95SX FM

Josh was on 95SX FM's 2 Girls & a Guy morning show for his first weekly 2010 Young & Free SC Spokesperson search update.

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95SX FM

Josh was on 95SX FM's 2 Girls & a Guy morning show for his first weekly 2010 Young & Free SC Spokesperson search update.

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+ 95SX FM website

WWWZ-FM Z93 JAMZ

Josh was on Z93 FM talking about our 2010 spokesperson search.

 
+ Z93 FM JAMZ website

95SX FM

Josh was on 95SX FM's 2 Girls & a Guy morning show to announce the launch of the 2010 Young & Free SC Spokesperson.

+ 95SX FM website

City Paper | By Marina Fleming

Young & Free SC and the Charleston City Paper have teamed up to offer free tickets for a midnight showing of New Moon at Citadel Mall Stadium 16 (2072 Sam Rittenberg Blvd.) on the evening of Thurs. Nov. 19. Discounts and giveaways will also be available at the screening. Visit youngfreesc.com for your chance to win free tickets. Tickets to the midnight screening are $6.

+ Original article

City Paper | By T. Ballard Lesemann

Five local bands gave their best at the Wild Wing

Last night's Last Band Standing event — a showcase, competition, food drive, and rock jamboree organized in large part by South Carolina Federal Credit Union's Young & Free S.C. program — came together with ease and high spirits.

These multiple-band events always have the potential to drag on or swerve in unexpected directions, but everyone from the club staff and the Young & Free volunteers to the sound guy (Wild Wing house veteran Curtis Flewelling) and the bandmembers were punctual, diligent, and focused. Emcee Josh Sutherland handled the mic with geeky enthusiasm and kept things rolling on schedule. A lot of genuine effort came in from all directions, and it paid off well.

A mixed crowd of fans, friends, and families filled the Wild Wing's main music room and side patio as the five finalists — Stereoreform, Meet the Sky, Hollow Reed, The Whisperjets, and Chaos in Gotham — each took the stage for 20-25 minute sets of their best stuff. I joined the four other judges at a front table Charlton Singleton (of the Charleston Jazz Orchestra), Mark Bryan (of Hootie & The Blowfish) vocalist Quiana Parler, and Joel M. Frank (of The Bridge at 105.5 WCOO) for the duration, score sheets in hand.

Each band had its own style and sound. Power trio Stereoreform got super funky right off the bat, and even veered into an unexpected "drum line" with the bassist and guitarist grabbing pairs of sticks and playing rhythmic patterns in unison on one snare drum in synch with the main drummer.

Meet the Sky worked with a grand, eclectic, alt-rock style, with chiming guitars and dramatic vocals. The main guitarist played the set with a broken strumming hand (in a huge cast!).

Hollow Reed got past an initial sound problem with some acoustic guitars and strummed through an almost dream-like set of double-vocal (in unison) folk-pop.

The Whisperjets drew the biggest crowd of fans to the stage, and dazzled the audience and judges with a confident and brassy performance of upbeat mix of guitar-pop and ska-flavored rock.

Without waiting around for an introduction from Josh, Chaos in Gotham, heaviest and most shouty group of the event, launched into a tight set of mid-tempo, surprisingly sophisticated punk originals.

While the final points fluctuated slightly, the judges scored the bands in a pretty consistent order. The panel agreed unanimously on the top two winners. The Whisperjets came out on top (winning $1,000 in cash and a spot on the schedule at the forthcoming ShineFest on Oct. 17), just ahead of Stereo Reform (winning $500 in cash). Congrats all around.

+ Original article

95SX FM

Josh was on the 95SX FM's 2 Girls and a Guy morning show once again talking about our new Last Band Standing free T-shirt promotion.

+ 95SX FM website

WWWZ-FM Z93 JAMZ

Josh was once again on Z93 FM talking about our new Last Band Standing free T-shirt promotion.

 
+ Z93 FM JAMZ website

City Paper | By T. Ballard Lesemann

Five local bands to duke it out at the Wild Wing on Oct. 7

The organizational team from South Carolina Federal Credit Union's Young & Free S.C. program announced the five finalists in the upcoming Last Band Standing. The "battle of the bands" event is scheduled for Wed. Oct. 7 at the Wild Wing Cafe in Mt. Pleasant.

95SX FM

Josh was on the 95SX FM's 2 Girls and a Guy morning show once again talking about our new Last Band Standing free T-shirt promotion.

+ 95SX FM website

WWWZ-FM Z93 JAMZ

Josh was on the Z93 FM talking about our new Last Band Standing free T-shirt promotion.

