05/05/2009

Young & Free Alberta wins the 2009 National Credit Union Innovation Award from Credit Union Central of Canada

By Tim McAlpine

Here's another great honour for Servus Credit Union's Young & Free Alberta! It was announced today in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the Credit Union Central of Canada's 2009 Canadian Conferene for Credit Union Executives that Servus is the 2009 recipient of the National Credit Union Innovation Award. Here's the official press release.

Here's what Canada's highest credit union award is all about:

Innovation. Creative thinking at individual credit unions is responsible for landmark innovations in service, technology and management. The National Credit Union Innovation Award highlights the role of an individual credit union in creating breakthrough solutions that can serve as a model for others.

Making change work. Sharing innovative ideas benefits both the individual credit union and the credit union system. The credit union that receives The National Credit Union Innovation Award is recognized for its effort in making change. Through the sharing of innovative ideas, the credit union system will maintain its leadership role in the financial service industry.

Servus joins a fantastic group of previous winners:

2008 – Coast Capital Savings (British Columbia)
2007 – Vancity (British Columbia)
2006 – Newfoundland & Labrador Credit Union
2005 – Alterna Credit Union (Ontario)
2004 – Nelson & District Credit Union (British Columbia)
2003 – Mennonite Savings & Credit Union (Ontario)

Congratulations must go to the great leadership team at Servus and the fantastic Young & Free Alberta team within the credit union including Kim, Jere, Myles and Larissa.

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12/04/2008

Our 2008 RRSP campaign for Envision Financial just earned a silver CMA Award

By Tim McAlpine

I first blogged about this campaign back in June. Envision Financial recently entered it into the Canadian Marketing Association Awards and we just learned that our campaign won a silver award in the Financial Services – Wealth Management category. Pretty cool, considering that it was competing against Canada’s five major banks and credit unions from across the country.

Financial Products and Services: Wealth Management

Bronze
Company: BMO InvestorLine
Campaign: BMO InvestorLine’s Amazing 8 Campaign
Agency: Tribal DDB Vancouver

Silver
Company: Envision Financial
Campaign: 2008 RRSP Campaign
Agency: Currency Marketing

Gold
Company: BMO Financial Group
Campaign: BMO RSP Decoder DM
Agency: Blitz Direct, Data & Promotion, a division of Cossette

Canadian financial institutions use all of their marketing firepower in January and February to promote Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs). March 1 is the deadline for Canadians to invest in these tax-sheltered investment products.

Envision had an aggressive $28 million dollar deposit growth goal. This coordinated campaign helped Envision secure more than $100 million in RRSP investments during the first two months of 2008!

Congratulations to Ashok and Michelle at Envision. It was our pleasure to play a part in this successful campaign.

If you are in the throes of putting together your 2009 RRSP campaign and need some help, drop me an e-mail. We'd love to get involved.

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10/29/2008

Wow! Young & Free Alberta wins first place in the Forrester Groundswell Awards

By Tim McAlpine

I was in Dallas at the Forrester Consumer Forum today accepting the first place Groundswell Award in the Talking category on behalf of Common Wealth Credit Union.

This is the biggest recognition yet for Young & Free Alberta and I actually kept a lid on it since finding out 19 days ago! Here is a little video that documents my trouble with keeping secrets.

 
What are the Groundswell Awards?

The Forrester Groundswell Awards recognize excellence in accomplishing business goals with social applications. Forrester developed this awards program to support and recognize the principles outlined in the Forrester book Groundswell: Winning In A World Transformed By Social Technologies (Harvard Business Press, 2008). Winners were selected based on a combination of online community reviews and proof of business value. The awards recognize companies that effectively use social media across seven categories: Listening, Talking, Energizing, Supporting, Embracing, Managing and Social Impact.

What's the big deal?

The big deal is being recognized as the best initiative amongst the 34 nominated entries in the Talking category. Honestly, I thought being included with this group was recognition enough, but winning against these incredible initiatives is hard to fathom.

• Quickbooks Community
• Kraft Philadelphia Cream Cheese blog
• Bud Light Facebook application
• Sears Arrive Lounge
• General Motors iGotShotgun launch site for new Corvette
• American Express OPEN Forum
• The Wall Street Journal Get Socialized
• Intel Chinese user-generated advertising campaign
• Rubbermaid's Adventures in Organization blog
• Johnson & Johnson health channel on YouTube
• Microsoft Office Poke Facebook application
• Coca Cola's MyCokeRewards.com

Wow! We are all on cloud nine. Thanks again to everyone who has been a part of this initiaitive.

