Page 10 - Contact Magazine: 2nd Quarter, 2016

AC&E SPEAKER PREVIEW

When It Comes to Millennials,
‘We’re Already in the Door’

Most credit unions already know they need to attract more Millennial members and
deepen relationships with the young members they currently have. So who better to
advise them on how to do that than a man who ran a credit union with a field of

membership that was more than 50 percent Millennials?

Jim Kasch spent nearly five years at the helm of Darden Employees FCU, which Jim Kasch
serves employees of Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse and several other
national restaurant chains.

“[Darden] had 220,000 employees, and more than half of them were Millennials,” explained Kasch, who
will deliver a breakout session titled “Attract, Serve and Retain Millennials: More Than Delivery Channels
and Social Media” during this year’s Annual Convention and Exposition in Detroit.

“Our team had to learn very quickly what that meant, what was appealing to them and what Millennials
were looking for in terms of banking relationships,” he said. “We quickly realized that it wasn’t
about social media and technology. Really everything the credit union did needed to be tweaked
or amplified.”

One example he offered was that credit unions can make themselves more accessible by simplify-
ing product offerings.

“Do you really need four different types of checking accounts?” he asked. “Can’t you just
make one that has all the best features of all of them and go with that?”

One thing that doesn’t need changing, according to Kasch, is the business model.

“The cooperative model resonates with Millennials, but they don’t realize that credit
unions are cooperatives,” he said. “I implore credit unions to try to take away some of
the fluff and the nomenclature and let Millennials know that we are a not-for-profit
financial cooperative, and the more of us who participate, the better it is for everybody.”

More Popular Than the Peace Corps?

Kasch suggested that philanthropy and social engagement are extremely popular
among young people today—“probably even more popular than when the Peace
Corps started in the ’60s,” he said.

Adding to this opportunity, said Kasch, is the fact that Millennials now make up more
than 25 percent of the U.S. population. And young consumers aren’t shy about ask-
ing for advice.

“I joke that Millennials are the first generation to care what their parents think,”
quipped Kasch. “That’s a great thing for credit unions, because when a 24-year-old
bartender calls her dad and asks where to get a car loan, he’s going to say the credit
union because they did a great job serving him. So we’re already in the door.”

10 Second Quarter 2016 I Contact