Credit Karma Challenge

“Tomorrow Starts Today”East Carolina University

Fall 20141

Agenda

Client Objectives

Campaign Strategy

Research

Promotions

Events

Public Relations

Summary of Results

Financial Analysis

Recommendations for National Campus Roll-Out

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Client Objectives

Create an integrated marketing communications plan that: a) educates the

target market on the value of understanding and managing credit through Credit

Karma and its resources, and b) drives the target market to become members

at your campus-specific URL.

Increase awareness and consideration for Credit Karma among the target

market, while differentiating Credit Karma from its competitors and industry

incumbents by highlighting the pro-consumer benefits that Credit Karma offers.

Work towards gaining at least one public relations placement for Credit Karma

in a traditional media outlet (newspaper, editorial web outlet, TV or radio).

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Campaign Strategy

Target market: college students, especially upperclassmen (juniors/seniors)

Theme: “Tomorrow Starts Today”

The theme was translated into different executions

Entertainment

Communications emphasizing your decisions and financial health

Communication tactics implemented included: social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube);

guerrilla marketing (sidewalk chalk, costume character interactions with giveaways); informational

presentations (classroom visits, off-campus presentations, and information tables); email

marketing; word-of-mouth; and earned media (newspaper articles, radio interview, blogs).

The communication strategy supported two events

Main Event

Mock Wedding

Events helped generate awareness and consideration of both Credit Karma and the services it offers

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Secondary Research – SWOT Analysis

STRENGTHS

Completely FREE

Recognizable brand name

Full credit report and customer resources

Credit score reported weekly

Favorable BBB ratings and reviews

WEAKNESSES

Advertising does not get Gen Y’s and Millennials as

engaged

Perceptions: “too good to be true” and “scam”

Dependence among third parties for revenue

Brand name may be misspelled

OPPORTUNITIES

High credit utilization, lower credit scores and

lack of knowledge about incorrect information

on credit report may increase demand

Millennials will represent the majority of the

future workforce-increased spending power

Achievement-oriented Millenials may have a

stronger desire to monitor credit

Experience collectors may be more receptive to

marketing messages

THREATS

Other reputable credit report services

Banks provide free scores for account holders

Changing economy, taxes, government regulations,

etc.

Rising costs and price changes increase

partnership costs

5Sources: Credit Karma Company Fact Sheet and Press Releases, MarketLine; Fallon, Nicole (2014), “Why

You Shouldn’t Market to Millenials,” Business News Daily, October 1, link.

Primary Research – Key Findings from Pre-Campaign

Surveys (Convenience sample, N=375, Age M = 22, 56% Male)

81.3% of those surveyed were aware of Credit Karma

Credit Karma was the first company that came to mind (unaided recall) for credit reports

71.9% did not know their credit score, and 62.9% have never checked their credit score

Only 33.9% Agreed or Strongly Agreed they trusted Credit Karma

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Promotional Communications

Objectives (from October 30 - November 17):

Increase awareness (goal: 89%) and use (goal: 33%) of Credit Karma.

Increase agreement with the statement “Credit Karma offers free Credit Reports” (goal: 65%).

Drive traffic to the Credit Karma website. Generate new members.

Utilized multiple touch points

Flyer examples:

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Promotional Tactics: Guerrilla Marketing

Videos:

Credit Karma Panda 1

CK Panda Video 2

CK Panda Video 3

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Information Tables, Classroom Visits and

Off Campus Outreach

Twenty classroom visits and on-campus information tables

were executed

Word-of-mouth engagement in high traffic locations including

coffee shops and libraries

Distribution of 1,500+ flyers and 500 cups

Yard signs placed to generate thousands of impressions

Six examples of off campus outreach at a downtown venue

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Social Media Tactics

Utilize Facebook, twitter and YouTube accounts

Tweeted about Credit Karma services; retweeted Credit Karma tweets

Selective posting to avoid alienating followers

Posted flyers as photos

Promote #TomorrowStartsToday

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Social Media Results

100 followers on Twitter

80 retweets

75 favorites

312 likes on Facebook

12,377 cumulative reach, 1,654 engagements over three weeks

2,000 people reached through video sharing on Facebook

Facebook Viral Video

ECU College of Business shared messages with their Facebook fans (2,163)

and twitter followers (3,131)

