Young & Free Alberta
Oct 20, 2008 
Central 1 Credit Union MarketSmarts
Young and Free — that’s exactly what you get from Young & Free Alberta. A program targeted towards youth that’s all about being free and gaining financial freedom.
Young & Free Alberta is an initiative launched by Common Wealth Credit Union. It was born through the desire to offer an account for the under 25 market in Alberta. At the same time, the credit union wanted a way to connect with the youth market in Northern Alberta during what is typically a period of transition in their lives.
Young & Free is an unlimited chequing account offered at the credit union and is available to 17–25 year olds. This was and still remains the first and only truly free chequing account in Alberta available for this age group.
More than this, Young & Free is an online platform designed to help define freedom for Northern Albertan youth, giving them a voice and place of their own, with representation by a spokesperson who will listen and be aware of what’s going on about topics that are important to youth. All of this and more comes to life at youngfreealberta.com. The site encapsulates many of the common social media tools currently out there including blogging, twitter, flickr, Facebook, YouTube and more.
It all started with the quest to find a spokesperson to be the person who represented and was the voice for the under 25 crowd in Alberta. Interested applicants had to show that they were tech savvy and were required to create an audition video and post it to the site. Even the CEO of Common Wealth, Jeff Mulligan got involved, creating videos to encourage people to audition and writing in the blog. In the end, the self proclaimed “spokester” was chosen and Larissa Walkiw was the first Young & Free spokester.
“The objectives of initiative were to cement Common Wealth Credit Union’s brand and reputation as an innovative, relevant financial institution, especially among young adults,” says Common Wealth’s Young & Free Manager, Kim Crockett. “These individuals will soon make significant, first time financial decisions about managing, borrowing and investing money, so it’s important to be on their radar.”
The brand and reputation objectives are certainly being met. In 2008, the Young & Free program received 12 industry awards and representatives from Common Wealth, including Walkiw and members of the agency behind Young & Free, Currency Marketing, had numerous speaking engagements.
On the website alone, they’ve had over 800 blog comments with an average of 300 visitors per day spending in excess of four minutes on the site per visit. The first spokester contest garnered 2,000 votes.
But the point of Young & Free was not just to have fun online. “The longer term objectives are to retain a greater percentage of our younger members as they become young adults and give non-members a compelling reason to choose Common Wealth over any other financial institution,” says Crockett.
In the first eleven months of the program, the credit union opened almost 2,500 Young & Free accounts and increased the total number of Young & Free aged members (17–25) by almost 10%. The credit union is now starting to benchmark statistics to help them measure the longer term objectives.
Not only has the program positively impacted the credit union’s brand within the industry as a social media leader and innovator, staff are truly engaged in the program with much of the staff belonging to the age group. The credit union has over 400 staff across Northern Alberta who promote the product with the help of creative in-branch collateral including floor decals and staff lanyards branded with Young & Free. Currently, Jere Stewart, the Young & Free internal spokester, is actively blogging on the site.
“You must seek strong staff buy-in,” says Crockett. “Everyone on staff is really an unofficial member of the credit union’s marketing team. They all have tremendous ability to promote and influence the impact Young & Free can have on our members and communities. Ensuring all staff, especially front line staff from all departments have the tools and knowledge they need to speak with their members about Young & Free contributes significantly and directly to the program’s success.”
Their agency agrees. “There has to be a commitment and a comfort level from the very top of the organization and there has to be resources to support it 24/7,” says Tim McAlpine, President and Chief Strategist at Currency Marketing.
What advice does McAlpine have for credit unions who want to target 18–24 year olds? “Don’t pretend you are something you are not. Talk in a normal voice and be totally transparent. Entertain first, educate second.”
It wasn’t easy though. Both Crockett and McAlpine agree that when it came to Young & Free, there were a lot of unknowns and there were no road maps or blueprints to follow. One thing is for sure, seek good partners and trust in them — this works both ways between credit union and agency.
The program continues to provide the credit union with a competitive edge over many competitors and there are always interesting things being added to the program. This year, they’ve introduced a Young & Free Alberta Truck. GoMobile has outfitted one of their billboards on wheels with a custom Young & Free Guitar Hero Studio complete with surround sound and seven flat-panel screens. The truck will travel Northern Alberta hitting community events and making some noise.
The search for the 2009 Young & Free spokester is currently underway to replace Walkiw. The credit union hopes to have a new spokester in place by November.
