ProjectNewAge.com Blog

PROJECT NEW AGE WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU!

As you know, blogging is all about expressing yourself, and creating (and being a part of) an online conversation.  Blogs are places to actively engage in discussions, whereby your ideas and suggestions are heard and shared with others.  The ProjectNewAge Blog is no different.

So today we're utilizing the ProjectNewAge Blog to hear from you about ... well, this blog.  We want your ideas and suggestions for making the ProjectNewAge Blog better ... and by better we mean more effectively meeting your Gen Y and new media marketing information needs.

WE WANT YOUR IDEAS!

First, please tell us if the ProjectNewAge Blog postings are of value to you.  Second, please let us know what we can do to make the blog better to meet your needs. You can post your thoughts here by simply clicking the “Comments” button at the bottom of this blog post.

Or you can send us an email at ProjectNewAge@PSCUFS.com.  Remember, the ProjectNewAge.com Blog is for you, so we look forward to hearing your thoughts and requests!

2D MEETS 3D WITH NEW GEN Y SOCIAL NETWORK

Hold on to your widgets, there's a new Gen Y social network morphing  MySpace with a SecondLife ... basically tying together 2D and 3D worlds. Yep, a new MySpace-style virtual, Web 3.0 world. The new site, Kaneva.com, is definitely a new twist on social networking. Kaneva users can create profile pages in their 2D space, like at MySpace or Facebook, but also do the same 3D personalization to their Kaneva virtual world apartment.

Actually, it is pretty cool—users can not only decorate their Kaneva apartment with TVs and photo frames, etc., but also fill those items with content. For example, a Kaneva Gen Y’er can have their virtual friends over to watch their favorite viral videos on their virtual, 3D TV.

Also, groups can conduct meetings in the Kaneva virtual, Web 3.0 world.

From the 2D side, Kaneva is chocked full of all of MySpace stuff—friends, photos, videos, messages, groups and personal blogs. The site also gives Gen Y’ers control over what their home site and profile looks like, using an AJAX editor to drop modules into the page.

The 3D, virtual world has a kind of There.com look and feel. Kaneva is based on warping to different public locations, e.g., mall, bars, night clubs ... and to the user’s personal apartment. Goods can be purchased via virtual currency. Kaneva gives Gen Y’ers some basic hair, color, body, and shape customizations for their avatars.

However, with all these cool site offerings, Kaneva still has a long way to go before catching up with the established mainstream social networking sites, and other virtual, Web 3.0 worlds such as SecondLife. ProjectNewAge.com will continue monitoring Kaneva and other virtual, 3D social networks. In the meantime, check out Kaneva ... we’re sure Gen Y’ers in your area already know about it!

FAIRFAX CO. CREDIT UNION CREATES USER-GENERATED, GEN Y AD PROMOTION

We at ProjectNewAge.com are closely tracking the efforts of Fairfax County (Virginia) Federal Credit Union's current (solicited) user-generated ad contest promoting one of its new checking account products—Extreme Checking—targeting Gen Y’ers.  The Fairfax County Credit Union advertised the promotion via Facebook's new Flyer Ad Service (see Gen Y Webinar No. 5), which allows marketers to target specific Gen Y'ers (psychographically, demographically) inside Facebook.

Via Fairfax Flyer ads (Download facebook_ad1.pdf), Gen Y'ers in Fairfax's region were informed of and encouraged to create and submit their own 30-second video commercial on the virtues of the new Gen Y Extreme Checking product. The Flyer ads generated 360,000 impressions per day, at $1.67 per click. The Credit Union received 38 user-generated ad submissions.  Voting on the 5 finalists is taking place this month (view finalist 1 above and 2 below ... click here to view finalist 3, 4, and 5 videos).  Voting is by text message.  To vote, people opt-in which gives Fairfax a database of Gen Yers they can then market to via text message in the coming months.  The contest winner receives $1,000 and an Apple iPhone. Runners-up receive an iPod.

While they may be an ad agency’s worst nightmare, user-generated ads might be a Gen Y-targeting company's best friend.  Why?  Well, attendees of our PSCU-FS Webinar Series on Gen Y may recall Webinar No. 3 on User-Generated Content, and how some Gen Y-targeting companies are utilizing Web user content as marketing promotions, e.g., the recent Dorito's Super Bowl ad.

 

Fairfax Chief Marketing Officer Matthew Kaudy said the promotion is the Credit Union’s first Gen Y-specific marketing program.  He also informed ProjectNewAge.com that many Gen Y’ers seeing the Facebook Flyer ads sent them on to other Gen Y’ers in their Facebook social networks.  Even some of the local college papers picked up on the promotion.  Kudos to Matthew and his marketing team.  We’ll keep everyone apprised of the results!

GOING OVER THE TOP AND DOWN UNDER FOR GEN Y

A big part of our job here at ProjectNewAge.com is keeping you, our member Credit Unions, apprised of all relevant Generation Y information and news sources. That's why we created the ProjectNewAge Blog, and why we're alerting you to this YouTube video, which links back to a new Aussie Web site-YMI Magazine. So why is ProjectNewAge.com promoting Aussie sources for Gen Y news and information, you ask? Well, we hear this source is doing some important Gen Y research, and because technology is the Great Equalizer among Gen Y'ers worldwide.

There are at best nominal difference between how U.S. and Aussie Gen Y'ers consumer media, and interact with brands. So, again, we encourage you to bookmark (even better yet, we encourage you to Social Bookmark! ... via Del.icio.us.com) this Web site and include it as part of your ongoing Gen Y resources.

Upon viewing the video, you will be informed of a URL: http://targetgeny.com/. We encourage you to visit the address, which takes you the YMI Magazine Web site. There's also an interesting PDF (Download Generation_What.pdf) that you should download and read. Visit the ProjectNewAge.com Blog often for more Gen Y news and information!