 
+ Z93 FM JAMZ website

City Paper | By T. Ballard Lesemann

Trust their judgement on Oct. 7 at the battle of the bands

Expect an announcement this week on the five finalists in the upcoming "battle of the bands" event Last Band Standing — organized in large part by South Carolina Federal Credit Union's new Young & Free S.C. program. The big showdown is scheduled for Wed. Oct. 7 at the Wild Wing Cafe in Mt. Pleasant. The top band wins $1,000 in cash and a slot on the bill at the ShineFest concert on Oct. 17. The finalists were selected by online votes.

A panel of Last Band Standing judges include four experienced scenesters — Mark Bryan, Charlton Singleton, Quiana Parler, and Joel Frank. Bryan is a founding member and guitarist of Hootie & The Blowfish. Singleton is a longtime Charleston trumpeter, educator, arranger (and member of award-winning local band Plane Jane). Critically acclaimed vocalist Parler is well known for her soaring singing style and vibrant presence. Frank stays busy as the music director, assistant programming director, and afternoon disc jockey with The Bridge at 105.5. Your humble music editor will be there at the judges' table, too.

Visit youngfreesc.com for more.

+ Original article

95SX FM

Josh was on the 95SX FM's 2 Girls and a Guy morning show talking about our new Last Band Standing free T-shirt promotion.

+ 95SX FM website

WWWZ-FM Z93 JAMZ

Josh was on the Z93 FM talking about our new Last Band Standing free T-shirt promotion.

 
+ Z93 FM JAMZ website

City Paper | By T. Ballard Lesemann

Treehugger

The City Paper has joined forces with Young & Free S.C. — South Carolina Federal Credit Union's new program aimed at "the 25 and under crowd" — to organize a big battle of the bands event called. Full Article at Charleston City Paper

» Original article

City Paper | By T. Ballard Lesemann

The City Paper has joined forces with Young & Free S.C. — South Carolina Federal Credit Union's new program aimed at "the 25 and under crowd" — to organize a big battle of the bands event called Young & Free: Last Band Standing.

Young & Free programs provide a forum and educational outlet for college students and young adults.

The main Last Band Standing event is set for Wed. Oct. 7 at the Wild Wing in Mt. Pleasant at 7 p.m. The prizes are impressive: first place wins $1,000 and a set at the upcoming ShineFest 2009 event set for Sat. Oct. 17 at the Joseph P. Riley Stadium; second place wins $500; and the three runners-up will be awarded $100 Wild Wing gift certificates.

Local bands can fill out the official forms and enter the contest online at youngfreesc.com (the fast-approaching deadline is Sept. 7). The public will be able to vote online at the Young & Free homepage between Sept. 9-15 to determine who will reach the finals.

A panel of three judges will score each performance based on five categories: stage presence, vocal strength, instrumental technique, crowd interaction and response, and musical originality. See youngfreesc.com for details.

+ Original article

CU Insights | Augut 20, 2009

Credit Union’s Young & Free South Carolina seeks entries for its battle of the bands. If you are in a local garage band, then this could be your big break. Young & Free South Carolina, a program managed by South Carolina Federal Credit Union especially for people aged 18-24, will host a battle of the bands event called Last Band Standing. The purpose of the event is to raise awareness of Young & Free SC among teens and young adults.

“There are so many talented bands in this area and most of them have a following,” said Josh Sutherland, 23, Young & Free SC spokester. “We figure the best way to reach young people is using music as a common interest.”

Entry in the competition is open through Sept. 7, 2009, until midnight, to amateur bands of all ages. Interested bands should complete the entry form and upload a link to a performance at YoungFreeSC.com.
From Sept. 9-15, the public will vote to select up to five bands that will advance to compete at the Last Band Standing event, Oct. 7, 2009, at Wild Wing Café, Mount Pleasant.

A panel of local celebrity judges will preside over the Last Band Standing event, which is free to the public. The winning band will receive $1000 and a set at ShineFest 2009, with runners up also receiving prizes.

Last Band Standing is presented by Young & Free South Carolina and sponsored by Charleston City Paper, Wild Wing Café and ShineFest 2009.

For more information and the official rules of the competition, visit YoungFreeSC.com.

» CU Insights website

Credit Union Times | By Myriam DiGiovanni

The Young & Free world just got a little more connected with the launch of the Living Young & Free Show.

Currency Marketing Program Manager and Living Young & Free Community Manager Cheryl Weins will host a bimonthly coordinated show. Each episode will feature three, two-minute educational segments from Y&F spokespeople Myles Peterman (Alberta), Josh Sutherland (South Carolina) and DeAndre Upshaw (Texas). New episodes will be produced every two weeks and will be posted on each of the Young & Free sites as well as the Living Young & Free central site (livingyoungandfree.com).

