Alliance Bank has prevailed in a trademark lawsuit against Customers 1st Bank who must now destroy all materials containing the Customer 1st name and find a replacement. Immediately.

Only a few months ago, Customers 1st was known as New Century Bank. Discussions about changing the New Century name first arose when ABC News incorrectly used the Philadelphia bank’s logo in a report on the failure of New Century Mortgage in California. Ooops…

In January 2010, someone at New Century Bank proposed the name Customers 1st, so another executive did a search on Google and GoDaddy where he found customersfirstbank.com and customers1stbank.com both available.

After not one but two failures of banks bearing the New Century moniker, CEO Jay Sidhu had enough. Almost immediately following the second “New Century” seizure, he demanded the switch to Customers 1st be implemented with haste.

“Alliance should not be punished for New Century’s precipitous behavior.”
— Preliminary injunction
against New Century

The problem was, however, that Alliance Bank held a registered trademark for Customer First, the name of its flagship checking product, since 2007.

New Century also tried securing its own registered trademark for Customers 1st, but the USPTO refused separate applications for five variants of the Customers 1st name, citing likely confusion with Alliance’s branded product.

Reality Check: The name of any financial institutions’ products can indeed prevent you from picking a similar moniker for your bank or credit union, especially if someone is claiming a trademark on it. And they don’t even have to be direct competitor. They could be on the opposite side of the country.

On July 27, 2010, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted Alliance Bank’s request for a preliminary injunction. Judge Slomsky, in his 60-page judgment, called New Century’s move to Customers 1st “impulsive,” and shot down every argument they offered in their defense.

Adding another layer to the story are two other banks who have also used the exact same name — Customer First — for their checking products. Indeed the very first Google search result for “Customer First Checking” points to First National Bank in Omaha. They have four different Customer First checking accounts in total. There was also Bay Bank in Washington with a Customer First Checking account, but they were shut down by the FDIC in late July, 2010. Has Alliance Bank pursued these trademark infringers with the same zeal as it did with New Century/Customers 1st? Or are they guilty of selective enforcement?

There’s another bank in Texas about to launch with Customer First as their name. They’ve already got a website up at customerfirstbank.com. Hopefully they won’t pull the trigger and move forward with the name. They are playing with trademark fire.

CUSTOMER FIRST IN TEXAS
This bank is at least the second ‘Customer First’ in the financial industry, maybe the third?

Ironically, in the midst of all these trademark issues, Alliance Bank thought it would be a good idea to trademark its own name, so it filed Alliance for USPTO registration in July, 2010 while its case against New Century wove through the courts. But… a bank in California has held a registered trademark for Alliance Bank since 1998. However, the California Alliance just got bought up by California Bank & Trust earlier this year (yes, California Bank & Trust’s name has been registered with the USPTO since 2005). There’s no word yet as to whether they intend to retire the Alliance Bank brand and trademark.

Bottom Line: New Century Bank estimates it has already invested $500,000 into the change to Customers 1st, plus it expects to blow another $500,000 on whatever name it picks next. Tragically, they ignored advice from a trademark lawyer, believing instead that Alliance wouldn’t sue. Had they bothered to read the attorney’s recommendation (which they didn’t), they would have almost surely saved the bank a half million. (New Century should be grateful the judge didn’t order them to buy negative search keywords, as another judge did in a suit over the Orion Bank name.)

Key Takeaways: This situation illustrates the importance of picking a unique name for your bank or credit union. The whole point of branding is differentiation. If your name looks like- or sounds like something other financial institutions are using, the rest of your brand will have to work that much harder to distinguish itself.

If you’re ever in a name change situation, don’t ever pick a new name that “sounds financial” or feels familiar. If a name looks, feels and/or sounds “financial,” it’s almost surely used by some financial institution somewhere. You could very well end up losing a lawsuit and having to start over from scratch.

Further Reading: A 60-page PDF of the ruling is available by clicking here. It’s a fascinating case study in financial naming and trademarks, outlining a number of legal issues. Read through it and you’ll probably learn something new about trademark law.

