The business of ideas
Posted by Brent Dixon on March 26th, 2008
I’ve read a few posts across the financial blogosphere about Starbuck’s user-generated idea site, MyStarbucks Idea, and its relevance to financial institutions as a channel into consumer insight another way to listen.
As usual, the good folks at Vancity are ahead of their game with weallprofit.vancity.com, a (beautifully designed) user-generated idea site that launched months ago.
Their explanation of the site and philosophy hits the nail on the head:
You can call us a financial institution, you can call us a credit union, you can even call us a bank. But the truth is, when it comes right down to it, we’re really just in the business of ideas. An idea for a different way of banking is what got us started. It was the idea of profit sharing that made us grow. And today, it’s the innovative ideas that help make our members financial lives easier and our communities stronger. In short, through good ideas, we all profit.
At Vancity, we believe good ideas can come from anywhere. Which is why we always like hearing new ones. If you have an idea you’d like to share, then by all means, put it on the wall.
Well said.
Vancity’s William Azaroff says the site will be getting a facelift in the next several months. I’m looking forward to the action if/when they begin to implement the ideas they’re collecting.
(Starbucks site via Jim on Netbanker, Robbie on the fi-linx blog, and Brady on Grow Your Bank)
Thanks Brent. I have a lot of heart for weallprofit.vancity.com.
We All Profit is, in my humble opinion, a kickass tagline for a CU. It’s something to shout to the rafters, to strive for, and to live up to every day.
The more I think about it, the more I like it.
Thanks for your kind words. See you in May!
@ William – I totally agree about the tagline. It captures the differentiation and purpose perfectly.
What’s your favorite idea that’s been submitted so far?
Keep us posted on what’s up your sleeve with WAP project.
And yeah, can’t wait till May.
That is a sweet tagline indeed. Very cool concept, congrats Mr. Azaroff for another innovation that puts VanCity ahead of the game.
Would love to hear some of the ideas that come from this.
Brent, you’re absolutley right.
And, while I’ve seen the Vancity site before, I didn’t realize the similarities between it and the My Starbucks Idea site until I read your post.
After taking another look at both sites, I love the fact that people can not only submit their own ideas for consideration -but that others can rate/vote on those ideas.
If Vancity’s site is to indeed get a facelift in the coming months, as you said, I’d like to see the credit union loop back around on the proposed ideas to let members know what action is being taken – much like the “see” section of the Starbucks site.
So did the credit union industry beat a big brand like Starbucks to the punch on this?
Thanks for the heads up on Vancity and their idea generation site.
You have to value ideas in order to invest in the generation of ideas.
Not everyone does.
Idea poor companies have a hard time competing.
Idea rich companies can grow a successful brand.
Neat to see the co-creation that is taking place in our networked marketplace.
Keep creating…even when no one is looking, Mike
I’m a Vancity employee, and I confess that I had completely forgotten that this site existed. That tells me a few things:
1. We need to communicate about it more often to staff—what are the latest ideas to come from the site? Can they encourage members to share their ideas?
2. We need to promote it more prominently on our home page. Not only in making it permanently visible on the site, but reminding members to share their ideas. Can we let members know what we do with the ideas that are specific to our business? Wouldn’t it be cool if we somehow had a blog/feedback loop that talked about some of the ideas…. here’s a thought: from member idea to product/service reality.
3. Are there opportunities to generate earned media? Perhaps when we’re relaunching the site as a whole.
Nice looking and creative design… great idea… too slow and cumbersome because of excessive use of flash.
Also, pretty sad that a Vancity employee has no idea what happens to the ideas generated on the site! Do the members?
I ask: fluff or the real stuff? Seems like form over function.
@frederick – That’s exactly my issue with it. I like how it captures who we are as a community-minded credit union. But the sharing of good ideas was implemented more as entertainment than as actual two-way participation. It’s something we’re looking at in a big way as we revise the site.
Two-way engagement takes the effort of the whole organization. We do many many things well, but I’m not sure we’re all the way there.
I wanted to answer this very openly, as this is a big focus for me, and others at the company.
Once again, Vancity impresses.
That is a hot idea. I love it!