What’s in a (New) Credit Union Name?

A frenzy of name changes has inundated the credit union industry in the last two years, and it’s a trend that doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Two credit union name-change consultants explained why so many credit unions are changing their names these days, how those new names are created and what it really takes to pull off a successful name change.

Why Do It?

There are four big reasons, according to Brian Wringer, a web products manager and “big idea guy” at the Indianapolis-based iDiz, which does rebranding, marketing campaigns and websites for credit unions.

Mergers are a big one, but credit unions also change their names to avoid confusion with similarly named entities, and to fight perceptions of being old-fashioned or out of date, Wringer said.

But one of the biggest reasons credit unions have been changing their names is that segment-based monikers – usually ones that include company names or specific geographic areas – are turning off prospective members.

“Most of [the name changes] start because there’s a perception – and often the reality – that the biggest obstacle to growth is an old name that ties them to an old segment,” he explained. Those names can quickly become liabilities.

“The factory leaves town, something changes names and so forth,” Wringer said. “Then a lot of the people in that location don’t even think about the credit union, because they don’t think they are eligible to open an account.”

Keep Your Expectations in Check

“Folks will generally have very much a grass-is-greener kind of approach to it, where they think, ‘Wow, when we rename, everything’s going to change,’” Matt Purvis, who runs Purvis Management in Eugene, Ore., said.

But that’s not usually how it works, and Purvis said he often hears from credit union CEOs around the country who need help coping with rebrandings that went bust.

“I know where they’re coming from, but I’ll sort of take them through this conversation. I say, ‘Okay, what do you mean nothing changed? You have a new name, you have new colors, a tagline,’ and whatever it is they have. And in the conversation they’ll come around to realize: Well, we’re still the same people. We’re still doing it the same way. We didn’t really take this opportunity to really re-scope what it would mean to really live out this new identity that we carefully crafted.”

Don’t Pull a Name Out of a Hat

Many credit unions try to DIY their name changes, and that often leads to some common mistakes, Wringer said.

“A couple that come to mind are not going far enough – just going with something that’s just a variation on what your current name is; so, losing your nerve a little bit,” he said.

“Another one is trying to crowdsource either the names or the decisions and so forth. That doesn’t really work very well, because your members are soaking in it, too, and they don’t quite get that most of the names they come up with are somebody else’s already. Or they don’t want to change,” Wringer added.

Purvis, who helped engineer the change from Georgia Electric Membership Cooperatives Federal Credit Union (GEMC FCU) to Go Energy Financial Credit Union, said credit unions have to consider general criteria and secondary criteria when selecting the words that become a new name. The Tucker, Ga.-based Go Energy has $128 million in assets and about 12,800 members.

“General criteria are things like familiarity, memorability, non-corruptibility of a name – that is critical in the Internet Age – ease of recollection, or ease of being able to pronounce a name,” he said. The secondary criteria are the things that need to be customized to the particular client and its unique legacy, history, vision, values and future plans, he added.

“It’s critical that names evoke something that’s unique and memorable and compelling about who you are as a culture, and that it differentiates you from all those other vendors that are not only physically in the marketplace but digitally in the marketplace,” he added.

But making up new words in order to create a new name can be dangerous, Wringer warned.

“We have never been a fan of made-up names, because you run the risk of overlapping with next year’s hemorrhoid pill or something,” he said. “And they don’t generally age very well.”

He added, “A name change is a strategic thing. It’s something that’s going to be with you for 20 years, 50 years, maybe 100 years if you’re lucky – if you do a good job of it.”

It’s Not Quick

Name changes can take anywhere from three months to a year, Wringer said.

“If you’re also doing a website, that’s around a three-month project,” he said. “And then it partially depends on the culture. If they’re really consensus-driven, then decision-making can go slower if they need to wait for board meetings.”

It’s an introspective process for credit union managers, he added. “You have to be comfortable with being a little uncomfortable. The other thing is nobody ever ends up where they thought they might at first,” he said. “It’s always a little bit of a surprise where you end up.”

Credit unions have to identify what he called “that unique local spark” that connects them with members.

“Credit unions are intensely local; there’s always something to work with. You start with that and figuring out what that connection is and turning it into concepts and feelings and so forth before you get to the word part,” Wringer said.

“At the risk of sounding self-serving, this is one of the things where a credit union really needs to get some help,” he said. “Because every credit union, about 95% of their brand is the same for every credit union: Every credit union is trustworthy, every credit union puts their members first, et cetera.”

Name Change Equals Culture Change

Changing the signage and the stationery doesn’t move the needle unless the staff is engaged and people perceive a real change in the organization. Brands are defined by actions and behaviors, Purvis said.

“It’s kind of this crazy ego thing we have, where we think that the design is everything. And it’s not. The experience is everything,” he said.

That was one of the keys to success in GEMC FCU’s conversion to Go Energy. “We had these conversations with them anonymously through the survey process,” he explained. “What kind of actions and behaviors – what kinds of different efforts – would we make to really be Go Energy Financial Credit Union?”

Brainstorming workshops revealed a set of attitudes, actions and behaviors that would come along with the new name.

“Really take that opportunity of the name change to provide really what amounts to memories that will get inside the members’ heads and help them understand, yeah, this really is a different organization,” he said.