Only the name has changed: Financial branding takes strange turns.
On many occasions, I have written about the importance of marketers remembering that branding isn’t about logos, names and taglines. I must admit, however, that choosing a new brand name is rather important. And in recent years, we have seen a tsunami of new brand names in the financial services industry. Some are driven by changes in ownership. Some, particularly credit unions, have changed to reflect new or expanded membership criteria. And some, well, because the Board or c-suite decided it was simply time for a re-brand.
Today, it is not my intention to be overly serious about the brand naming process. I will simply remind readers that selecting a brand name should be a strategic undertaking. The new name should reflect what the organization stands for in the minds of its stakeholders and what it aspires to be in the future. Memorability is important, but naming a financial institution should not be an exercise in irrelevant (or irreverent) creativity. I will leave it to you, the reader, to decide where these names fit on the spectrum of the strategic branding process. (Note: in the interest of finding some of the most “interesting” financial brand names, I relied heavily on several related articles including “The Top 50 Most Distinctive Credit Union Names” , “Eight Credit Unions with Interesting Names” and “Hilarious Bank Names: What Were They Thinking?"
- Redneck Bank
- Beehive Credit Union
- Village People Credit Union
- Last Federal Credit Union
- Tightwad Bank
- Polish Combatants Credit Union
- Zeal Credit Union
- Moody National Bank
- Bull’s Eye Credit Union
- Lithium Federal Credit Union
- Quiet Corner Community Credit Union
- Chocolate Bayou Federal Credit Union
- Guardian Angel Credit Union
- Fairless Credit Union
- Taper Lock Credit Union
As much as I was sorely tempted, I restrained myself from making comments about these. Again, I will defer to you, kind reader, to insert your own editorial comments on each.
Now, in fairness, there may be very legitimate reasons for some of the above names, such as the name of the hometown or the name of the credit union membership group. Those explanations probably do not apply to the following list of credit union names including some interesting coined words.
- Double Eleven
- 66
- E 53
- Interra
- Four Four
- Kinecta
- One Thirteen
- Seven Seventeen
- Zia
- Altier
- Altura
- Truliant
- Logix
- Salal
Well, you get the idea. Now you may want to bookmark this article. Sometimes I am called to help develop new brand names for financial clients. History will record if my words come back to haunt me some day.
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