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Stagecoach island: Nexus of the nexters

GMoney is young and loves to shop, but unlike most young women, she's already a homeowner with a low, low mortgage and a respectable savings account. GMoney is the avatar, or online image, of Gina Fung, who in real life is vice president of experiential marketing for Wells Fargo & Co. Online, Fung is the Pied Piper of Stagecoach Island, a virtual world designed to lure teens and young adults into becoming bank customers. Fung recently addressed a group of business managers gathered for the "Achieving Innovation through Collaboration" symposium hosted by the Center for Advancing Business through Information Technology at the W. P. Carey School of Business.

2008-05-07

Gina Fung -- "GMoney" to her cyber buddies -- is young and loves to shop, but unlike most young women, she's already a homeowner with a low, low mortgage and a respectable savings account. GMoney is the avatar, or online image, of Fung, who in real life is vice president of experiential marketing for Wells Fargo & Co., the financial services company based in San Francisco, California. The company offers banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer finance products and services through almost 6,000 locations. With $595 billion in assets, Wells Fargo is the only bank in the U.S. with the "AAA" credit rating from both Moody's Investor Service and Standard & Poor's. Online, Fung is the Pied Piper of Stagecoach Island, a virtual world designed to lure teens and young people into becoming bank customers. Her job is to connect with young adults, a generation Wells Fargo marketing gurus call "Nexters," as in "next generation." "Nexters" Raised in an increasingly wired world, Nexters are early adopters of the latest technology. They are "forward thinking and upwardly mobile," Fung told business managers gathered for the "Achieving Innovation Through Collaboration" symposium hosted recently by the Center for Advancing Business through Information Technology at the W. P. Carey School of Business. Wells Fargo's Nexters, defined as 12- to 24-year-olds, are "Millennials" -- young consumers who are usually described as people in their teens to about age 30. Fung said research indicates there are 54 million Americans in the Nexter age group, with slightly more males (51 percent) than females (49 percent). One in four is Caucasian, she continued, and they are overwhelmingly turned off by traditional marketing. "As consumers, we are bombarded with three to five thousand marketing messages daily, from TV, cable, satellite, radio, online banners and pop-ups and ads, e-mails, sponsorships" and the like, Fung said. Generally speaking, the effectiveness of marketing decreases as the volume increases, she added. Creating fans out of your customers Hoping to snag the brand loyalty of Nexters, Wells Fargo dug a little deeper and came up with more crucial information about its target market. Turns out that this age group responds well to experiential marketing, which Fung described as "creating fans out of your customers." Experiential marketing strategies include sponsoring events and mobile tours, offering digital platforms and hosting online sites. "These strategies make for a two-way dialogue, rather than a forced fit for branding. Experiential marketing is about respecting the consumer. Consumers are in control," she explained. Companies that have proven especially adept at using experiential marketing to reach Nexters include Nike, Coca-Cola, Apple and Toyota, Fung added. The same research uncovered a disheartening mindset among many Nexters: they viewed Wells Fargo "as their grandparents' bank. We realized we had to try to position ourselves online, among social media and gaming and communities, to reach them," she continued. Harnessing the virtual world By "social media," of course, Fung meant everything from MySpace and Facebook to Twitter and LinkedIn, blogs, discussion groups and forums. Numbers change constantly, but a recent count found approximately 171 million users on MySpace, and 69 million active users on Facebook. Fung said there are more than 113 million blogs, many of them written or read by Nexters, who are at home online. In fact, 45 percent of Americans ages 18 to 25 recently surveyed say they have friends initially encountered online rather than in real life. Fung called them "technology-fueled friendships." She cited a Parks Associates study by Yuanzhe Cai, director of Broadband & Gaming, in which people describe their online motivation. The results: Gaming, 36 percent; escape, 29 percent; curiosity, 23 percent and "to be someone else," 20 percent. As Fung put it, "we wanted to harness this virtual world." But they had to choose the right vehicle, or they'd miss their target market by a mile. Once again, Wells Fargo relied on research indicating generalized attitudes among Nexters. They demand transparency, value truth in advertising, need constant change to remain interested and want to participate (think YouTube) rather than simply observe. And thanks to reality television and social media, this age group believes that "becoming famous" is an attainable goal for them. Stagecoach Island In early 2005, Wells Fargo launched Stagecoach Island on Second Life, a three-dimensional game online that allows participants to create an avatar and role play. Initially, Stagecoach Island was 95 percent entertainment, with just a whiff of financial education. Branding was almost non-existent. For instance, Fung said Wells Fargo's logo appears only on Stagecoach Island's six automated teller machines. So what do Nexters do on Stagecoach Island? They choose an avatar -- eye color, gender, skin color, name, etc. -- and build an identity, selecting a job and pastimes. The game facilitates virtual financial transactions as well as adventure. Users can shop, fly hovercrafts, build a house, "explore the island's hidden secrets" or just hang out with other users online. They can also open checking and savings accounts, but they've got to earn a salary, pay a monthly mortgage and pony up for taxes, too. "We teach the financial education part of it in a comic style. And they have to correctly answer questions to get things, like to open a checking account," Fung said. Automated "bots" eject users who don't comply with the rules. She won't talk user numbers or share how often Stagecoach Island participation translates into a real-life bank Wells Fargo customer. "I can say that we have hundreds of thousands of unique visits and tens of thousands of members," she said. Over time, the virtual world has evolved. For one thing, users need fresh content to stay interested. Static games lose out. And given that there are more than 100 virtual worlds to choose from, retaining users is key. Their strategy includes employing a 22-year-old Nexter as a blogger who functions as an information pipeline and a content adviser. "To take advantage of new features we've added, players have to learn about each financial product before they can use it. For instance, when a player wants to build a virtual home, we'll first teach them about interest rates and property taxes," Fung said. "When they want to get a job -- whether as an architect or a rock star -- we'll make sure they know why taxes are taken out of their paycheck." Bottom Line:

• Wells Fargo & Co. reported just under $53.6 billion in revenue for 2007.
• The financial service company's largest competitors, according to Hoover's online, are Bank of America, U.S. Bancorp and Washington Mutual.
• A recent count found approximately 171 million users on MySpace, and 69 million active users on Facebook. Fung said there are more than 113 million blogs and 100 virtual worlds.

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