An inspiring and entertaining look at the Young & Free young adult marketing program.
Young & Free started as an interesting social media experiment for a mid-sized credit union in Alberta, Canada seeking to attract new young adult members. More than half a decade later, this innovative integrated marketing program has turned into a movement within the credit union movement. There are now more than 100,000 Young & Free members at credit unions in 11 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Tim will tell the story of how an interesting idea combined with social media, traditional marketing, grass roots community involvement and hard work have translating into business success with the allusive young adult segment. Learn from firsthand experience and come away with strategies that you can apply to your credit union.
7. CREDIT UNION MAGAZINE, APRIL 1969
Although the average age of
today's population is
getting younger, the
average age of today's
credit union member keeps
creeping upwards. But
credit unions can remain
young—in thought, service
and membership—by serving
today's youth as well as
their aging membership.”
“
8. SOURCE: CUNA, CUCC, U.S. CENSUS, WIKIPEDIA
35
NORTH
AMERICAN
Average
age
The great
divide
48UNITED STATES
CREDIT UNION
MEMBER
CANADIAN
CREDIT UNION
MEMBER54
9. 0
3
5
8
10
1989 1996 2000 2002 2006 2008
17of the population is
between 18 and 24
%
SOURCE: CUNA MARKET RESEARCH
4%
of credit union
members are
between 18 and 24
12. anti hype technology confident spenders savvy cool goals college
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thinking family questioning quality media university wary friends
fun world view connected anti hype technology confident spenders
savvy cool goals college respect planning influence truthful
authenticity distrust forward thinking family questioning quality
media university wary friends fun world view connected anti hype
technology confident spenders savvy cool goals college respect
planning influence truthful authenticity distrust forward thinking
family questioning quality cool truthful truthful confident savvyYGEN
13.
14. What are the business lessons?2
What can you apply to your situation?3
What are the marketing lessons?1
18. INTEGRATED
SOCIAL MEDIA
MARKETING
SOCIAL MEDIA
WORD OF MOUTH
CONTENT MARKETING
GUERILLA MARKETING
DESIGN
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
TRADITIONAL MEDIA EVENT MARKETING
NICHE MARKETING
DIRECT MARKETING
SOCIAL NETWORKING
USER-GENERATED CONTENT
MICRO BLOGGING
BLOGGING
ONLINE VIDEO
CONTESTING
FINANCIAL LITERACY
BRANDED CONTENT
PUBLIC RELATIONS
22. Hire a young spokesperson
through a public search. His or her job will be
to attract and educate new young
adult credit union members
by offering useful information and promoting
relevant products and services in person and online.”
“
T H E P I T C H
23. Strategy capitalizes on three simple truths
People relate
to people
Anyone can
be a star
Social media
is popular
24. •25-and-under crowd
•High school to college
•College to the real world
•Major purchases (cars, houses)
•Dating and marriage
•Having first children
YOUNG =
T H E P I T C H
25. •Free checking account
•No hidden fees
•A head start
•Listened to and understood
•Free to learn
•Free to make mistakes
FREE =
T H E P I T C H
35. Q. What’s wrong with this video?
A. It’s brilliant. And that is what makes it so horribly wrong.
How is it, that in the 100 or so years that credit unions have
existed, no CU executive, no ad agency creative genius, no
anybody for that matter, has been able to articulate the
difference between CUs and banks as well, as artistically, and as
entertainingly as the 19-year old Canadian that did this video?
Every CU marketer in North America should be looking at this
video and yelling at their agency ‘Find me a Larissa!’”
RON SHEVLIN
SENIOR RESEARCH ANALYST
AITE GROUP
“
36. Credit Union Central of Canada
• National CU Innovation Award
CUES Golden Mirror Awards
• 1st place coordinated campaigns
• 1st place segmented campaigns
• 1st place for PR
CUNA Diamond Awards
• 1st place for PR
Forrester Research
Groundswell Awards
• 1st place in the talking category
MAC Network Awards
• Gold Award for market
segment program
• Gold Award for PR
• Gold Award for websites
• Best of Show MACQUEE
MAC Marketing Now Awards
• Winner video
• Winner blog
• Winner podcast
• Winner social media engagement
• Winner social media personality
MACU AIME Awards
• Gold AIME new product launch
• Silver AIME coordinated
campaigns
• Silver AIME radio
• Silver AIME websites
• People's Choice Award
A W A R D S
37. You deserved to win.
You did a great job and just as
important, actually delivered
business value with your
application. The big companies did too, but your application
was more impressive based on the creativity and the
results delivered on a limited budget.”
“JOSH BERNOFF
SENIOR RESEARCH ANALYST
CO-AUTHOR OF GROUNDSWELL
FORRESTER RESEARCH
57. Prev. UserJob # Filename Last ModifiedMFCU2011 MFCU2011 - Web Banner TNL Coop.indd 10-4-2011 11:14 AM Kevin Castillo / Kevin Castillo
CURRENCY MARKETING PROOF 1Account Executive: Kate Davies
PARTNERSHIPS
84. YOUNG & FREE DRIVES LOYALTY,
LOWERS AVERAGE AGE AND
GROWS WALLET SHARE
85. 100of all survey respondents indicated
that they would recommend the Young
& Free Program to a friend
SOURCE: SERVUS CREDIT UNION
%
86. 59TO 53In Alabama, Listerhill Credit Union lowered
their average age by six years after running
the Young & Free Program for three years
SOURCE: LISTERHILL CREDIT UNION
87. 47TO 45The participating credit unions in Maine lowered
their average age by two years after running the
Young & Free Program for just one year
SOURCE: MAINE CREDIT UNION LEAGUE
88. The fastest growing age segment at Servus Credit
Union in Alberta is the 17-to-25 age group
SOURCE: SERVUS CREDIT UNION
89. 7 VS 47% of Young & Free members have a
loan compared with 4% of those
without a Young & Free Account
SOURCE: SERVUS CREDIT UNION AFTER FIVE YEARS
% %
90. 2.6VS 1.6Young & Free members tend to have
more products with the credit union
SOURCE: SERVUS CREDIT UNION AFTER FIVE YEARS
91. 26Vantage Credit Union in St. Louis has loan
penetration of 26% of its 6,702 Young & Free
members totaling $5.8 million
SOURCE: VANTAGE CREDIT UNION
%
92. 16of Young & Free members at the participating
credit unions in Maine have a loan, with an
average balance of $6,574
SOURCE: VANTAGE CREDIT UNION
%
93. 3.5VS 2.7Young & Free members who are now “grown up”
have more products than those who never had
the Young & Free Account
SOURCE: SERVUS CREDIT UNION AFTER FIVE YEARS
94. Average revenue per year
Young & Free member
SOURCE: SERVUS CREDIT UNION, JULY 2012
115$
Average revenue per year
graduated Young & Free member
423$
95. There are now over
100,000young adults with products
and services associated
with Young & Free