We launched a new youth campaign for Westminster Savings Credit Union today

Marketers seem content with a two or three percent direct mail response rate. What if you could do better? That's what we have set out to prove for British Columbia's Westminster Savings Credit Union.

We were approached to launch a new free young adult chequing account. We were given a targeted mailing list and free reign to create something exciting and new! We named the product the Dub Free Chequing Account (Dub is short for the "W" in Westminster). We then developed a distinctive brand identity and look and feel.

That's when the ideas really started to flow. 

Since the goal of the direct mail campaign is to get recipients to act on an offer and return a reply card, we asked ourselves "Why not make the reply device fun and interactive?" The idea of dubbing took hold. We deployed a simple microsite built on the open source WordPress blog platform. The microsite is located at www.DubMeFree.com and is designed to feature the postcards with user-generated captions.

The direct mail recipients are given three random postcards to dub. When we receive them in the mail, we will scan and feature them on the blog. We expect the postcards to start coming in next week.

In addition, we have created a Flash Dub Machine that allows visitors to the microsite to create their own dubs online.

For credit unions that want to dabble in social media, an approach like this offers a few advantages.

• Tying a blog to a short-term campaign gives you the ability to test the waters
• Giving yourself the license to have fun and experiment can take the pressure off of writing a lot of educational blog posts
• Since the content is user generated, the credit union's time commitment is greatly reduced

I am a firm believer in utilizing social computing technologies combined with a strong product brand and marketing to communicate and sell product. It has been a fun project to work on and we are really interested in seeing how it performs. And I am sure Westminster Savings is too!

Tim

We helped Vancity change everything about ChangeEverything

I am thrilled to be able to talk about the redesign and relaunch of Vancity's hugely successful social network, ChangeEverything.ca! The new verson launched today. Currency was hired to redesign the user interface and was part of a fantastic team including Affinity Bridge for Drupal development and Ballistic Arts for video production.

Kate and William from Vancity are passionate about Vancity's online community and brought plenty of insight to the project. The key challenges were to increase usability, clarify navigation and, most importantly, to reveal the wonderful dialogue and participation going on within this vibrant online community.

The community member videos are terrific and immediately tell visitors why ChangeEverything.ca exists and why people should care and get involved.

This was a dream project to work on and we are honoured to be part of such a great team.

Tim

We helped Vancity launch a new Microfinance Wiki

I have had a few phone calls from William Azaroff at Vancity lately and these conversations typically start like this, "Hey Tim, have you guys ever designed a [insert a something we haven't done before]."

And my typical response has been, "No, but I think we can figure it out!" The latest is a wiki project for microfinance.ca.

What is cool about this new website is the position that Vancity has taken. Rather than trying to own Microfinance in Canada, Vancity has decided to act as a facilitator to grow the sector. Not for selfish reasons, but because its the right thing to do. The wiki platform will enable the entire sector to contribute and to use social technologies to move the social economy forward.

"Building on that first version of microfinance.ca, we wanted to do more: we wanted to help practitioners of, and thinkers about, microfinance in Canada to come together in an ongoing conversation about how microfinance can help alleviate poverty in Canada."

This is yet another innovative project backed by Vancity and we are super proud to be involved.

William has blogged about the launch as well. What's great about working for William is that he totally understands the social media space and is 100% open to using whatever technology is going to get the job done. This is refreshing (and slightly scary). Sometimes we get so locked into a single technology platform that we forget to come up for air and see what else is out there.

Tim

Must-read book: Groundswell

About a month ago, a friend of mine recommended that I read a new book called Groundswell. Since the last month has been a bit of a whirlwind, I never got around to ordering it.

It dawned on me Friday night that I should buy the audiobook version from Audible to put on my iPod for something to listen to on my six-hour flight on Saturday from Vancouver to New York. I am presenting a session on Monday at the Forrester's 2008 Financial Services Forum For Marketing and Strategy Professionals on the topic of Designing a Social Computing Strategy to Attract Gen Yers.

The Twilight Zone part of this story is that I had no idea that Groundswell is a book written by two senior Forrester analysts, Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, and that Josh is also scheduled to present at the Financial Forum on Monday!

