That makes 20 Young & Free Spokesters!

We launched Young & Free Alberta in October 2007 and almost four years later, we've hit 20 Young & Free Spokesters! We are at a moment in time where there are 10 active Spokesters and 10 Alumni.

It has been a real treat to watch as each of these talented young adults has found their voice and created a following in their region. We have now passed 80,000 accounts opened across all regions thanks in large part to their hard work. 

This group of incredibly talented young adults has combined to create more credit-union-loving content than I thought was possible.

I feel kind of like a proud papa!

Want to meet a few of them? We're hosting our second Spokester Summit right before the CU Water Cooler Symposium in Fishers, Indiana. Expect to see seven or eight Young & Free Spokesters hanging out at the Symposium on Friday, September 30—make sure to say "Hi."

Tim

Are credit unions too local for Gen Y?

Matt Mills, the new Young & Free Indiana Spokesperson, just released a video that explains shared branching. It's excellent, take a look:

I have never heard the phrase "a credit union is simply too local" uttered before. I've known that accessibility is a significant barrier for young mobile adults, but I'd never heard it put so simply and bluntly.

For a century, credit unions have trumpeted how local they are. For some, it's the entire thrust of their messaging. For the next generation of members, it could be one of the biggest put offs.

Technology, shared branching and ATM networks go a long way to solving this problem, but the biggest hurdle is perception and understanding. Matt is an example of a typical 20-something and his opening line should make you think long and hard about your credit union's situation, "When I was first asked to join a credit union, my initial thought was NO WAY."

This begs two questions:

1. How many of you are asking young adults to join? I don't mean on billboards, TV or banner ads. I mean really asking in person at events, through physical referrals. Credit unions are way too polite and never ask for the sale. It is critical to be where Gen Y physically is. Not just on Facebook, I mean at events and on campus.
2. What are you doing to show that your credit union is not too local? This is a barrier to entry that needs to be acknowledged and addressed.

Tim

Living Young & Free Show 043: Cheap Vs. Frugal, High Interest Debt & Giving Back

Darryl from South Carolina covers the difference between being cheap and being frugal, Alex from Tennessee looks at high interest debt and Lee from Alabama talks about giving back.

You can also download all of the episode as a podcast from iTunes.

Cheryl

Living Young & Free Show 042: Shopping Jedi & Lessons Learned

Rob from St. Louis takes on shopping like a Jedi and Keith from Ontario shares a few lessons he's learned being a spokester.

You can also download all of the episode as a podcast from iTunes.

Cheryl

Living Young & Free Show 041: Textbooks into Money, Talking Finances with Your Spouse and Buying to Impress

Janelle from Michigan sells her textbooks to make money back, Lee and his fiance from Alabama talk budgets and Alex from Tennessee discusses changing your spending habits.

You can also download all of the episode as a podcast from iTunes.

Cheryl

Living Young & Free Show 039: Daily Deals, Reusing Items and Lessons Learned

Alex from Tennessee shares some info on daily deals sites like Groupon, Rob from St. Louis shows a few tricks on reusing household items and Josh from Texas shares some lessons learned as a Spokester.

You can also download all of the episode as a podcast from iTunes.

Cheryl

Young & Free Maine launched by 60 credit unions today!

We helped the Maine Credit Union League (MCUL), representing 60 participating credit unions, roll out Young & Free Maine today. Maine is the 11th Young & Free region in North America to go live and the largest group to date!

The program in Maine came together because of the leadership and drive of MCUL's corporate marketing manager, Debra Trautman. Debra and her team (Diana, Jess, Jon and Karen) worked extremely hard to build consensus and excitement for the program. 

Kate Davies and I travelled to Augusta, Maine in March and shot the launch video with 14 of the participating credit union CEOs. 

Please take a moment and visit the Young & Free Maine microsite. You can also follow along on Twitter and Facebook.