In few industries do you see players change names as often as you do in the financial space. Banks change names frequently because of mergers, while credit unions typically dump names that are tied to employers and/or are geographically limiting. Please note: Only names that have been newly introduced are included in this list. If a bank simply slaps its existing name on another financial institution, it isn’t listed here.

It’s a shrubbery

Old Name: Group Health Credit Union
New Name: Salal Credit Union

Reason: The credit union got a statewide charter in 2003, but found that marketing itself to people who didn’t work for Group Health Cooperative was tough. As is the case with most single-SEG credit unions making the transition to a community charter, they quickly realize the old name doesn’t work.

Analysis: So what the heck is Salal? It’s proper name is gaultheria shallon, an all-weather, shade-tolerant shrubbery (you can see pictures here).

On the credit union’s blog, it says, “We chose the name Salal, a beautiful, indigenous Northwest plant, to signify growth and our Northwest roots—and, since the plant has medicinal qualities, it supports our focus on serving the healthcare market. We feel the name Salal (rhymes with pal) is an accurate reflection of our membership as it is today, as well as our plans for future growth.”

This is likely to be one of the most controversial name changes in the credit union industry, right up there with names like “Red Canoe,” “Optiva” and “Wildfire.” Surely, Salal is a very unique name and will be a cinch to trademark, but it can also be criticized for making no connection back to the credit union’s history serving medical employees. The word itself — “salal” — is so obscure, so unfamiliar and so phonetically mushy that it evokes almost nothing. It doesn’t even resemble something from the English language (or American colloquial speech). It looks like something Greek or Yiddish.

Two credit unions pick the same name at the same time

Old Name #1: Hardin Community Federal Credit Union
New Name: Quest Federal Credit Union

Reason: The credit union expanded from Hardin County by merging with another in nearby Logan County. Members wanted the credit union to maintain the two separate brands, one in each county. But, as the credit union’s CEO said, “This is cumbersome, not cost effective and will only grow worse with future expansion.”

Old Name #2: Credit Union 1, Credit Unions United
New Name: Quest Credit Union

Reason: This was essentially a merger of two equally-sized credit unions in the Topeka, Kansas area. In mergers of equals, it’s quite common for both organizations to agree that a new brand name is the way to go so that neither looks like it’s taking over the other. It’s a smart strategy.

Analysis: This sucks, and it’s no one’s fault. The credit unions in Kansas and Ohio both looked around and saw no other retail financial institution was using “Quest” so they both thought it was a safe choice. They each thought they were picking a relatively conservative-yet-fresh name — and a common word at that — and now the two will probably have to share the name. Bummer. (There’s also a tiny credit union names Questa in New Mexico.) The two credit unions even have similar slogans: “Exploring the possibilities” and “Discover the possibilities.”

In January 2010, the Ohio Quest registered its URL (questfcu.com), followed by the Kansas Quest 22 days later (quest-cu.org). In March 2010, the $70 million Quest in Ohio applied for trademark protection with the USPTO, again edging out its $225 million Kansas peer who has yet to file.

This isn’t the first time this has happened. In 2003, Southern New England FCU in Connecticut chose Connex at the same time Wausau Insurance Employees Credit Union was choosing Connexus.

From generic…to plain

Old Name: First Business Bank
New Name: Bank of Southern California

Reason: The name change resolves trademark issues with a bank in the Midwest that also carries the name First Business Bank name.

Analysis: “The process of selecting a new name has given us an opportunity to revisit our vision to be the best business bank in Southern California and to refine our branding and positioning for further growth,” said Nathan Rogge, president and CEO.” Talk about a blown opportunity…yawn. And if you have to change names over a trademark dispute, why on earth would you pick a name that about 100 other banks could sue you over?

