Vowels in, consonants out as bank renames
“’Folsom Bank of Commerce’ is too many consonants and too many syllables.”
– Greg Patton, President
Commerce Bank of Folsom
Effective August 1, 2008, Commerce Bank of Folsom will be changing its name to Sierra Vista Bank. The bank’s official explanation is that the new name is more reflective of the areas they serve as the bank expands outside of Folsom.
“No one wants to come into a bank that has the name of another city on it if they are in a different city,” said bank president Greg Patton. (Did anyone tell him that Sierra Vista is the name of a city in Arizona?)
But that’s not all he said. Apparently the old name was a weighty linguistic anchor: “Folsom Bank of Commerce (sic) is too many consonants and too many syllables.”
Huh? Too many consonants? The old name had 14 consonants and 6 vowels. The new name has 9 consonants and 5 vowels. That’s five fewer consonants. But is that really any better? Does the number of consonants a name has really have any bearing on its appeal or appropriateness?
Syllables are another story. At least one can argue that a name with too many syllables is too long. But here’s the funny thing: The new name has exactly as many syllables as the old one – six.
The bank is keeping the same basic logo and colors, but is changing the typeface.
Bottom Line: Geographic names cut both ways. They say you’re local, but they can become a barrier to growth down the road.
Dave Alford, a bank consultant in the Folsom area commenting on the Sierra Vista name change, offers this advice: “I’ve always been a fan of the geographically generic name. I am a firm believer in the generic name so that you can open in any market.”
Good advice Dave.
UPDATE: August 9, 2008 – Sierra Vista changes its stock ticker to OTCBB SVBA. The old ticker symbol was OTCBB CBFM.
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Hi: Liked the article. First, you obviously don’t sing – more vowel sounds in the new name.
Second, and more importantly, even you didn’t get the old name right in the quote above – and that is the point.
Thanks for noticing,
Greg Patton, President and CEO
Commerce Bank of Folsom, soon to be Sierra Vista Bank.
Hi Greg. Thanks for the comment.
Agreed, the new name does have more fluid and flowing vowel sounds. But the strategic question I originally posed still applies: Are more “vowel sounds” better? It seems subjective. (And you’re right by the way, I don’t sing.)
Granted, your reflections on the phonetic pros and cons of the two names are secondary to the real reason for the name change. The geographically limiting nature of the old name is an excellent reason to change names, and quite common in the financial industry. The vowel/consonant thing is – quite literally – rhetorical.
Objectively speaking, the new name is shorter and therefore (arguably) more memorable. These are rationale points I was surprised I didn’t see anywhere.
To be clear, I like the new name. It is a nice improvement and big step forward. I also like the strategy where you’re keeping logo elements and colors in place. It preserves part of your history, and helps make the name transition flow a little more smoothly – especially for existing customers who might otherwise ask if you were bought out.
From a design perspective, I like the new logo much better. It’s footprint is much more manageable than the severely horizontal one for CBoF.
Regarding the misprint on your old name in my article, that was a quote directly attributed to you by Mark Anderson in the Sacramento Business Journal.
One more final thought. Whatever the old name was (CBoF/FBoC), it’s a mouthful.
There may be the same number of syllables in the two names, but SierraVista is shorter (by 6 letters) and looks more “sleek.”
One of the most interesting abbreviations is TransWorld Airlines (four syllables) becoming TWA. Yes, TWA is only three letters, but it’s five syllables long. This points out that flow is as, or more important than strictly the number of syllables. And more vowels often makes for a more flowing name.
I thought I was reading my feed for The Onion when I saw this.