When is the right time to sell online? [The Better Banking Blog] [The Banktastic IT & Security Feed]

Community First Credit Union has launched a user-generated content website on the back of its sponsorship of the Central Coast Mariners football club.

Visitors can upload a video of their best football juggling effort, and other users can then vote for the best entry. The credit union is offering prizes for the most popular videos including club memberships, signed jerseys and gift vouchers for sporting goods.

So far only a handful of people have uploaded videos, but page views are healthy, with the competition open until April 30.

The site is similar to NAB's kick-to-kick campaign which also encouraged site visitors to upload videos, in this case of their children having a kick of the footy in their backyard. The campaign was designed to leverage NAB's sponsorship of AFL.

Speaking at December's Interactive Marketing forum, Monty Hamilton, direct portfolio manager of retail, brand & sponsorships at NAB revealed the kick-to-kick site campaign generated 110,000 unique visitors, with 340,000 page views. More than 500 videos were uploaded over a two month period and some 170,000 votes lodged.

Hamilton says the bank recognised the need to deliver a collaborative environment, one which saw it deliver a platform rather than act as a content provider.

But while traffic may have been good, Hamilton was less convinced on the need to use the site as a sales channel.

"We didn't throw big advertising dollars at this and when you think about it what's the point of that?...We're not going to sell credit cards directly through this site, we're not going to sell home loans and you-beut high interest savings accounts. What we're doing is just getting our brand out there."

Community First is taking a slightly different tack, leveraging its sponsorship to launch a Mariners branded Visa card. Visitors to the site can pre-register their interest in the product. The credit union is also using the site to cross-sell its children's savings account products.

Time will tell if the strategy is effective, but what do you think? Should sponsorship sites be used to directly sell products? Is creating "consideration" of your brand enough, or should marketers directly leverage online branding to drive online applications and sales?

Update 26 February
Nielsen Online has just released some really interesting stats on consumer generated media - a survey of over 4,000 online consumers in Australia & New Zealand has revealed 84 per cent use Web 2.0 platforms for sharing content such as photos, links and video. Around 78 per cent download and stream audio and video content and 69 per cent (76 per cent of New Zealanders) are creating content in the form of uploading video and music. Staggering figures.