New name for New Century

Old Name: New Century Bank
New Name: Customers 1st Bank

Reason: The Phoenixville News (that’s in Pennsylvania, not Arizona) reports that “the bank’s new trade name will more accurately reflect its mission, which is to provide attractive rates and an entirely new level of highly personalized service and convenience, something it believes is superior to that of any other bank in its region.”

Analysis: Do you buy the bank’s explanation? What’s really going on? There was another bank named New Century in Illinois. Did that have something to do with it? They held the official USPTO trademark for “New Century” in the banking category, but they were seized by the feds in April 2010. In March 2010, the bank applied for a federal trademark on “Customers 1st.” While it appears that there aren’t any direct conflicts in the USPTO database, one has to wonder why the bank would forego the relatively distinct and fresh-sounding “New Century” for the much more ordinary “Customers 1st.” How many Customer First banks do you think there are?

Replacing a town with a county

Old Name: Sykesville Federal Savings Association
New Name: Carroll Community Bank

Reason: The Baltimore Business Journal says the name change is part of the 140-year-old bank’s conversion from a federally chartered savings bank to a state-chartered bank regulated by Maryland’s Commissioner of Financial Regulation. “Our state charter will allow us to offer a greater diversity of products, and to increase our commercial lending to more local small businesses,” the bank said in press release. (Translation: “The bank expanded its geographic reach beyond the limitations of its name.”)

Analysis: Today Carroll Community Bank has two branches in Maryland and a shade under $100 million in assets. But what happens when/if the bank grows beyond Carroll County? Another name change? Indeed the bank has already announced plans to expand its business into nearby Howard County.

The new Carroll Community applied for a federally registered trademark in June 2010. There’s a Carroll County State Bank in Iowa, but they probably won’t present a big trademark hurdle. The Iowa bank will, however, give the new Carroll search engine problems.

Geographic Word Jumbles

Old Name: Ypsilanti Area Federal Credit Union
New Name: Washtenaw Federal Credit Union

Reason: The credit union expanded its charter, so it changed names, or, in the credit union’s own words, “The Board of Directors voted at the April 2010 meeting to update the credit union name to better fit the field of membership as designated in our charter. The new name is more representative and inclusive of the current field of membership.”

“We thought that we should be more inclusive of the name to cover that field of membership,” CEO Gregory Gurka told AnnArbor.com. “It should cover the actual field of membership, not just one small portion of it.”

Analysis: It makes logical sense to switch from the city of Ypsilanti to the county of Washtenaw because it describes the $30 million credit union’s field of membership. But geographic names always present some degree of challenge. They are usually hard to trademark because there’s always a mess of other organizations using their names to lay claim to the same area (e.g., Washtenaw Community College, Washtenaw Coin Laundry, Washtenaw Cycle & Fitness and the 200 or so other real “Washtenaw-something-or-other” businesses in the Ypsilanti area).

Direct must be better than Plus

Old Name: RaboPlus
New Name: RaboDirect

Reason: The general manager for Rabo said the name change “supports our stance as a direct, straight-talking online bank.” That may be true, but that doesn’t adequately explain why the bank needed to go through all the hassle and expense of a name change.

Analysis: Who knows what the real strategy is here. The online banking arm of Rabobank is only a couple years old, so it’s a little surprising to see a name change come so quickly. Did they feel that “Plus” was a mistake when most online banking operations are using “Direct” as their category clarifier? Admittedly, the new name makes it much more clear that the outfit is a online bank. But was that the reason behind the change?

Earlier this year, Michigan First Credit Union slapped a lawsuit on First Michigan Bank for trademark infringement. (If you’re tempted to dismiss this article as having little relevance to you, at least skip ahead and make sure you read the conclusions.)

According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court, the bank’s use of the “First Michigan” name is “in conscious disregard of Michigan First’s trademark rights, and creates a likelihood of public confusion in which consumers seeking Michigan First’s services will be diverted to the bank, and/or will erroneously believe that the services offered by the bank are offered, sponsored, or endorsed by Michigan First, when in fact they are not.”

