROCKS.org integrated into the microsite to create a more consistent and cohesive online experience.

Social Networking with Gen-Y

“Gen Y is important
to Visions Federal
Credit Union. Visions
offers Gen Y Initiatives.”
– Visions FCU website

As part of its effort to reach Gen-Y, the credit union also created a Facebook page (386 fans) and Twitter stream (182 followers). “These social networking sites are changing the way that our Gen-Y members are doing business,” the credit union says. “Visions has decided to utilize them as a way to communicate with this growing part of our membership.”

You can read the credit union’s entire Gen-Y strategy on the Visions website, where they discuss “social networking,” “financial literacy” and why “Gen-Y is important to Visions.”

A “Gen-Y Friendly Branch”

Visions also expanded with a new branch situated adjacent to University Plaza, an off-campus apartment complex for Binghamton students. The branch interior boasts a contemporary, colorful design, featuring a music café with headsets that hang from the ceiling, free WiFi, bean bag chairs, four full-service ATMs, a community bulletin board and large flat screen TVs broadcasting sports, news, and credit union marketing messages.

CONCEPTUAL RENDERINGS OF THE ‘GEN-Y FRIENDLY’ BRANCH

Visions promoted the new branch on the university’s radio station, distributed invitations in student orientation bags and mailboxes, and even printed custom t-shirts. Back in September, the credit union held a Guitar Hero Tournament at the branch to welcome back Binghamton University students returning for the new semester.

The credit union also partnered with Musicstream LIVE, a service that promotes financial literacy to young adults through live music, to hold a pair of concerts. Concerts held at the university and a local high school drew a combined total of over 1,500 students. Visions emceed the events, and hosted a booth where students could enter to win prizes and get more information about the credit union.

“This program creates awareness in the community that our credit union cares about the future of our young adults and does it in a non-traditional way,” said Jayne Searles, AVP Marketing & Business Development. “Feedback from administrators at both schools was fabulous. They thought it was a unique way to get the message out and a great way to start the school year off for their students.”

BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY FEST 2009
Videos of the Visions-sponsored concerts show the credit union talking a lot about themselves and financial topics. With a strong brand presence at the event (including banners and booths with prize drawings), a one-sentence introduction might have sufficed.

Visions FCU, has over $2 billion in assets and more than 122,000 members, with 23 branches throughout Central New York and Northern Pennsylvania.

———————————————————————————————————————————
About the author: Jeff Stephens is founder and CEO of Creative Brand Communications (CBC), a full-service bank and credit union branding and marketing agency. CBC helps financial institutions find their story, tell it, and most importantly, prove it.

The announcement from JP Morgan Chase that its retail banking arm is giving away $5 million to charities via a Facebook promotion signals an emerging trend in how financial institutions allocate their corporate donations. By adding relatively simple and straightforward marketing components, financial institutions are transforming their charitable contributions into feel-good, name awareness promotions.

‘Chase Community Giving: You Decide What Matters’

In the first round of the Chase Community Giving program, Facebook users will nominate non-profits, then vote to determine which organizations will receive Chase’s philanthropy funds. The top 100 getting the most votes will receive $25,000 each, and will move on to the next round.

Chase Community Giving: You Decide What Matters

In round two, these organizations can submit a proposal for a $1 million grant. Facebook users will vote to pick the winner. The five runners-up will receive $100,000 each. Additionally, Chase will donate another $1 million to the charity of its choice.

“This innovative program unleashes the charitable passions of our neighbors, friends and colleagues to rally around the issues and organizations that are most meaningful to them,” said Kimberly Davis, President of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation.

Key Insights:

• This type of promotion taps the networking power of organizations that have mastered the art of grassroots campaigns. Non-profits excel at mobilizing their troops. With a bucket of money at stake, expect these organizations to do a lot of the marketing leg work for you.
• People who support causes and work for charities tend to be better educated, and anyone getting involved in this type of promotion will be online. They have to be. That’s where the voting takes place.