Listserv invitation to the mock wedding was sent to 3,413 undergraduates

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Example Tweets

Kick-Off Event:

Halloween Theme

Bate building and Wright Plaza

Thursday, October 30th 10AM – 4PM

• 1,099 hits on website

• 3,000+ impressions at kick-off event

• 600 interactions and 358 sign-ups

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“Pop-Up” Event:

Mock Wedding

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Don’t let bad credit interfere with your “happily ever

after.” Start managing it today.

• Change of location due to weather

• 100 wedding attendees

• 1,500+ students were exposed

Events Summary

Soft Sell Approach

Successes:

• Media Coverage

• Total impressions

• Social Media

Possible Improvements:

• Focus more on Credit Karma’s value proposition

• Stronger social media presence at start of campaign

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Public Relations

Hook: We are providing valuable and critical credit education to

our fellow students as we compete in a national competition,

sponsored by Credit Karma, that is allowing us to gain real-world

experience.

Provided the media and other outlets with a professional and

detailed understanding of what the class was trying to do.

Wrote and distributed three press releases

Created a list of over twenty local media contacts and kept them

informed about events and project progress.

Coordinated hometown media outlet outreach

The documents promoted Credit Karma as a free and trustworthy

source to do so

Organized video to help tell the team’s story

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Earned Media – Off Campus Examples

Community Newspaper: The Daily Reflector

2 Online articles published

1 hard copy article published in the daily paper

1 YouTube video on their channel, Facebook

Also featured in Whiteville’s The News Reporter. 16

Earned Media – On Campus Examples & Summary

91.3 WZMB: Radio interview describing our campaign and promoting Credit Karma

ECU News Blog (2 Items)

ECU College of Business Social Media posts

Successes:

Earned media with off-campus and on-campus media outlets

Provided documents that facilitated a clear understanding of the strategy & goals

Made media aware of the events so they could attend (earned video coverage)

Managed videos and photos from all events for public to see

Estimated number of people reached via earned media: 5,000; estimated equivalent ad value: $425

Possible improvements:

Try to communicate with national media

Consider using PR Newswire to spread word

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WZMB Interview Video

The Daily ClipsECU, HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE NEWS

Results –Post-Campaign (vs. Pre-Campaign) Surveys (Convenience sample, N=352, Age M = 21.5, 55% Male)

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Item Pre-

Campaign

Post-

Campaign

Credit Karma Awareness 81.3% 89.5%

Credit Karma Usage 17.3% 38.4%

Credit Karma is a brand I trust

(Agree/Strongly Agree)

33.9% 55.4%

Credit Karma provides free credit

reports (Agree/Strongly Agree)

46% 62%

Likelihood of registering

(Likely, Very Likely, or Already

registered)

39.4% 58%

Research – Pre- and Post-Campaign

Survey Comparison (cont’d.)

81.3

32.337.1

28.1

89.5

55.750.6

36.9

AWARENESS CAME TO MIND CHECKED SCORE KNOW SCORE

Credit Karma Survey Results Comparison (%)

Pre-Campaign Post-Campaign

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10% increase in

respondents overall

initial awareness

Increased unaided

recall to 56%

Research – 147 Open-Ended Responses

Respondents mentioned how both events (Halloween/Wedding) created

attention for Credit Karma

14% mentioned the giveaways

26% said they were inspired to sign up-now or in the future-and that they

learned more about the services and the importance of credit score

knowledge

Selected Comments:

“Love the panda bear and free pizza!”

“Shared and watched the dog video with my friends several times”

“Convinced me to try it when I ned to buy a new house or car”

“A company I may end up changing to in the future”

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Focus Group Concept Testing and Other Ideas

Focus Group Results (n = 5)

Need to communicate more benefits (other than “It’s FREE!”)

