It's a simple math problem. The average age of a credit union member is 10 years older than the average age of a North American. If credit unions do not reverse the trend and attract the next generation of credit union members, the future doesn't look so bright.
The Why Gen Y Blog has a simple mission: to equip credit union executives and marketers with relevant information that will help them succeed in attracting and retaining new Generation Y members.
BLOG AUTHORS
Cheryl Wiens
Our Young & Free Program Manager and host of the Living Young & Free Show wants to help Gen Y see the light!
DeAndré Upshaw
Former Young & Free Texas Spokesperson, DeAndré is now a Gen Y insider intent on making credit unions relevant.
Tim McAlpine
Creative Director of Currency Marketing, Tim is a passionate credit union advocate who wants to see credit unions succeed.
When you work in marketing and advertising, surrounded by fun co-workers and fun clients, on an incredibly fun and innovative product (Young & Free) it's hard not to let that spill over into contest entry for a wildcard speaker’s spot (as evidenced by our most recent campaign video).
But we want to clarify something—our presentation isn't going to focus on funny videos and bacon, it's going to delve into research we are doing with Gen Y'ers in regards to their use of social media platforms.
We are asking a cross section of young people across North America about: • Which platforms they use • What they actually use them for • What they would never use them for • And how they perceive businesses interjecting in those spaces
(just to name a few)
We will be compiling these results and sharing 3 practical ways that Credit Unions can take this information and implement a social media strategy in these spaces that will be relevant and get results.
So here’s what you need to know: yes, half of us are young and both of us are silly, but we're going to deliver a fun presentation that will leave the audience with some insight into how Gen Y is actually using social media and share information on how credit unions can get involved and get bottom line results.
We’re really excited to have a conversation about this, and if you are too, you can vote for us here:
Darryl from South Carolina offers some tips on how you can take an extended vacation without extending your debt, Kelsey from Alberta explains what your daily salary is, how to calculate it and how it can give you perspective on your finances and Chris from Alabama shares nine tactics on how you can save money by making meals at home.
This week Alex Oliver from Young & Free Tennessee graced us with his presence and we had a great time! We talked about Bonnaroo, Jay-Z, and ended the show with a duet to "I Believe I Can Fly."
One word: Epic!
By now I'm sure you've all seen the Old Spice commercials featuring Isaiah Mustafa as the "Old Spice Guy," little nuggets of joy where Mustafa takes us on a humorous, 20 second single shot adventure explaining why we should smell like Old Spice (because you're a man, man). He's also on a horse.
The ads have run for the past few months to creative and critical success. The numbers were great and the campaign stands out as one of the more successful commercial endeavors Old Spice has had in recent memory - in part to the innovation of the commercial (how did they do that?) and in part to Mustafa's, er, raw masculinity, which appealed to women, who studies say hold a large amount of purchasing power. Don't believe me? Do a google search for "isaiah+mustafa+sexy" and you'll see that this ad has clearly resonated with both sexes, across different demographics.
So how does a successful ad campaign with a great deal of positive reception both in traditional media and new propel to the next level?
Interaction.
The original youtube videos, the Old Spice Facebook page and Twitter accounts have hundreds of thousands of comments. The team at old spice decided to take to teh internetz and engage in real time communication.
The Old Spice team set up a studio and responded to tweets and comments to @Old Spice in real time. But they didn't respond in text - they created response videos in the style of the Old Spice commercials for an entire three days, and recorded 180 videos.
In "Re:raondy" the Old Spice man responds to a random fan from youtube.
In "Re:@AlyssaMilano," the Old Spice man responds to real life celebrity and prolific tweeter Alyssa Milano.
How did they do it? Says creative director Josh Bagley:
We had a kind of NASA control center about 15 feet away from Isaiah at two different tables. At one table were Josh Millrod, Dean McBeth and Cody Corona, interactive community managers and digital strategists who were going through all the comments and monitoring all web activity. They were selecting the comments to respond to. Baldwin, Eric Kallman, Craig Allen and I sat at another table furiously writing the responses. We would pass our computers back and forth to one another checking one another's work and adding jokes to one another's copy. The four of us took turns directing. In another room was a team of editors cranking out everything we shot. Not to mention the entire production crew of camera, lighting, teleprompter worker person, etc.
At the end of the day, the Old Spice team created 180 personalized videos and reached over10 million viewer impressions at the cost of a set that was already built, talent, and a quick-witted staff.