“Even though this is a Facebook-based program, we’ve already had over 100,000 visitors from Twitter alone,” the spokesperson told Marketing Daily. Keep in mind: This was accomplished without Chase ever sending one tweet. In fact, Chase is one of the few big banks that doesn’t even have an active presence on Twitter. The passionistas are tweeting for them.

An emerging trend

Chase joins other banks and credit unions who are opting to give consumers a say regarding what kind of charitable activities should receive monetary support. This year, Umpqua Bank included Click 4A Cause as part of its Save Hard, Spend Smart campaign, where every vote equaled a $1 donation to one of three charities, each competing for a $15,000 grand prize. Last year Wells Fargo held its Someday Stories promo with two parts: a competition among charities, and a $150,000 “dream fulfillment” contest for do-gooders to make their lifelong aspirations a reality.

Umqua’s ‘Click4aCause’ (left) and Wells Fargo’s ‘Someday Stories’ (right).

Reality Checks:

• This is money you are already giving away. Milk it for all its worth.
• For financial cooperatives like credit unions, this type of democratic approach should come as second nature.

“Every year, our company donates more than $100 million to non-profit organizations in local communities, nationally and abroad, and our employees dedicate countless hours of their own time to helping those in need,” said Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase. “The grassroots nature of Facebook will allow us to hear directly which local charities matter most to our communities, hopefully creating an even bigger impact.”

The $5 million Facebook effort from Chase is in addition to the bank’s traditional philanthropic giving. If successful, the bank hopes to allocate more of its annual philanthropy budget using these methods.

“We look forward to applying the learning from this program to future philanthropic endeavors,” said Chase’s Davis.

For Discussion: What are the downsides to this approach, if any?

Bottom Line: Some people may dispute the strategic brand value of charitable contributions, but if your financial institution is committed to giving money away, why not get the most out of it? Relative to the amount you’re donating, the added marketing layer doesn’t cost much. Engaging people around their passions while generating positive PR and word-of-mouth buzz is never a bad thing, right?

Tip: Let people vote as often as they like in these promotions. Do not cap votes at one per day or one per person. If someone wants to sit around hitting the refresh button on their browser all day, why stop them? Remember, you’re tapping a passionate audience.

Recommended Reading: Trendwatching’s “Generation G” (that would be “G” for “generosity,” not “G” for “greed”).

In the weeks leading up to the grand opening of AltaOne Federal Credit Union latest branch, the credit union sent out a street team to conduct random acts of kindness. The hitch? No one knew AltaOne was behind the good deeds. AltaOne waited to uncloak themselves until the night of the grand opening.

For four weeks, the credit union’s street team traveled a 3-mile radius around the new branch location, anonymously conducting “good deeds,” such as paying a family’s dinner bill, or surprising a local fire department with a free lunch. The only information the street team provided was a simple printed card with little more than a web address, GoodDeedsDoneDaily.com.

COMMUNITY PRESENCE
The ‘Good Deeds’ street team in uniform, and wrapped vehicle graphics.

Simon+ Associates, the marketing firm behind the AltaOne promotion believes it is imperative marketers focus less on advertising and more on creative ideas that provoke real interest.

“The promotion was designed as a viral campaign to engage the community and residents on a personal level, while generating increased interest by concealing the client’s name,” the agency said.

The promotional microsite was updated often with the street team’s latest good deeds. Visitors could read about good things the street team had done, and request a good deed for someone else in the community.

All the credit union’s marketing materials included reminders to “check back at the microsite often for the invitation to the ‘big reveal.’”

Three days prior to the grand opening, the credit union used its social media channels and created special printed pieces to invite people to the event.

The Good Deeds Done Daily campaign included a Facebook page, Twitter account under the name @DoGooders, and a YouTube channel. All accounts have been deactivated, and the microsite pulled down, which is a bit disappointing. The credit union did all these good deeds, and now there’s no public record. Even if the site only attracted a handful of visitors after the promo concluded, it feels like a missed opportunity to build goodwill and foster positive brand perceptions.

