FAIRFAX, Va. — What started out as a campaign by Fairfax County Federal Credit Union to promote a checking account aimed at Generation Y has turned into a new way to reach the 18 to 30-year olds, many of which are heavy text message users and are quick to pass along information on good deals.
Last October, the $237 million Fairfax launched its Gen Y Extreme Checking Account. To create interest, the credit union ran a contest to create a 30-second video to run on YouTube.com touting the benefits of the account. Five finalists made the cut. More than 1,200 people text messaged in their vote for the winning video–an animated cartoon featuring "FairfaxMan." County FCU
Fairfax said it was able to increase its Gen Y demographic by 12% as a result of the promotion. Facebook ads supporting the contest generated 362,000 impressions per day at a cost of $1.67 per click. The credit union is currently in the process of rolling out a similar contest on YouTube in March focusing on the Hispanic market with commercials submitted in Spanish and advertised on My Space en Espa??ol.
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"It's a demographic, like all credit unions, we are very keen on attracting and retaining," said Joseph Thomas, president/CEO of Fairfax. "It's like when e-mail first came out. [Using YouTube] is something that is evolving in terms of how to use it to reach people."
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