Michigan First Credit Union has over 80,000 members and $550 million in assets. First Michigan Bank was founded in 2009 and, until recently, had only one branch and around $100 million in assets. But in April 2010, it somehow scraped together enough cash to acquire Citizens First Bank after Citizen First’s $1.1 billion in assets were seized.

The credit union’s Poulos told Crain’s Detroit Business that he’d didn’t even know about First Michigan Bank until reading about the bank’s acquisition in one of the publication’s articles. “They were such low profile, we weren’t even aware of them,” Poulos said. “Then they came out with a major marketing campaign on radio and TV.”

Bank fights back, says suit is ‘absolutely baseless’

First Michigan Bank vows to fight the lawsuit. David Provost, president and CEO of the bank, said the complaint is “absolutely baseless” and that his bank “intends to defend this suit vigorously.”

“Our use of the First Michigan Bancorp name does not create any likelihood of confusion, particularly given the differences in the marks, the weakness and lack of distinctiveness of Michigan First Credit Union’s claimed marks, and the large number of financial institutions that use the terms ‘First’ and ‘Michigan’ in their names in varying ways,” Prevost said in a statement.

Reality Checks:

• What most people (including the CEOs of billion-dollar banks) don’t know about trademark law is a lot. Myths and inaccurate assumptions can lead otherwise smart business people to make some serious — and costly — errors in judgment.
• “First Michigan” and “Michigan First” are very confusing. The guideline is simple: How likely is it that the typical consumer would be confused?
• The “differences in the marks” are rhetorical. You can’t circumvent trademark law just by shuffling a few words around. Would “Kreme Krispy” be okay? How about “Crispy Cream?” The USPTO factors things like phonetics and visual construction when evaluating the degree of potential confusion. It doesn’t matter how different the logos are if the name(s) are too similar and/or confusing.
• Terms like “First” and “Michigan” may be ubiquitously used by other organizations, but this trademark suit deals exclusively with the specific combination of both “First” and “Michigan.” It’s illogical to isolate one term and say, “See, look! Lots of businesses in Michigan use the word ‘Michigan,’ so the name isn’t unique.” That’s similar to saying you can’t trademark “Starbucks” because other companies use “Star” and “Bucks” in their names. There could be a “Michigan First Bakery,” “Michigan First Magazine” and “Michigan First Day Care,” but what really matters is (1) Who offers retail financial services; (2) Who came first; (3) Who holds a registered trademark; and (4) How confusing the two names are.

Michigan First (the credit union) says it has “obtained and consistently used several registered service marks since changing its name from Detroit Teachers Credit Union to Michigan First Credit Union in April 2001.” These service marks include the credit union’s name, as well as a variety of products and services including its Michigan First MoneyWorks Banking Centers (ATMs) and Michigan First Wealth Management Group.

Indeed, Michigan First holds a total of five registered trademarks for “Michigan First” with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. The credit union first filed for trademark protection in 2001, and received registered status in 2003.

EXHIBIT A
Michigan First Credit Union’s registered trademark
under the USPTO’s International Class 36.

“These registered service marks are used extensively in our member communication and promotions, creating strong recognition with both our members and the public,” said Michael Poulos, President and CEO of Michigan First. “We have taken all the necessary actions to protect these assets, which are consistently used for all of our banking and other financial services, and we will continue to take all necessary actions to protect them.”

Bottom Line: First Michigan Bank will likely lose, but not without burning a mountain of time, cash, energy and vital resources on an uphill fight. Ultimately, if the bank isn’t forced to change names — at additional significant cost — it would be a miracle. If First Michigan Bank had invested a $1,000 or so on trademark due diligence back when they chose their name in 2009, they would have almost certainly sidestepped this nightmare. Hopefully the bank will wait to change the name on the signs of the 22 Citizens First branches it just acquired until after this lawsuit is resolved, otherwise First Michigan Bank could be doubling-down on its losses.

Michigan First Credit Union, on the other hand, has played everything by the book. They secured their trademarks early, and are defending them with zeal and vigor.

