Credit Union Competition Looking for Youth Spokesperson
Sep 30, 2008 
Fort McMurray Today | By Lauren Cutler, Staff Writer
If you're outgoing and enthusiastic to get your foot in the door of the promotions world, one Alberta credit union has come up with an intriguing new marketing strategy that just might be worth listening too.
Common Wealth Credit Union is running a spokesperson search and competition – Young & Free — for adults 19 to 25, with the hope of engaging "generation Y through an interactive website."
According to the Young & Free manager Kim Crockett, they're looking for a "dynamic" young adult to get their message out.
"We're looking for the sort of person who will be, first of all, very comfortable with just about everything web related," Crockett. "We want the person to be able to build a connection with our users and one of the primary ways they're going to do that is through the internet, via our Young & Free website. A very engaging person would be the ideal candidate."
Crockett said the winner will get a full-time job posting blogs, video logs and polls on Common Wealth's website, and will be expected to work a 37-hour work week. They will also be called upon to travel for speaking arrangements. According to Crockett, the job of the spokesperson will be to "connect with their peer group," giving them mostly free range over blog topics.
"The successful spokester really has control over where the Young & Free website goes. Obviously there's an element here that we do want to know what the needs are from a financial perspective, and we would expect that from time to time you would be covering that. Topics could simply be about culture, what's important to this generation and mix that in with topics that relate to finance and the financial concerns and considerations that are appropriate to the young and free generation."
The job comes with a paycheque of $36,000 for the year. In addition to the wage, the winner will also receive perks such as a still camera, a video camera, a MacBook with paid Internet, the use of a vehicle with a gas allowance, and the use of a Blackberry with a paid contract.
According to the credit union, Young & Free is a free banking service that allows "more resources for 17- to 25-year-olds to protect, manage and save their money." The accounts are free of everyday banking charges, and are being specifically targeted for young adults, which is why Crockett said seeking a spokesperson from this age group is a worthwhile marketing strategy.
"They're going to help us find the information we're looking for, (and) the benefit is that we'll have someone in that age group finding (information) out for us," Crockett said. "Somebody who is better able to hear and voice (this generation's) thoughts, because they're living that life ... It would be a lot better than someone my age trying to do that."
Common Wealth will be accepting video applications until Wednesday, after which point they will choose the top three finalists. The finalists' videos will be posted on the Young & Free website, where the winner will be chosen by online voting.
Anyone interested in the competition can get more details online at www.youngandfreealberta.com.