Interaction is what will be the difference between a campaign that is rockstar and falls flat. With all of the free, easy to use tools available it borders on idiocracy to not use them. It is more important today than it was yesteryear because your audience expects you to interact with them.
How did the Old Spice team end their video shooting spree? With this final word.
Giving your audience a chance to speak is only half the battle. Responding to them and hearing what they want is the other half.
Buckle up your safety belts boys and girls because its another week and that means another episode of Why Gen Y Live! This week we have Young & Free Tennessee Spokester Alex Oliver.
Alex has been involved in some of the most badash events ever, including Bonnaroo! Yes! I know! Cray-cray.
Alex will be talking about the importance of credit union involvement with young people and the fire of awesome he's bringing to Tennessee every week.
Acclaimed speaker and all around rockstar Mark Arnold stopped by the show and we had a great conversation about the merits of Credit Unions returning to their roots as customer service powerhouses. Check it out!
I'm going to assume you know who Lady Gaga is. If for some reason you don't, Let Me Google That For You. We'll wait.
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Good. Now that you are aware of who Lady Gaga is, you're wondering, what can my Credit Union learn from her? Should we institute a pant-optional policy? Give out free wigs with each account opened? Of course not. However, Lady Gaga looks at herself as a brand, and since she is one of the more successful brands in recent memory, we can all take a page out of her style book (figurative style book, not literal...I still want you to wear pants). Commence bullet points!
There's nothing wrong with putting a twist on something familiar.
Lady Gaga was not the first brunette to bleach her hair blonde and walk around in a bra. Actually, I seem to remember this artist from the late 80's who did it and got pretty famous for it (her name was Madonna). There is nothing brand new under the sun. Nothing. However, taking a tried and true method and flipping it, tipping it and ripping it until its something fresh can yield rockstar results.
Being self-aware is not only ironically cool, its a smart business strategy.
When Lady Gaga first burst on the scene, the were rumors that she had a little something extra in her bikini bottoms (read: people thought she was a man). As her star began to rise, she became the butt of jokes as people conjectured about her sex. Instead of completely ignoring the rumours, she referenced them in some of her songs and eventually made it a non issue. Every product, bank, credit union, financial institution and Toyota Motor Company has problems. Once you identify a problem and take steps to rectify and acknowledge it, you have the advantage of turning a negative into a positive. See: Domino's Pizza, "Oh Yes We Did."
There's nothing wrong with putting things in pretty packages.
Invest some time into your brand identity and design. Popular maxims notwithstanding, I do judge books by their covers. When I go into a bookstore and I'm looking for something good to read, the cover is the most important thing I see! The way you package and present your product should convey 83% of what your product is about. And yes, I just made that percentage up. If you have a choice between to equals, which would you choose? Boring and bland, or exciting and (in the case of Lady Gaga) pantless?
Put your all into your brand, 24/7/365.
Back before the fishnets, wigs and Kermit the Frog, Lady Gaga was just Stefani Germonatta, a budding songwriter trying to make it big. Check out this clip of her on an old MTV show called Boiling Points from 2005. She's the brunette who sits down at :16.
Well how about that! No blonde hair, no faux-British accent, and I think her dress is from Wal-Mart. Why is this important? Once she made the decision to become "Lady Gaga," she decided she would live that persona all the time. Lady Gaga has publicly stated that the way she behaves on stage and in public is something that she exercises all the time in her private life as well.
That means that when she wakes up in the morning, the first thing she probably does is don an asymetrical wig and a dress made out of recycled glass. She is that invested in her brand. When you're promoting your service, product or credit union, make sure that everyone is excited about it, unilaterally across the board. Your website, your tellers, even the people who clean the toilets should be all about your credit union.
DeAndre'
For bonus points, check out this humorous video, "If Lady Gaga Weren't A Popstar." Its juuuuuuust slightly-almost-NSFW, but very funny, so check it out!
Follow us on twitter! @beyoungandfree and @deandresays
This week, we have credit union rockstar Denise Wymore on to shake it up with us this week, and we'll be talking about a million different things under the sun. Pre-teen literacy, the CUsucceed program and Tampon marketing (click the link. clickkkk itttt).
Its bound to be hot like a chalupa, so come on by! Tell your friends. They deserve to know.
Cheryl Wiens