Key Takeaways:

Be careful with new names and name changes, even for things like products and services. Make sure they aren’t already being used by someone else. That means checking the white pages, the internet and the USPTO database. The Financial Brand has written over and over and over and over about the pitfalls of naming trademarks. If you haven’t yet taken the message to heart, here is one more reminder: Register your financial institution’s trademarks now. Today. And always hire a lawyer who specializes in trademark law. Dire consequences await those who choose to go it alone.

Pop Quiz: First Michigan, Michigan First…which one is the credit union and which one is the bank?

For some credit unions, a community charter may be their only avenue for survival. But for all others pondering an expanded charter, they seem to dwell on starry-eyed possibilities without acknowledging some very big branding issues.

#1 Lost focus
Credit unions with closed charters concentrate on the unique needs of a very specific and narrowly-defined audience. They know exactly who they serve and why they exist. Tragically, many community chartered credit unions let their concept of “audience segmentation” erode into a singular demographic: “all people ages 18-55.” (Translation: “everyone with money and a pulse.”) The bigger your target audience gets, the harder it becomes to find a unique value proposition. The lowest common denominator is rates, price and fees.

#2 Massive marketing muscle
Maximizing community charters requires a whole new level of marketing — billboards, radio, TV, online ads — plus a much larger budget that can be quite a shock for those who aren’t prepared. Closed-charter credit unions are accustomed to a very limited range of marketing tactics. They aren’t familiar with what it takes to generate name awareness and build a mass-market brand. They have little- or no experience with CPM, SEO, click-through rates and paid search.

#3 Estrange your sponsor
To your original sponsor, a community charter can look like a deliberate attempt at distancing yourself from their organization. As you change names and start marketing to the general public, the feeling that your credit union was once an exclusive, club-like employee benefit disappears right along with the special access your credit union once enjoyed. No more welcome packets at new employee orientations. No more kiosks in the employee cafeteria. They may even kick you out of their facilities altogether.

#4 The old name won’t work
If you have a word like “Employees,” “Teachers” or some other equally-limiting term in your name, you will never convince the community that “everyone can join.” Many credit unions think adding the word “Community” in their names connotes an open charter, but that never works as hoped. You can try switching to an acronym — AECU, BECU, CECU, DECU, EECU, etc. — but these stiff and corporate combinations of letters are already ubiquitously used by other credit unions. Even if you can find a suitable web address, people will still get confused when searching for you on the internet. In all likelihood, a community charter will require a name change.

#5 Cooperation becomes competition
Credit unions are comfortable competing with banks, but they aren’t used to competing with other credit unions. Don’t be surprised when your once-friendly pals at the credit union down the street give you the cold shoulder. Once you have a community charter, you are trying to steal their members.

#6 Bankers hate community charters
Every time credit unions expand, the ABA becomes more agitated. Each new community charter fuels the ABA’s fight for credit union taxation. If every credit union in the U.S. had a community charter, then what argument would there be against taxation?

—————————————————
This article originally appeared on Callahan & Associate’s website, CreditUnions.com, and is republished here with permission.

In few industries do you see players change names as often as you do in the financial space. Banks change names frequently, but usually do so because of mergers, in which case one of the two banks’ names is retained. This isn’t the same magnitude of change that one sees with credit unions, who typically dump names that are tied to employers and/or are geographically limiting, opting to switch to something completely new. That’s why you’ll see more credit union name changes than bank name changes below.

Code 1, all units please respond

Old Name: Kansas City Police Credit Union
New Name: Code 1 Credit Union

Reason: The credit union wants to serve more than just police officers, so it concocted a subsidiary with a new name. The credit union will use the new division as a marketing arm to reach firefighters and others involved in public safety throughout Missouri and in three Kansas counties.

