10/21/2009

Young & Free Alberta launches Cash In With Your Camcorder video contest

By Tim McAlpine

Our founding Young & Free partner, Alberta's Servus Credit Union, has just launched an exciting new promotion called Cash In With Your Camcorder. With our help, Servus is asking young adults to create a 30-second commercial that shows why the Young & Free Chequing Account rocks.

The first place winner will receive $2,000 cash and the second place winner will receive $1,000! Plus, the winning commercials may be used in future advertising!

Here are just some of the pieces of the campaign

Young & Free Alberta microsite transformed for the contest

Video: Myles introduced the Cash In With Your Camcorder video contest

Clockwise from top left: Online banner ads, staff information sheets, wobblers, pamphlets, Facebook ad and mini posters

The Cash In With Your Camcorder video contest provides yet another way for young people to participate in Young & Free in a fun and interactive way. It's a great complement to the Spokester search and will allow more creative young adults to show their talents.

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10/20/2009

Would you, could you take DeAndre's job? Young & Free Texas launches its year two search

By Tim McAlpine

It's time to look for DeAndre' Upshaw's replacement in Texas. His one-year term as the Young & Free Texas Spokesperson is coming to an end. To ensure that we find a worthy successor, TDECU has launched a fully integrated campaign throughout its marketplace in Texas.

Here are just some of the pieces of the campaign

Young & Free Texas microsite transformed for the search phase

Video: Would You Could You Take My Job?

Clockwise from top left: Facebook ads, print ads, staff information sheets and billboards

It's both an exciting and nerve-racking time since DeAndre' has set the bar exceptionally high. Here are some impressive DeAndre' stats to date:

• 265 blog posts created
• 57 videos produced

During the relaunch of the Young & Free sites, we created a tips and tools section on each site. Within this section is a compilation of all of the Young & Free Spokesters money-related blog posts. Take a look here to see just how many well-researched and very helpful articles and videos that DeAndre' has produced over the past 10 months. DeAndre's body of work as the Young & Free Texas Spokesperson is phenomenal. How he produced all of this while completing his senior year at Baylor University is beyond me!

DeAndre' will continue on to the end of the search phase in mid-December and continue to crank out the awesome content that he has spoiled us with.

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09/28/2009

We helped Listerhill Credit Union launch Young & Free Alabama today!

By Tim McAlpine

I am excited to unveil Young & Free Alabama for Muscle Shoal's Listerhill Credit Union. I'm so excited because:

• Listerhill is the smallest credit union in the smallest market to date to launch Young & Free. Listerhill is just over $400 million in assets. To date, all Young & Free credit unions have been well beyond $1 billion in assets. We feel strongly that credit unions of all sizes can pull Young & Free off provided that they are committed to the concept from the board and executive right down to the front-line staff.
• We are working with a team that is so fired up about Young & Free. The team at Listerhill has been terrific to work with. The core team that includes Amber, Kristen, Clay, DeAnna, Joyce, Brad, Debbie, Carolyn, Daryl, Tony and Ivan have championed Young & Free and have really made it their own.
• Another Young & Free region is now live and will help in fulfilling our purpose. Alabama, joins Alberta, South Carolina and Texas. Simply put, it is our purpose to help credit unions deepen their relationships with members and to persuade bank customers to become credit union members. We feel that the Young & Free Spokester Challenge has the potential to attract tens of thousands of new members to the credit union movement and Listerhill is another ideal partner.

Here are some of the pieces

Young & Free Alabama microsite

Video: Are you the Voice of  Young & Free Alabama?

Clockwise from top left: print ads, staff information kits and billboards

Here's how the program works:

• Young adults will visit youngfreealabama.com and fill out an application
• Everyone can watch and participate as the applicants are narrowed down to three finalists
• Site visitors will vote for the finalist they think should be the winner
• The winner will receive a full-time position worth $30,000 per year, a MacBook Pro computer, a Canon HD camcorder and an iPhone
• Prizes will be awarded to the other two finalists as well
• The winning spokesperson is expected to write four text-based blog posts per week, produce one video per week, produce at least one segment for the Living Young & Free Show per month and attend one event as the spokesperson per month

Sandy and I traveled to Muscle Shoals in July. We had a great time getting to know the Listerhill team and also touring around the area. We learned what a meat and three is, what thousands of cicadas sound like, what 90% humidity feels like and that the people of Alabama are incredibly friendly and helpful!