According to Simon+ Associates, the results of the campaign include:

• 500+ attendees at the grand opening event
• Over 6,000 Unique Hits to MicroSite
• Total new deposits of $1,214,714.24
• ROI of 809.8%

If you like AltaOne’s Good Deeds campaign, check out these other promotions. There are some similar ideas financial marketers might want to explore further:

• Umpqua Bank – “Free Ice Cream Truck”
  The truck is sent to markets where Umpqua is about to open a new branch, giving away ice cream for a few weeks prior to the grand opening. Between the promotional-, PR- and word-of-mouth value, Umpqua gets plenty of mileage out of its truck.
• TD Bank – “Random Acts of Convenience”
  Street teams called “Convenience Crews” conduct “Random Acts of Convenience” in NYC and Philadelphia to announce TD’s takeover of Commerce Bank in that area.
• Servus Credit Union – “Feel Good Ripple”
  This article looks at the recent trend of “pay it forward” promotions sweeping the credit union industry.
• Advantis Credit Union – “Grand Opening Promo”
  This campaign yielded $35 million in deposits and 800 new members. That’s 3 years’ results in 2 days.

MICROSITE
The site (above) shows the invitation to the grand opening after AltaOne revealed its involvement. The two screenshots (below) show how the site looked prior to the reveal. Notice the map showing the route of the ‘Good Deeds’ street team. Total visits: 6,000. Unique visitors: 4,000. Average time on site: about 3 minutes 30 seconds.

DIRECT MAIL
Postcards were mailed within a 2-mile radius of the branch
for four consecutive Mondays before the grand opening event.

TWITTER ACCOUNT
Cleverly named @DoGooders.

FACEBOOK PAGE

PRINT ADS
Newspaper insertions on the four consecutive Sundays before the event.
Inserts were placed in the largest circulating newspaper in the area.

GRAND OPENING EVENT
Tents set up outside the branch to handle additional extra capacity.

Reviewed and written by Jeff Stephens, CEO of Creative Brand Communications

“The campaign doesn’t presume students want to engage with their bank.”
– Rapp for ANZ

ANZ Bank New Zealand youth campaign GettingUThru should serve as one model financial institutions should consider when looking for ways to effectively target students and young adults. The campaign includes social media components and centers around a comprehensive microsite, GettingUThru.com. The site has five feature sections, including:

• Student Package – No-fee transaction account, a credit card with a $500 limit, 3 months free mobile banking, and (of course) free internet and phone banking.
• Survival Tips – Tips for those on a tight budget, submitted by students.
• Budgeting Calculator – A very creative, unusual, yet simple approach using a figurative money meter.
• Job Search – In partnership with a third-party. You’ll end up at the Student Job Search website if you conduct a query.
• Student Deals – Supposedly where students can find deals from other companies, although there’s only a handful.

The bank was very particular about avoiding cash bribes as part of the campaign. While account-opening incentives may convince students to initially sign up, they aren’t good tools for building long-term customer relationships. Instead, ANZ opted for an approach that centered around their audience’s needs. Fully recognizing that students don’t care about banking, ANZ instead focused on the single financial matter students do care about: having no money. Thus, a microsite was born that provides budgeting tools, money-saving ideas and peer-to-peer advice.

Interactive budgeting “meter” (above center), budgeting “survival tips” (lower left), and a rhetorical “survey” (lower right).

GettingUThru is very youth-oriented without trying too hard to be cool. The campaign addresses students’ greatest need – not going broke – with humorous advice like, “Brew your own beer.” The short video clips on the microsite are hilarious, and look like they were filmed by real students (agency Rapp New Zealand is actually behind all the fun). Content is partially user-submitted, facilitating interaction between the bank and its customers.

Wayne Pick of Rapp says, “Instead of a bank doing all the talking and advising, students began to talk to the bank and dishing out advice of their own. And after that, without any incentives, record numbers went on and opened accounts.”

The campaign has been successful. According to ANZ, “In just one month, over 10,000 students flooded online, over 7,000 students had opened accounts — that’s a 10% increase year-on-year.” GettingUThru also won a Bronze Lion at the Cannes International Advertising Festival this summer.