Analysis: Code 1 is a police and fire code that basically means “answer this call.” It’s a unique and distinctively relevant name that should be a breeze to trademark in the financial industry, something the credit union has wisely chosen to pursue. While new division does not really constitute a name change, but don’t be shocked when the credit union slowly eliminates its original “Kansas City Police” moniker over the next five years. It’s expensive to sustain two separate brands. In the meantime, Code 1 has its own standalone website, but all members will see both names on their statements.

Reverence for faith reflected in Everence name

Old Name: Mennonite Financial Federal Credit Union
New Name: Everence Credit Union

Reason: Mennonite Financial FCU and Mennonite Mutual Aid, an insurance and investments firm, didn’t merge, but they both agreed to develop a new name they could share.

Analysis: The credit union says the new name evokes ideas of reverence, everlasting, forever, and permanence, symbolizing the organization’s ties to the Mennonite faith. The logo represents a vine with a cross in the center. The credit union hired FutureBrand to assist. The entire rebranding effort was strategic and thoughtfully executed. It shows you how much easier it is to come up with a relevant name when you have a clear focus and serve a targeted audience segment.

CUMCO sounded innocent at the time

Old Name: CUMCO Federal Credit Union
New Name: Members 1st of New Jersey

Reason: The old name stood for “Cumberland County.” A merger expanded the credit union’s reach into another county.

Analysis: You can be forgiven if you were thinking the old name is disgusting. It is…by today’s standards. Back in 1938 when the credit union was founded, it probably sounded pretty neato. If the credit union was honest, they’d probably tell you they were itching to find an excuse to dump the old name. Too bad there are already 15 other “Member 1st” credit unions in the U.S. It’s going to make searching for the credit union on Google a nightmare.

Members vote down change to Grand Crossing

Old Name: HealthCare Plus Federal Credit Union
New Name: HealthCare Plus Federal Credit Union

Reason: In a vote, members voted against the board’s request to change the credit union’s name to “Grand Crossing.” The credit union said in its newsletter, “Changing our name to Grand Crossing Federal Credit Union was defeated. Many members felt this wasn’t the name they wanted their credit union to carry into the future, and we should leave the name the same. The board of directors will be discussing future options, but will put this issue aside for now.”

Analysis: It’s no fun asking members to approve a name change. Fear that things “will change” (somehow) drive most members’ decisions. Many members will also hate a lot of the names credit unions ask them to approve, but it’s hard to see what’s wrong with “Grand Crossing.” HealthCare Plus tried to pick a safe-sounding, relatively conservative name but members didn’t go for it. Whenever you need to get member approval for a name change, it’s a good idea to link the new name to the original charter and existing membership somehow.

What does “Encentus” have to do with doctors?

Old Name: St. John Tulsa Federal Credit Union
New Name: Encentus Credit Union

Reason: The credit union obtained an expanded charter a few years ago and decided its old name was too limiting, saying “people would think they couldn’t join unless they were employees of St. John.”

Analysis: The credit union says it want to continue serving only those in the medical profession, yet the new name evokes absolutely nothing medical at all. Encentus says its new name is made up from two other words, “incentive” and “us.” First, “incentive” refers to the incentives to join a credit union. It also refers to the credit union’s “incentive” to serve members. The word “us” refers to how people came together to form the credit union. Whatever the name means and wherever it came from, it should be a breeze to trademark.

NuUnion gone after union between two credit unions

Old Names: Detroit Edison and NuUnion Credit Unions
New Name: Laketrust Credit Union

Reason: The two credit unions merged a while ago. To make it clear to their members that the merger was indeed a “merger of equals” and that one wasn’t taking over the other, the two credit unions agreed to find a new name.

Analysis: There’s nothing wrong with the new name, although it seems expensive and unnecessary for both credit unions to have to change. Certainly Detroit Edison wouldn’t have worked, but why not NuUnion? Sure, it’s a little weird — NuUnion Credit Union – with the letter U repeat twice in a row and the repetition of “union,” but that’s what makes the name distinctive. In all likelihood, either the folks at Detroit Edison weren’t comfortable with the NuUnion name, and/or there were people inside NuUnion who were ready to ditch a name they felt was awkward. Interestingly, the two credit unions are adopting NuUnion’s look-and-feel.

