Marketing a cause to Millennials should be easy, especially when the cause is anti-marketing. Millennials are a prime target for financial services, but often see credit as ‘free money’…. until they find themselves suddenly in debt. Truthout, in a blog post titled: Millennials: Debt Becomes You, informs us college students are more heavily in debt than ever.
The Federal Reserve says graduates now shoulder three times more debt than a decade ago, after adjusting for inflation. Undergraduates now average almost $20,000 in debt, with a quarter taking on more than $25,000, according to Robert Shireman, director of the Project on Student Debt, a Berkeley-based think tank.
The issue goes well beyond educational debt, however. College students graduate with $4,000 of credit card debt, on average, according to the U.S. PIRG Education Fund.
The PIRG’s campaign, ‘Truth about credit’ shows a solid understanding of how to reach and motivate Millennials, and is worth a closer look. It starts with a web site, www.thetruthaboutcredit.com that explains the pitfalls of credit card debt and the marketing techniques used by credit card companies to lure new customers. PIRG goes further by sending out peer marketing teams to get students to sign petitions about marketing practices on campuses. The teams will look and act like a regular credit card company, working for a fictional company called “Feesa” (tagline: “Free stuff now. Huge debt later”) and handing out lollipops saying, “Don’t be a sucker.” Volunteers fanned out across 34 universities last October, distributing information and collecting petition signatures to persuade colleges to establish specific “principles” regarding credit card marketing on campus. The principles include prohibiting the use of gifts in marketing on campus and blocking the sale of student lists. The volunteers wear blue Feesa shirts that are designed to look and sound like a real credit company (sounds like VISA). 
Facecard (love the name) uses similar techniques to promote its pre-paid debit card. Facecard marketing teams will distribute informational packets on 50 college campuses around the country. The brochure, titled “Get smart. Get more,” provides tips on budgeting, banking and preventing identity theft. Mobilizing Millennials to educate other Millennials and enroll them in the cause sounds like smart marketing to me.