Looking to emulate ANZ’s success? Remember that offering relevant products, building rapport, fostering two-way communication and remaining genuine are key.
———————————————————————————————————————————
About the author: Jeff Stephens is founder and CEO of Creative Brand Communications (CBC), a full-service bank and credit union branding and marketing agency. CBC helps financial institutions find their story, tell it, and most importantly, prove it.

BRANCH POSTER

EMERGENCY WALLPAPER FOR DORM ROOMS

Reviewed and written by Tony Mannor, CEO of Andermahr & Company

I always get excited when financial institutions venture out and try something new — to shrug off the hot and itchy grey flannel suit and put on some shorts, flops and sunglasses, and relax a little. This is the environment that marketers can really make their mark and prove their differentiation. That’s why I was so excited to review EDS Credit Union’s project, “The Arrival Guide.”

I have never heard of EDS Credit Union before, so my breakdown and analysis will be entirely based on my 12 years of experience in user-interface design and internet marketing, plus 10 years’ experience in credit union marketing.

So here it is: “The Good,” “The Bad” and “The Ugly.”

The Good

Any time a credit union tries to speak to the youth category, it is a good thing. You can’t go wrong trying to open lines of communication, so the prominent display of both their Twitter and Facebook accounts is a nice touch.

The design should appeal to the target Gen-Y demographic, but will also be visually pleasing to anyone else who may visit. It’s not overwhelmed by content, so the message stands out with great impact.

The video is kind of cute, but fairly typical fare from credit unions these day. Not bad, not great. However, the use of “swagger” kind of had me rolling my eyes, but it was a solid attempt and proper use of slang.

“NO CASH, NO SWAGGER”
EDS Credit Union has a dedicated YouTube page for ‘The Arrival Guide’ with four other videos.

The “Tweetbox” on the home page is also nice, assuming you have good stuff to share. Which it seems they do. They have tweets directed to specific people (members or not). EDS corporate isn’t proof-reading every tweet, and references to local concerts and other such chatter consistent with the target is what Twitter is all about. Their Twitter account is followed by over 200 people, while EDS follows over 400 tweeters. It’s a good ratio, something that is difficult for some people to manage.

The linked Facebook fan page is doing well with almost 400 fans. That, my friends, is quite the coup for a financial institution. I don’t know if it is the content that gets updated consistently, a viral marketing effect, or the incredibly attractive young ladies in the photo stream. Whatever it is, it’s working.

FACEBOOK PAGE FOR ‘THE ARRIVAL GUIDE’

The Bad

The website doesn’t really create the sale. There are no links to “become a member” or anything. I can’t understand that.

All the momentum created on the first page comes to a screaming halt on the internal pages. The copy is kind of boring, as are the internal pages. No more videos, no more pictures — just scrolling boxes o’ text. The “Old School” scrolling text box defeats any “street cred” earned on the home page.

Once in the site, I am a little lost as to what I am supposed to do. Why am I here again? Oh, because I have “Arrived.”

The Twitter profile page caries the same design as the website. The content is solid, although it can be a little salesy at times. The big faux pas here is that it was designed for a huge screen. There are links on the bottom left that many screens (including mine) will cut off, and my screen is pretty big with the resolution set pretty high. Joe Twitter will probably never see those links.

TWITTER PAGE FOR ‘THE ARRIVAL GUIDE’

And regarding the title for the promo, has the typical member of Gen-Y ever heard the expression, “You’ve arrived?”

The Ugly

After you watch the commercial on the home page, you get the typical YouTube slide shows of other videos that are similar to the content that you’ve viewed. This is incredibly dangerous and something that I recommend financial institutions do not do.

Don’t get me wrong, “remote hosting” of video content on YouTube — like what EDS is doing here — is great. It does good things for search engine optimization and helps spread the word. But streaming it from your official, branded website? Not so good…

Here’s why. One of the links that came up for me was a Sam Kinison comedy bit. Now I think Sam is funny, and I was kind of happy to get to listen to it while on the clock. But then Sam started talking about an Asian shopkeeper, using an exaggerated accent and obscenities that was pretty much, well, racist. Not cool to be watching that while still on a credit union’s official website.

If you cannot stream the video from your own server, select a content host that limits how far a user can get from your original content. This will help keep the craziness from diluting your message, and possibly save you from a major embarrassment.