An unusual SEG swap

Old Name: Multi Media FCU
New Name: Darden Employees FCU

Reason: This $11 million credit union started life serving employees of the Orlando Sentinel. The newspaper business (as we all know) is going down the toilet, so the credit union had to find a new source of life. Enter Darden Restaurants. Darden is one of the world’s biggest restaurant companies. It owns the Olive Garden, Capital Grille, Longhorn Steakhouse and Red Lobster chains, among others.

Analysis: A credit union switching one huge employer for another in their name is something you almost never see. It’s had to have happened sometime before, but not in recent memory.

Sun sets on Mesa name

Old Name: Mesa Bank
New Name: Sunrise Bank

Reason: The bank wanted to merge six affiliates under one name.

Analysis: It’s a nice name…nice enough that at least another dozen banks are using it in states across the country.

Another bank drawn to the North Star name

Old Name: Fremont First National Bank
New Name: NorthStar Bank

Reason: No details are available regarding this Seattle-based bank’s decision to make the switch.

Analysis: Whenever you have a name like NorthStar that sounds good, there’s going to be a better-than-fair chance that other financial institutions are already using it. There are already “North Star” banks in Texas, Iowa, Michigan, Florida, Minnesota and who knows how many others. Any one of these could bring a trademark infringement suit, whether they have a mark on file with the USPTO or not, and regardless of how far away they may be from the Seattle “NorthStar.”

It’s not just a sea cow, it’s a county

Old Name: Tropicana Federal Credit Union
New Name: Manatee Community Federal Credit Union

Reason: The credit union says the change was made to better reflect its membership and services.

Analysis: What a strange explanation. How did the old name not reflect the credit union’s services? And how does is the new name any better? The new name is a reference to Manatee County in Florida where the credit union is based. The credit union hadn’t been playing up its relationship with Tropicana (the orange juice people) for a while, so this is probably just the next step for this community chartered credit union. The credit union says it remains dedicated to its original sponsor, but how do you think this makes the folks at Tropicana feel?

Time to retire Super Chief

Old Name: Kansas Super Chief Credit Union
New Name: Envista Credit Union

Reason: The credit union said the change was made to “help to create a brand that is less confusing to customers.” They also hope it will “better reflect the vision and optimism of the people who bank with us and our dedication to helping each of you make the most of every dollar.”

Analysis: It’s hard to imagine that the credit union has been entirely forthright about its motivations for the name change. In all likelihood, the credit union needed to detach itself from the decaying railway business that once supported it. You also have to wonder if the name “Super Chief” had derogatory connotations for Native Americans.

Moving to Mainstreet

Old Name: Credit Union of Johnson County
New Name: Mainstreet Credit Union

Reason: The credit union says it grew beyond its original geographic region and served two other counties besides Johnson.

Analysis: People are still pissed at Wall Street, so the new name speaks to people’s outrage as much as the desire to bank locally. Overall, this is a sound name change.

A reader of The Financial Brand recently asked, “Is there any credit union that does not use ‘Credit Union’ in the logo?”

The answer is yes. It’s an increasingly common trend as more and more credit unions realize that most Americans don’t know what “credit unions” are, and struggle to decipher the term. “Is it something to do with money and organized labor?”

This is something Sarah Snell Cooke, Editor of the Credit Union Times, noted in an editorial she wrote about the challenges the “credit union” surname presents. “What does ‘credit union’ mean?” she asks. “Other than those in the industry, polls have shown time and again, very few have any clue. Yet, the basic idea of a bank is understood by anyone over the age of six.”

“Drop the ‘credit union’ from your marketing,” she implores. She goes further and recommends dumping terms like “members” and “join” too. It’s surprisingly frank talk coming from someone as influential as Snell Cooke. Twenty years ago, such talk would be heresy and she could have even lost her job over the uproar.