Please take a moment and visit the Young & Free Alabama microsite.

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08/25/2009

Young & Free update: new websites are here and multiple launches are just around the corner!

By Tim McAlpine

New website design

We originally designed the first Young & Free microsite in 2006. Needless to say the social web has progressed in the last three years and we have learned a tremendous amount from running three Young & Free programs. This experience has influenced a total redesign of the Young & Free sites. Here are some highlights:

• The new header prominently displays the regional hex logos, colors, textures and Young & Free Spokesters and better illustrates what the program is all about.
• During the Y&F Spokester's term, the blog is now the home page instead of a secondary page. This will ensure that visitors are greeted with daily fresh content. Visit the new Texas and Alberta home pages to see what I am talking about.
• We are using the new Disqus (pronounced Discuss) blog comment platform. Disqus enables visitors to login through their Twitter, Facebook, Seesmic or Open ID accounts. Participants can automatically tweet their comment, update their Facebook status with their comment and subscribe to further comments by e-mail. Disqus has the ability to accept video comments through Seesmic and will automatically add any tweets that link to a post.
• During the annual Y&F Spokester search or during a special promotion like the Young & Free SC Last Band Standing competition, the new site design features a promotional homepage. During these periods, the blog moves to the first secondary page.
• We have a new and improved right sidebar with:
  • A permanent spot for our new Living Young & Free Show
  • Greater visibility of our monthly prizes
  • A real-time search widget to highlight activity on Twitter
  • A latest blog comments widget to highlight active commenters, recent activity and popular posts
• The base of the site has a much larger product ad, more Flickr photos and readily accessible links to corporate pages and all of the other Young & Free sites.
• The top navigation bar has been reorganized to better highlight videos, financial information, events and a new forum.

Young & Free in the near future

Since going public in June 2008 with our plan to offer one courageous credit union in each state and province an exclusive license to run a Young & Free program, we have had tremendous interest. In fact, more than 150 credit unions and leagues have filled out our form requesting further information.

Although interest is extremely high from US credit unions, the economy and especially the NCUA Corporate Stabilization Program have had a tremendous impact on most credit unions' ability to move forward with an aggressive 52-week program like Young & Free. Having said that, we are extremely excited to announce that our fourth Y&F region will be live in one month and number five and six are launching at the end of January 2010 and June 2010 respectively.

Thanks for everyone's continued interest and support in Young & Free. Please let me know what you think of the new websites!

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08/04/2009

We helped Verity Credit Union launch a search for a wildly creative, funny and talented Seattle-area mom today!

By Tim McAlpine

I am thrilled to unveil Verity Mom for Seattle's Verity Credit Union. I'm so excited because:

• It's a new social media program aimed at connecting and learning from Seattle-area moms. Moms are a segment of the population that we feel credit unions have tremendous potential to attract.
• At the center of the program is a public search for a part-time mommy blogger. We think this is a really compelling story and the chosen mommy blogger has the potential of creating fantastic content. And, our experience running four successful Young & Free Spokester searches will help us greatly.
• We are working with social media pioneers. Shari Storm and her team at Verity Credit Union launched the first corporate blog by a financial institution in North America. Their experience will undoubtedly add to the success of this program.
• Another one of our challenge marketing concepts is now live and will help in fulfilling our purpose. Simply put, it is our purpose to help credit unions deepen their relationships with members and to persuade bank customers to become credit union members. We feel that the Mommy Blogger Challenge has the potential to attract thousands of new members to the credit union movement and Verity Credit Union is the ideal partner to launch with.

Here are some of the pieces

Verity Mom microsite

Video: Are you our Verity Mom?

