Posted by Lisa Hochgraf
I've been thinking a lot about what John Oliver presented at the inaugural Director Strategy Seminar last month. And, I've been watching my 7-year-old get really excited about Web-based games.
These seemingly separate trains of thought actually have some direct bearing on each other. Bear with me.
President of Laurel Management Systems in Palm Springs, Calif., Oliver told attendees that they needed to look at the customer experiences members were having in the larger marketplace, not just with other financial institutions. Members' overall experiences--the ones they're having with amazon.com and Zappos, for example--are setting the tone for all other experiences.
My 7-year-old has been playing--every minute that I'll let him--Poptropica.com, "a virtual world in which kids explore and play in complete safety. Every month, millions of kids from around the world are entertained and informed by Poptropica’s engaging quests, stories and games."
Poptropica has a number of features that credit unions interested in capturing my son's financial business might want to keep in mind:
- Great graphics and animation.
- Always-on technology. My son actually gave up on Club Penguin, Disney's social network for kids, after a few days because its servers were consistently too full and too slow.
- Kid independence tactfully supervised in the background by adults. Information for parents is clearly displayed and written on both Poptropica and Club Penguin.
- A fun financial learning place. The little guy has been saving "dubloons" and even took and paid back a loan to support purchases necessary to his success in the game. No offense, but he's learned way more about money here than from our credit union.
Anyone out there going after kids' accounts? If so, how are your graphics, technology, and financial learning games? What are your best strategies for meeting the high expectations of today's kids, and for involving their parents? How are you teaching them useful money lessons?