Tim

Living Young & Free Show 037: Passive Aggressive Finances, Protect Your Money When Travelling and Travelhacking

Darryl from South Carolina looks at being passively aggressive with your finances, Keith from Ontario shows you how to keep your money safe while travelling and Chris from Alabama takes a look at the new website, travelhacking.org.

You can also download all of the episode as a podcast from iTunes.

Cheryl

Young & Free New Mexico launched by 17 credit unions today!

We helped the Credit Union Association of New Mexico (CUANM), representing 17 participating credit unions, roll out Young & Free New Mexico today. New Mexico is the 10th Young & Free region in North America to go live!

The program in New Mexico came together because of the leadership and passion of a number of key people that believed in Young & Free, including Sylvia Lyons (CEO) and Denise Wymore (VP Association Services) plus 17 courageous credit union CEOs.

Launching Young & Free for a group of credit unions takes a great deal of cooperation and coordination! It allows small and large credit unions to affordably work together to make a big noise in their marketplace. We know it takes a lot to get on the radar of potential Gen Y members.

When Denise started at CUANM in the Spring of 2010, one of Sylvia's first requests was for her to check into Young & Free New Mexico. As luck would have it, I know Denise quite well! One thing led to another and here we are!   

Kate Davies and I travelled to Sante Fe, New Mexico in February and shot this fun launch video with most of the participating credit union CEOs. 

Please take a moment and visit the Young & Free New Mexico microsite. You can also follow along on Twitter and Facebook.

Side note: We do a lot of time zone-math in our office. Most of our clients are two or three hours ahead. It's nice to have another client that is just one hour ahead! Now, if we could only have a program running in Pacific time! :)

Tim

Alberta proves the staying power of Young & Free!

We helped Servus Credit Union launch the search for its fourth annual Young & Free Alberta Spokesperson today! First launched in October 2007, we are now three and half years into the program in Alberta and its still building in popularity, web traffic and new member growth!

Year one and two were run in the 14 original branch locations of Common Wealth Credit Union. During this time, approximately 5,000 Young & Free Chequing Accounts were opened. In March 2010, the program expanded to the full 100-branch network of the newly merged Servus Credit Union. Over the past 12 months, the total number of Young & Free Chequing Account holders quadrupled to more than 20,000! Needless to say, we are thrilled.

Over the past year, the Alberta team has dialed things up considerably. In addition to the annual spokesperson search, we've helped Servus run numerous contests on the site to keep the interest and web traffic high. We know that these additional online contests have driven account growth as we've been able to see spikes in web traffic and participation coincide with similar spikes in account growth. Here's a recap of the three major contests.

• 2010 Young & Free T-Shirt Design Challenge In addition to promoting the contest with online advertising and through the social Web, we also made sure to reach out to area high school and post secondary design programs to get on the radar of potential entrants. The grand prize was an all-expense-paid trip to New York City. A group of credit union employees and representatives from the local design industry judged the entries. The contest was quite popular and drew 32 entries and considerable traffic.

• 2010 Young & Free Scholarship Program We found out that running an online scholarship contest is a great way to build upon something that the credit union was doing anyway. Servus gave away 30, $1,000 scholarships and drew more than 240 applicants. Clearly this type of contest resonates with young people. Applicants could choose to write a 500-word essay or create a 60-second YouTube video based on a set theme. Judging was left to a panel of credit union employees and the winners were revealed online. To add a crowd-participation and word-of-mouth element, we held a people’s choice public vote for three iPad prizes. 

• 2011 Young & Free Dance Challenge Based on the popularity of reality shows Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance, we helped Servus hold a dance competition. 41 fantastic individuals and groups participated. The contest drew incredible traffic, interest and participation. The public voted for the winner who received a $4,000 grand prize. During the voting phase, we managed to grow our opt-in email database by more than 5,000 subscribers! The creativity and talent shown in this contest was awesome—this particular entry video didn't win, but it was my favorite! 

Prior to Young & Free, we produced dozens of credit union campaigns. These campaigns typically lasted two to three months and were shelved after one go. With Young & Free Alberta and all of the other regions, it has been so gratifying to be involved with something with such staying power.

Tim