Clockwise from top left: branch posters, floor decals, print ads, beach balls and staff info sheets

Here's what Shari Storm, Verity Credit Union’s Chief Marketing Officer, had to say, “Moms make most of the spending decisions in a family and they hold the most influence over where their children will eventually do their banking. We are looking at this as a multi-generational strategy. Our intention is to build a place where moms meet, talk and we have a chance to ask more questions and learn more about them. Currency Marketing provides the perfect platform for this.”

When we began talking with Shari and her team about this concept, it was obvious that Verity Credit Union has a passion to understand and serve families and offer the products and services those families need most. We worked with Verity to tailor our Mommy Blogger challenge marketing program to match their brand, launch an exciting blogger search and introduce Verity’s Cartwheel Checking account to new visitors. This account is perfectly suited for moms.

Here's how the program works:

• Moms will visit veritymom.com and fill out an application
• Everyone can watch and participate as the applicants are narrowed down to three finalists
• Site visitors will vote for the finalist they think should be the winner
• The winner will receive a part-time blogging contract worth $20,000 per year, a MacBook Pro computer and a Flip Mino HD video camera
• Prizes will be awarded to the other two finalists as well

Please take a moment and visit the Verity Mom microsite. For more information, download our press release.

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06/11/2009

Mount Lehman Credit Union gets on with the show

By Tim McAlpine

In February, Gene Blishen, Mount Lehman Credit Union's General Manager, asked Nala and myself to come out for a morning and meet with their 11-person team. The purpose of the meeting was to talk about how the credit union staff could:

1. Foster deeper connections with their members
2. Continue to stand out from the large credit union competitors in their marketplace
3. Develop something that the staff could engage in and be a part of
4. Get involved with social media if it made sense
5. Teach their members how to use all of the great technology services that the credit union has developed over the past decade

By the end of the three-hour session, The Mount Lehman Show concept had come to life. We always try to approach meetings like these with an open mind knowing that the last thing the world needs is another website. Especially a website that lacks life, current content and a long-term commitment. Gene blogged about the launch a couple of days ago and it's this passage that really sums up why we knew this idea would work.

"... We were open to anything and came to the conclusion that if our credit union was going to have social media as part of its culture it had to be done by everyone. Everyone. If all the staff were the face and personality of the credit union then the only authentic method to show that to the Internet world was those exact faces and personalities. We also wanted this to be a community site. We have been part of this neighbourhood for 67 years and wanted everyone to be part of this. This site is who we are and who the community is that we live in."

There are now a couple hundred credit union blogs and too many of them are published by one over-worked person who doesn't have the time to do it well. This is not going to happen at Mount Lehman Credit Union. Gene continues:

"We bought the cameras and software and everyone dove in. There wasn’t and still isn’t a lot of structure as everyone contributes in some fashion. Everyone has as part of their job description now the responsibility of spending two hours per week on communicating through the credit union’s social media channel. The key understanding is simple, use your common sense. This is the result – The Mount Lehman Show.

The site is built on the free Ning social network platform, and as you can tell, it's being built with a ton of heart! I guestimate that 90% of credit unions are blocking the social web on their staff's computers. Contrast this with requiring that every staff member spend two hours per week on communicating through the credit union’s social media channel. Pure awesome!

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03/17/2009

Young & Free South Carolina at 45 days old: let's check the numbers!

By Tim McAlpine

We launched Young & Free South Carolina powered by South Carolina Federal Credit Union on February 2. Young & Free Alberta and Young & Free Texas have been very successful and are definitely two tough acts to follow. We went in with modest expectations given that the Charleston area is much smaller than Edmonton and Houston and our supporting media buy was smaller in South Carolina.

Well, the last 45 days has been an absolute blur of activity and we can hardly keep up with the action. Now that the application phase is officially closed, here are some highlights:

• 101 blog posts
• 27 applicants
• 42 extra activities by all applicants*
• 2,435 members of applicants' Facebook groups**
• 1,870 blog comments
• 16,251 visits
• 9,052 absolute unique visitors

To put this into perspective, here are the stats for the same categories from the first 45 days of Alberta's first year:

• 24 blog posts
• 11 applicants
• 2 extra activities by all applicants*
• 145 members of applicants' Facebook groups**
• 162 blog comments
• 9,420 visits
• 6,548 absolute unique visitors

And here are the Texas stats for the same period of time:

• 34 blog posts
• 11 applicants
• 9 extra activities by all applicants*
• 560 members of applicants' Facebook groups**
• 482 blog comments
• 8,970 visits
• 6,990 absolute unique visitors

In South Carolina, we have five applicants who have generated more than 100 comments on their application blog posts. Blog comments are not the be all end all, but they certainly give an indication of visitor engagement.