Groundswell is just the book that I have been waiting for. It categorically proves the business case for social media and for implementing Web 2.0 strategies into the markting mix. Josh and Charlene provide dozens of real-world examples with hard ROI calculations backed by extensive research and analysis. The findings in this book make it impossible to refute the power of the social web. They have put real meat into this feeling that thing are a changing. And, as Groundswell was just released in May 2008, the information and examples are extremely current and comprehensive.

I have been speaking at a number of conferences lately about social media and the general sense from many folks is that it is a passing fad. To this notion, I quote the book, "The Groundswell trend is not a flash in the pan. This is an important, completely irreversible way for people to relate to companies and to each other. Why is it happening now? The Groundswell comes from the collision of three forces: people, technology and economics."

This is the perfect book to buy and read yourself no matter what your level of social media understanding is. I consider myself pretty tuned into all of this stuff, but I learned a tremendous amount and found my mind racing with new ideas that I want to help credit unions implement.

Who should read Groundswell at your credit union?

• Leaders within your organization who don't know anything about social media
• Those who have a general understanding but are still on the fence about getting involved
• Anyone involved in marketing, communications and technology
• Those charged with implementing a social marketing strategy
• Number crunchers who question the ROI of engaging in social media
• Folks that are already involved in social media but want to take their efforts to the next level

Although the audiobook was easy to listen to, I would recommend buying the actual book as there are so many great, actionable tips and checklists that you will want to highlight. I've already ordered my hardcopy.

Also, check out the Groundswell website complete with a blog, author profiles, videos and a discussion board.

Tim

P.S. Wish me luck tomorrow. With 450 attendees, this is the biggest event that I have ever spoken at.

Part 3 of The Difference completes the perfect set!

By Tim McAlpine

Larissa Walkiw has just published The Difference Between Banks and Credit Unions – Part 3 on the Young & Free Alberta blog. I posted Part 1 here and Part 2 here on our blog to help these videos get seen by as many people as possible.

These three videos convey all of the many reasons that I believe in credit unions. This is brilliant work created by a talented young woman as she discovers for herself what makes credit unions special.

It's like being a kid in a candy store for me: I get to log into our content management system the night before and see what Larissa has waiting in the queue for tomorrow. She has created 103 amazing blog posts in under four months including this brilliant series.

Larissa, thanks for putting your heart and talent into your work. With this three-part series now complete, you have created the most approachable, infinitely memorable and easily understood credit union educational series ever. The ultimate credit union trilogy. Your impact will be talked about for years to come.

Keep up the great work!

Tim

Shout out: Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union and its 7 Principles microsite

Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union is the latest credit union to utilize YouTube video to tell its story. SMCU has a new microsite that highlights the seven cooperative principles that define the credit union difference.

The site is simple, fun, entertaining, educational and real. I also like how SMCU is using the lefthand side of the site to sell its Feel Good Checking Account. It's a great offer that is featured prominently without being overtly pushy.

I have two suggestions to make the experience even better.

1. Consider enlarging the video to the 425 pixel wide YouTube default. The current size is very small and considering all of the effort that went into making the videos, why not maximize the experience?
2. Add a way for visitors to interact with the site. A blog or a guest book would make the site more sticky and would encourage site visitors to return on a regular basis.

Nice job, Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union—welcome to the social web!

Tim

This P2P song sounds so familiar

My credit union and banking RSS feeds are full of peer-to-peer lending articles. It is early days and everyone is sussing out where P2P lending fits into the financial services landscape. If this topic is new to you, here's a Wikipedia definition:

Person-to-person lending or peer-to-peer lending is lending done between individuals circumventing the bank's traditional role in this process.

Community lending had the advantage that people's interpersonal relationships fostered increased fiscal responsibility. The risk was that without the benefit of diversification, when something went awry the entire community could suffer.

Lending through banks has benefited from scale and diversity. By pooling the available money supply and lending it out again, the impact of any one default would be trivial in light of the timely payment of the vast majority of the notes. The downside to this model is that it has introduced greater transaction overhead and removed community loyalty from the equation.