+ Click here to see all of the finalists and winners in each category
+ Click here for our press release

Subscribe today + RSS + Blog by E-mail + E-newsletter + Follow me on Twitter

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09/12/2008

Common Wealth Credit Union's Young & Free Alberta is up for a Forrester Research Groundswell Award

By Tim McAlpine

Young & Free Alberta is up for a Forrester Groundswell Award. This is exciting for a number of reasons.

1. Groundswell is the definitive, must-read book that proves the value of social media in business. To be associated with it is an honour.
    
2. A little ol' credit union is up against the likes of American Express, Coca Cola, Rubbermaid, Sears, The Wall Street Journal, General Motors, Microsoft, Intel, Accuview and Johnson & Johnson. Mega brands with mega budgets!

Here is the entry page that we put together for Common Wealth.

The entries are judged by an expert panel and one thing that the panel will look at is reviews and votes. If you have followed along and have liked Young & Free Alberta, could you please vote for it or write a review?

Credit Unions For the Win!

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06/08/2008

Credit union marketing award season ends with a bang at the MACU AIME Awards

By Tim McAlpine

A few of us from Currency attended the MACU Marketing Games Conference in Whistler. A couple of session highlights where an inspirational talk by Warren MacDonald (click on the Oprah clip and you will see what I am talking about) and a social media tour de force delivered by Mitch Joel from Twist Image.

But the real highlight for us was a fine showing at the Achievement in Marketing Excellence (AIME) awards. Work for two of our clients was recognized.

Common Wealth's Young & Free Alberta program earned five awards in the $1 Billion + Assets division: 

• Gold AIME Award for New Product Launch
• Silver AIME Award for Coordinated Campaigns
• Silver AIME Award for Radio
• Silver AIME Award for Websites
• People's Choice Award

And, Envision Financial's RRSP campaign earned two awards in the $1 Billion +  Assets division:

• Gold AIME Award for Coordinated Campaigns (beating out Y&F!)
• Silver AIME Award for Radio

Thanks again to everyone involved. Teamwork at its finest.

That's the last post on awards for awhile. It has been an excited four week run. I will now get back to the usual blog content and commentary!

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05/22/2008

Young & Free Alberta wins big at the MAC Awards!

By Tim McAlpine

Nala just e-mailed terrific news from the gala dinner at the MAC 2008 Education Conference in Newport Beach, Calfiornia. The Young & Free Alberta campaign came up big at the MAC Awards tonight!

• Gold Award for market segment program over $500 million category
• Gold Award for editorial public relations program over $500 million category
• Gold Award for websites over $500 million category
• Best of Show MACQUEE Award for coordinated campaigns

We were up against over 400 entries from all across North America. After the super showing last week at the CUES Golden Mirror Awards, we continue to float on cloud nine!

Thanks again to the Currency team, the Common Wealth Credit Union team, our PR partners, Brookline Public Relations, our media partners, DSA Media, our technology partners, K1 Technology. And, I've said it before, but a real special thanks to Larissa Walkiw—who continues to prove the Young & Free story everyday!

Here is a link to the press release.

P.S. Thanks to Morriss Partee for snapping the photo!

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05/13/2008

Y&F scores CUES Golden Mirror Hat-Trick!

By Tim McAlpine

This is a super-quick note to report that Common Wealth Credit Union's Young & Free Alberta campaign scored a CUES Golden Mirror hat-trick tonight!

• First place for image enhancement campaigns over $700 million category
• First place for segmented campaigns all assets category
• First place for public relations all assets category

We were up against over 900 entries. Needless to say, I am super stoked.

Thanks to the Currency team, the Common Wealth Credit Union team, our PR partners, Brookline Public Relations, our media partners, DSA Media, our technology partners, K1 Technology and of course our superstar, Larissa Walkiw—you make it look too easy my friend.

You guys all rock. Here is a link to the press release.

P.S. I recorded a bunch of great stuff tonight for the CUES Experience Podcast, but since it is now past midnight, I am not going to be editing anything tonight!

 

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