• Darrell Brace with 313
• Kelly Gaskins with 186
• Josh Sutherland with 173
• Kyle Whitcroft with 141
• Gloria Hiatt with 135

I never thought DeAndre' Upshaw's winning application in Texas with 218 comments would ever be topped.

Without disclosing all of the stats, account openings have been equally impressive in South Carolina.

What's the difference?

Our Alberta and Texas partners are both great and both are taking Young & Free very seriously as important strategic initiatives. The same can be said about our South Carolina partners.

Is there something in the South Carolina water? I think there are a few small things that have made the difference in South Carolina that we will take forward to future Young & Free Spokesperson searches.

• Partnering with a local radio station to take Young & Free on as their own promotion has been invaluable. Here is a link to just some of the segments that 95SX has dedicated to Young & Free SC.
• Having a public relations expert on staff at the credit union has proven to be very powerful and has better enabled us to take advantage of opportunities as they have come up.
• An aggressive sales culture has fired up an army of word-of-mouth advocates within the credit union.
• The MY Accounts product suite with online account opening has made for a very compelling offer.
• And perhaps the most significant difference is the current state of the economy. It has made the Y&F Spokesperson job offer even more desirable. It's sobering to see the young talent pool that is currently looking for work.

What thrills me the most is that the Young & Free recipe for success is now working extremely well in three different regions. On a personal note, I am getting so much more satisfaction perfecting and refining this one initiative than I have ever had producing one-time-use, three-month campaigns.

On Monday, March 23, we reveal the top three and open the public voting. I expect the action will really kick into high gear!

*Extra activities include addition videos, Facebook groups, personal blogs, Twitter accounts, 12-second videos, Flickr photostreams, podcasts among other things
**These are the total members from the Facebook groups that we know about – there are likely far more

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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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11/25/2008

New: The Big Idea Biz Challenge

By Tim McAlpine

Based on Filene Research Institute's open-source concept, The Big Idea. This challenge will appeal to would-be entrepreneurs of all ages including everyone from business students to recently retired Baby Boomers that have an interest in self-employment. Really, anyone who is actively considering starting their own small business.

The challenge

• Convince site users and our judges that you deserve the $10,000 business starter package by filling out an entry form, submitting a business plan and creating a 60-second video on why you deserve to win.

The reward

• We recommend a total giveaway value of $16,000
• The grand prize is $15,000 in funds, mentoring and services
• The two secondary prizes are Quickbooks Pro ($500 each)

We will develop a custom name and find a unique domain for your challenge.

+ Get full details on the Big Idea Biz Challenge
+ Read my blog post that explains our full challenge marketing offering

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11/25/2008

New: The Mommy Blogger Challenge

By Tim McAlpine

Mommy bloggers are a huge part of the blog-o-sphere. This challenge sets out to hire a mother to blog part-time on behalf of your credit union. Your new blogger will help mothers navigate life as a mother in your region. Blogging topics will include everything from money tips to mom-friendly product and service reviews. We are talking to 25- to 45-year-old moms who are actively using mainstream social media including Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter and other social applications.

The challenge

• Applicants complete an entry form, a blog post and submit a favorite mom-themed photo and produce on-going content to convince site users that they deserve the job.

The reward

• A part-time position with the credit union for one year.
• A Macbook laptop computer and a Flip Mino digital camcorder to keep.
• Two Flip Mino digital camcorders for secondary prizes.

We will develop a custom name and find a unique domain for your challenge.

+ Get full details on the Mommy Blogger Challenge
+ Read my blog post that explains our full challenge marketing offering

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