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Our very own Matt Dean was included in a recent CU Times article highlighting five sassy young entrepreneurs. The article is titled Gen Y Entrepreneurs Shake Up CU Industry, Helping to Reveal Authenticity.

Here are two snippets from the article, which is chock-full of some great points and insights from the interviewees.

Matt had some great thoughts on CUs engaging young people without necessarily having to wear a backwards hat and drop hip-hop references.

“The best business decision a credit union can make is rekindling the focus on the membership and reigniting their evangelistic feel to encourage passion and empower younger staff, ... These are our future leaders; they need to be engaged. People are more willing to stick around if they feel that the value of what they are a part of is bigger than themselves.”

(Who knew he was so smart? Me.)

Creative Brand Communications CEO Jeff Stephens made some bang-on comments on the practice of a CU hanging it’s hat on better service over different service.

“It is a cliché. So you define this great customer service as knowing everyone by name, friendly, pleasant staff, being responsive to member’s needs, and those attributes are all good and positive, but those alone won’t differentiate that credit union. ... Being nicer is not different, and the more credit unions succeed at being nicer the more they all seem the same. You build a position only you can occupy.”

Amen, right?

I don’t want to spoil any more of the article than I have. Get over there and read it.

Today is THE first Rite of Spring. It puts Punxsutawney Phil’s annual charade to shame. At the magazine where I worked in a former professional life, it was, rightly, a red-letter day on the calendar. A holiday not to be missed. A day of rest and reflection. Not to go all Annie Savoy on you, but there must be a reason it coincides so closely with Passover and Easter.

It’s Opening Day.

To celebrate baseball’s annual rebirth, I’ve created Trabian League Baseball. If you’ve played any sort of Fantasy Sports, you’re familiar with the drill. I’ve created a league on Yahoo!. It’s free to join, just visit http://fantasysports.yahoo.com/ and click “Sign Up Now” under the Baseball section (it’s at the top in the middle, hard to miss). Choose the free option (below the big yellow buttons) and then pick “Join a Custom League” after you sign in. Our league ID and password are as follows:

ID: 298537

Password: posada

Trey and I are already in. We need six more teams from Credit Union Land. If you’ve never played, try it. If you’re an old hand, lend your expertise. All are welcome. We will have an automatic draft (that you can attend and affect in person, if you so wish), so Yahoo!’s algorithms can take the heavy lifting off your plate.

Yes, the sport of baseball has a villain threatening to supplant its heroes. The maelstrom of steroids, inflated player contracts and the looming demise of its pillars give it the feel of the Second Act of an operatic score. But this is counterpoint to it’s brilliance. A minor turn to make the resolve that much more satisfying.

As for me and my house, we’ll be in Tier 11 at The Stadium today.

Trabian’s website donation to Jamaica’s Kirkvine Credit Union was discussed today in the Dallas Morning News article “Texas, Jamaica team up” (article no longer available online).

BRYAN, TX (Sept. 7, 2004) – A City of Bryan publication has received a national industry award for its excellence in design and purpose.

At the annual conference of the City-County Communications & Marketing Association (3CMA) held Sept. 1-3 in Denver, CO, the City of Bryan was presented the prestigious Savvy Award for its Mayor’s Downtown Impact Award brochure and nomination form. The piece edged out finalist cities Plymouth, MN, and Ventura, CA, in the population category of 65,500-145,000.

The brochure was designed by Trabian Creative Director Brent Dixon, who, while a student intern in the city’s Media Specialist’s Office, was simply instructed to be as creative as he wanted to be. Dixon joined Trabian as Creative Director in June 2004.

Savvy Award judges were extremely complimentary of Dixon’s creativity, saying, “We like the imagery, use of photographs, the depth, texture and multi-use design. It serves two purposes – to inform and to provide an entry form with the handy detachable piece. This student designer has a bright future”

The Mayor’s Downtown Impact Award brochure is currently available at First National Bank in Bryan, at business locations in Historic Downtown, and at city hall. The cover design of the Mayor’s Downtown Impact Award brochure also can be viewed at www.bryantx.gov.

About 3CMA and the Savvy Awards

Formed in 1988, 3CMA is an international association of more than 800 professional communicators working on behalf of city and county agencies and related organizations. The Savvy Awards program was started in 1989 as a way to recognize outstanding communications efforts by cities and counties. This year’s awards program drew 691 entries in a range of video, print and marketing categories.

(This Press Release is from the City of Bryan, Texas.)

Credit Union Executives Society, the nation’s leader in credit union educational resources, has published a two-part article series on Trabian’s solutions for Houston FCU. Guest-written for CUES by Trabian EVP Trey Reeme, the pieces highlight the features of the content management system and online auction system included in the recent launch of Houston FCU’s new site.

“We’ve enjoyed working with CUES on these pieces,” says Reeme. “Both articles were written to educate CUES members about how they can use the Internet more effectively. We wanted to emphasize the importance of keeping their web content fresh, so the first article demonstrates how a CMS provides for easy updates and consistency in both design and message. The second article identifies a cost-effective solution to auto loan charge-offs, and describes how HFCU’s new online auction system works.”