College students need to know how company can fulfill their [unnoticed]/unsought credit needs

Strong support for an informative speaker series (Dave Ramsey or Personal Finance Instructors)

Concept Testing

Emphasis on weekly credit reports as a source of differentiation: e.g. “Make it part of your weekly

routine” (Routine tasks such as laundry, grocery shopping, etc.)

Consider “Game of Life” promotion that ties weekly life “moves” in the game to credit awareness

and financial health (e.g. going to college, gaining a career, starting a family, buying a home, etc.)

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Financial Analysis

Budget spent: $1,339.90

Value Added * : $1,390

ROI: > 100%

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*$175 in donations, $470 in value added from printing discounts/wholesale pricing; team utilized personal tables,

costumes and suits and borrowed the wedding dress, which saved approximately $200 combined; earned media

had an estimated value of $425; team utilized low cost cups for lasting impressions, social media and low-cost

sidewalk chalk and dry erase boards to generate buzz/word-of-mouth and impressions valued at approximately

$120.

56%41%

3%

Budget Allocation

Events

Promotions

Research

Summary: Client Objectives and Results

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Client Objective Results

Create an integrated marketing

communications plan that: a) educates the

target market on the value of understanding

and managing credit through Credit Karma

and its resources, and b) drives the target

market to become members at your campus-

specific URL.

a) Communication through a variety of touch points, including: social media

(Facebook, Twitter, YouTube); guerrilla marketing (sidewalk chalk, costume

character interactions with giveaways); informational presentations (classroom

visits and information tables); email marketing; word-of-mouth; and through

earned media

b) Results:1,632 redirects and 82 new registrations

Increase awareness and consideration for

Credit Karma among the target market, while

differentiating Credit Karma from its

competitors and industry incumbents by

highlighting the pro-consumer benefits that

Credit Karma offers.

-Awareness increased from 81% to 90%

-Consideration increased from 39% to 58%

-Perceptions that Credit Karma really is free increased from 46% to 62%

Work towards gaining at least one public

relations placement for Credit Karma in a

traditional media outlet (newspaper, editorial

web outlet, TV or radio).

-The Daily Reflector (off-campus newspaper), in two articles and a video in the

online version and in their social media

-The News Reporter (Whiteville, NC)

-ECU News blog and College of Business site

-Shout-outs from several radio stations; and an interview on 91.3 WZMB

Client Objective Results – Possible Improvements

More time

A heavier push on social media at the beginning of the campaign

Technical difficulties; confusion after redirect (because it did not say

anything about ECU)

Emphasis on visiting the site and not the benefits offered

More familiarity with the company

Specifically targeting upperclassmen vs. lowerclassmen

Approaching people when they are waiting and thinking about their

future

Intercepting people after they have made bad decisions and are ready

for a fresh start

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Recommendations for National Campus Roll-Out Speaker series

Make messaging less “Credit Karma” specific and more about credit and financial

health, in general

Recognize student debt as a concern

Student loan education workshop/course

Create a memorable mascot and a brand ambassador team with recognizable

uniforms

Develop an ongoing presence in the community: attend and sponsor events

Generate goodwill by participating in service activities with Greek organizations, non-

profit organizations

Provide “coaching” services

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Recommendations for National Campus Roll-Out

(Cont.)

Advertise or plan events around ATMs

Involve students in the conversation: e.g. “What does credit mean to

you?” “How will having good credit help you to reach your goals?”

Utilize guerrilla marketing on college campuses:

Designate paths around quads for different credit ranges

Utilize elevator buttons to highlight different credit score ranges

Highlight credit score ranges on stair cases

“Catch” people with the app and reward them for their wisdom

Execute staged “pick-pocketing” events

Sponsor free parking or wireless service on campus as a “bonus” for

select Credit Karma members

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Thank you for everyone’s work during the

Credit Karma Challenge!

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Click for the Video Highlights of the

ECU Credit Karma Challenge