Summary

Okay, I shot some arrows at this thing, some of which may seem a little harsh. But all-in-all it was a great effort by the folks at EDS, and the primary microsite is solid.

I’m guessing there’s a lot more to The Arrival Guide campaign than what we can see on the web. I get the feeling from some photos on their Flickr page that there is some serious marketing out in the real world — as there should be. (What is that in the photo? Is that a postcard? Or a real, printed guide? And are those Dum Dum pops in the background?) This is where you are going to really create buzz. A website is just a part of that real world effort.

These types of promotional microsites and various social media tools aren’t “silver bullets,” or “golden keys,” or whatever you want to call them. They should be just a part of a larger marketing campaign. Online social media is just a tool, and if you are going to build an entire house, you need more than just a hammer. You need a variety of tools that all do something specific to achieve the desired results. And it helps to know how- and when to use each tool.

——————————

Tony Mannor is CEO of Andermahr & Company — The Credit Union Marketing Agency. Tony is the chief blogger at CUHype.com and a regular writer and speaker on topics of technology, Internet marketing and credit union marketing. Andermahr & Company has been providing award winning marketing and design to credit unions for over 27 years.

Almost a year ago to the day, Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union unveiled a new type of promotion never before seen in the financial industry. They asked people, “If we gave you $10? What would you do for someone else?” For their answers, the credit union gave away $10 to people — free — with the assignment to “pay it forward.”

The credit union gave $10 to 182 people, awarding a $1,000 prize to one. For a $2,820 investment, the credit union yielded $1.3 million in tracked PR value.

Skip ahead a year, and you can see other credit unions have clearly taken note. At least three other credit unions — one in Canada and two in the United States — have recently deployed the “Pay It Forward” promotion. It would seem the “pay it forward” concept has transcended itself, creating ripples up through the industry and not just down from one credit union.

Servus Credit Union: ‘Feel Good Ripple’

The credit union then wants you to share your “feel good deeds” on their website. For each story someone shares, they are entered to win one of ten $500 donations. There’s already been over 180 “feel good deeds” submitted. You can read them by clicking here.

The initiative has its own dedicated microsite, feelgoodripple.ca. Overall, the site delivers a contemporary take on retro-70s themes, subconsciously tapping our inner-hippie. The site is rich with creative, branded language like “keep the ripple alive,” and “let’s make ripples together.” There’s even a “Ripple Counter.”

“We’re asking you to make someone’s day. Anyone’s day. All in the spirit of community. Help a stranger carry groceries to their car. Give a calling card to someone far from home. Volunteer to walk dogs for an animal shelter. Do something. Anything! Make someone feel good and inspire them to do the same for someone else.”

The site has built-in functions for people to share the Feel Good Ripple with others via popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Click on the hotlink to share via Twitter, and a new window will appear with an auto-populated tweet: “Join the movement. Make someone’s day and inspire them to do the same for someone else. #ripple http://feelgoodripple.ca”

“This concept of sharing reinforces our strong cooperative beliefs,” the Feel Good Ripple microsite says. “This demonstrates just how different we are from the banks.”

Servus Credit Union’s slogan is “Feel good about your money,” so there seems to be nice brand alignment with this promotion.

Tonawanda Valley FCU – Pay It Forward

The credit union is deploying an almost identical version of Seattle Metropolitan’s original Feel Good promotion.

At a special event this Thursday (October 15th), anyone who answers this question on video gets $10: “If TVFCU gave you $10, what would you do for someone else?”

A panel will select 10 finalists, whose videos will be posted on the credit union’s website. The public will vote on the best idea, and the winner will be awarded “$1,000 to use however they wish in contributing toward their cause.”

Educational Credit Union – Pay It Forward

Same basic strategy here, only it’s $20 free, with the assignment to “create your ripple and pay it forward.”

Video responses to the challenge will be posted on the credit union’s YouTube account. The video with the most comments will pocket $500 and receive a $500 donation to their charity of choice.

Source: Thanks to Market Insights Insiders for bringing these three promotions to The Financial Brand’s attention via their Twitter account.