According to Currency Marketing President/Creative Director Tim McAlpine, the move to grow a loyal audience through syndicated shows rather than posting random videos hoping for a viral sensation makes sense considering 24 hours of new video is posted on YouTube every 60 seconds.

McAlpine said the Living Young & Free Show will also be distributed on Blip.tv, iTunes as a video podcast, the Y&F YouTube channels, Y&F Facebook fan pages and “anywhere else we can post it. The more places we can get it seen the better.”

The Young & Free program is a financial management package designed to engage 19- to 25-year-olds toward effectively managing their money through nontraditional mediums, such as a microsite, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube.

» Original article

Credit Union Times | By Lindsey Siegriest

The third credit union to implement the Gen Y-targeted Young & Free marketing campaign has announced the winner of its spokesperson search.

The $1.4 billion-South Carolina Federal Credit Union started looking for its Young & Free campaign spokesperson in February by inviting 18- to 25-year-olds to apply for the job via a 60-second YouTube video, a blog post and a personal information form. The credit union selected its three finalists from 27 applicants and opened up an online voting poll to determine the winner. Josh Sutherland, 22, came out on top to become the credit union’s newest employee.

"One thing the spokesperson search showed about the credit union was that we were hiring for a very cool position when most people aren’t hiring at all," said Beth Jaskiewicz, senior vice president of marketing at South Carolina Federal.

Sutherland will be a salaried employee at the credit union for one year. The job entails being the Young & Free South Carolina ambassador to 18- to 25-year-olds by participating at events and creating regular video and blog posts on the Young & Free South Carolina Web site, YoungFreeSC.com.
The Young & Free campaign started with Servus Credit Union in Alberta, Canada, in 2007. In 2008, Texas Dow Employees Credit Union in Lake Jackson, Texas started the first Young & Free campaign in the United States with Young & Free Texas.

After seeing that the age of the credit union’s average member was growing older, Jaskiewicz started to take a look at the Young & Free campaign examples. For years, South Carolina Federal had a student banking package for college students, but Jaskiewicz said that it really wasn’t bringing in the results the credit union wanted.

The original plan the credit union had was to target three different age groups, those under the age of 12, those between 12 and 18 and those 18 and up, with financial literacy micro-sites.

"We realized that doing that would be more difficult to do than we had originally thought. We saw that the traditional approaches to Gen Y weren’t working and took a look at Young & Free."

South Carolina Federal started working on Young & Free South Carolina last fall, but the credit union wanted to be careful in selecting the right time to launch the spokesperson search. Jaskiewicz said they waited until February so that they wouldn’t compete for attention with the presidential election and the inauguration.

Jaskiewicz advised other credit unions looking to capture Gen Y that having the assistance of social media experts is critical.

"If you think that social media is just having a blog then you have a lot to learn. If you don’t know much about social media, then have an expert on your team or partner with someone that does."

When it came time to select the three finalists, Jaskiewicz enlisted the help of Gen Y employees. In the process of implementing the Young & Free campaign, the credit union discovered that they had approximately 100 employees in the Gen Y age range.

The initial video submission was very important in the selection process, Jaskiewicz said, along with having a following in social media.

The ultimate decision to select Sutherland came from public opinion, as he received the most votes from the online voting poll.

Sutherland graduated from college in August 2008 with a degree in marketing and came across the spokesperson position in his job search.
Initially, Sutherland said that he didn’t know what to expect from the position, and he didn’t have high hopes until he saw the videos other applicants had produced. "I watched other videos and thought I could produce something just as good," Sutherland said in explaining what made him apply for the job.

The fun aspect of the job and the perks that came with it, such as use of an iPhone, Mac computer and camcorder, further enticed Sutherland. He admitted that he didn’t know much about credit unions before he applied; one of his first video posts showed him closing his account at a bank and opening his account at the credit union. Before Young & Free sparked his attention, Sutherland said he didn’t know credit unions were nonprofit and that he didn’t understand the membership aspect.

During the application process, Sutherland said he researched credit unions and is continuing to learn more everyday as he starts the spokesperson job.
The idea behind credit unions is one topic Sutherland said he will try and communicate to his Gen Y peers. On his personal agenda, Sutherland said he wants to teach his peers how to manage finances.

"A lot of my friends and people my age that I know are terrible with their finances. People my age buy crazy things," Sutherland said, citing an example of one of his college roommates that spent $100 on a pet chameleon and $200 on a tank for it.

Sutherland said he plans on using humor to get his peers interested in the credit union and in financial education.

"I'm very sarcastic and a smart aleck by nature. I'm going to have to find the line between keeping it entertaining and educational at the same time."

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