New ventures are seeking to blend traditional practices with new scale economies via online marketplaces. The marketplace serves many functions. Most notably it facilitates bringing borrowers and lenders together. Furthermore, it simplifies what might otherwise be a cumbersome process to properly document and service the resulting loans.

It is hoped not only that these new markets will be more efficient by removing the bank as middleman, but that factors leading to default can be mitigated by reintroducing a social component to the mix.

I have been following a number of P2P discussions with great interest. Between the arrival of Zopa in six US credit unions, the growing number of P2P players entering the North American lending space and the disingenous marketing tactics of some of these players, there is a forboding feeling that P2P lending is not a flash in the pan.

How does P2P lending affect your credit union? I believe it will have a huge impact in the not-too-distant future. You need to understand it and develop strategies to embrace it. It should not be ignored.

This feels like déjà vu. The emergence of P2P lending is eerily reminiscent of the early peer-to-peer music sharing days. Out of nowhere, a very young Shawn Fanning introduced Napster and the recording industry was changed forever.

Replace the young Shawn Fanning with the older, wiser and richer, Richard Branson, replace music with money and replace illegal with above board and you get the picture of the potential impact that P2P lending will have in the financial services world.

The music industry's answer was to use the law to take down Napster, use digital rights management to throttle the inevitable tidal wave of file sharing and litigate against the common man in hopes of striking fear into the general public.

This took the music industry's eye off the ball as legitimate players like Apple's iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic and Amazon swept in to fill the void. The ultimate victor in this bloodbath is the consumer with ease of use and instantly available legitimate access to music. Mega record stores are soon to be a thing of the past.

What can we learn from this parallel musical universe? Where will your credit union be after the P2P lending music gets cranked up to 10?

Tim

The dinosaurs didn't have broadband, what's your credit union's excuse?

Many of the credit union technocrats that follow the blog-o-sphere will find this post old news. However, many top-ranking credit union executives seem sadly unaware of the impending onslaught of Web 2.0 financial service offerings quickly making what credit unions offer seem almost prehistoric.

While credit unions are busy guarding their market-share and fiercely competing against other credit unions and banks, there is a new breed of financial service offerings out there that may well pass the credit union movement by.

From the online free Personal Financial Management (PFMs) services like Wesabe, Mint and Jwaala to alternative lending services like Prosper, Zopa, Lending Club and Bill Me Later, these start-ups are for real and heavily funded by venture capital. Unlike their dot-com predecessors that dot-bombed, these new ventures have timing on their side. The Internet has matured to a place where broadband is the norm and the general public is comfortable doing business online.

And, with legitimate, innovative (and free) services that make sense and actually work, this new crop of financial services represent a huge threat to credit unions or a huge opportunity. The choice is yours. Here are 12 just to get your feet wet.

They have great names and branding, great websites and many of these services are using the social web to build like-minded communities that out-community most credit unions. So what is a credit union to do? 

1. First of all, be aware of what is happening in the world beyond your branch doors and your city limits. The best thing you can do is get educated on the myriad of new services popping up monthly. Here are three blogs to follow. All three follow this space very closely.
   • Netbanker
   • Bank Watch
   • Open Source CU
2. Stop trying to control your members online activities—they have Google and they are smarter than you give them credit for! The first reaction of your peers is to try to shield members from third-party services. The winners will be those credit unions that figure out how to work with these companies to provide the best value for their members. Make the calls and see how you can partner.
3. Think like a start-up. It's time to shed the best practices mentality and stop living in the past. Pull up your socks and start innovating and aligning your credit union with innovators.
4. Don't think this is just the realm of the young person. Did you know the average age of YouTube's participating members is over 45 years old? Everyone is getting more and more comfortable with technology.

These are exciting times. At the recent Partnership Symposium at FORUM Solutions, Robbie Wright asked an interesting question in a session on lending trends by Doug True. Robbie asked, "These start-ups seem so able to innovate compared to credit unions. What's stopping our credit unions from coming up with these ideas?"

Doug's response said it all, "Absolutely nothing."

Tim