It’s quite common in Canada for credit unions to drop “credit union” from their names. Two of the country’s largest (both located in Vancouver, B.C.) have done it. Vancity Credit Union is just simply “Vancity,” and Coast Capital goes by “Coast Capital Savings.”

CANADIANS COMMONLY DROP “CREDIT UNION”

Tim McAlpine, President of Currency Marketing, a credit union branding firm, says the move away from “credit union” has worked in British Columbia, Canada, arguably the most successful and competitive credit union market in the world. “The three largest credit unions in B.C. — Vancity with $14B, Coast Capital Savings with $13B and Envision Financial with $6B — plus a half-dozen others don’t use the term ‘credit union’ in any of their signage, advertising, marketing, websites, etc. Nothing other than fine print on documents,” McAlpine observes.

“Half of all residents call a credit union their primary financial institution,” McAlpine says. “Ironically, it is commonplace to not include credit union in the financial institution’s brand name.”

In the U.S., more and more credit unions are replacing “Credit Union” with “Financial” (or at least drastically downplaying “credit union” in their logos):

Federally chartered credit unions have a few more options (something The Financial Brand wrote about earlier). Here’s some of the ways in which they are dropping “Credit Union” from their names:

FEDERAL CREDIT UNIONS DROPPING “CREDIT UNION”

“Federal Credit Union” is a mouthful, yet another reason FCUs might think about dumping the phrase. Some ditch the entire thing, while others shorten down to just “Federal” or “Fed.” Interestingly, Bethpage uses a .org web address (www.bethpage.org) that redirects to a .coop site (www.bethpage.coop). USA Fed uses a .org address. Whether or not these credit unions feel some attachment to their roots, it might raise questions for some consumers: “What’s up with the .coop thing?”

There is at least one credit union marketing itself simply as “Citadel,” using the tagline, “Banking with one focus. You.” However, they have “fcu” in their web address, and also use a .org domain. It seems odd that they would take such great pains to distance themselves from their “credit union” status only to use a URL — www.citadelfcu.org — that feels markedly “credit union.”

Credit union names have been evolving over the last few years, although feelings about them haven’t softened as much as one might expect. There are plenty of credit union insiders who feel strongly that it’s a big mistake to create any distance with “the movement.” The editorial in the Credit Union Times sparked a fiery debate, with both sides hotly contested:

• “If no one understands the meaning of the terms, why be insistent in their continued use?”
• “The credit union name is confusing, but it is what it is and we should be proud of it and wave the flag high.”
• “Credit unions have to face the reality: no one knows what a credit union is. If the term is meaningless to those you’re advertising to, and you tell them you have to join us first, you’re already behind.”
• “I agree with banishing the term “join a credit union”-it is misleading to the public.”
• “If you’re spending a lot of effort trying to explain a credit union you’ve reduced the resources you can focus upon enhancing member relationships or attracting new members.”
• “It’s all about separating the credit unions from the bank. The general public really sees no difference between the two and both banks and credit unions get lumped in together.”
• “Not using the term “credit union” doesn’t mean you aren’t one.”
• “The more credit unions do to compete with banks by trying to look like, sound like and operate like banks the more they become like banks.”

Bottom Line: Most of America (1) doesn’t know what credit unions are, (2) doesn’t know they can “join” a credit union, and/or (3) doesn’t regard credit unions as a serious alternative for financial services. One research study after another has proven this time and time again. Until the credit union movement comes to terms with reality and accepts the situation, nothing will change and this debate will rage on.

The choice is simple, either the industry can (1) make people aware of “credit unions” and what the term means, (2) find another term to replace “credit union” (like “Financial Co-op” or “Cooperative Bank”), or (3) keep moaning about how sad it is that know one knows about “credit unions.”

As Trey Reeme, , said back in 2008, “If after 100 years people still don’t know what “credit union” means, it’s probably time to change it.”

Make that 102 years now.

In 2008, one of Canada’s larger credit unions, South Interlake in Manitoba, decided to change names and become Sunova. Why? The credit union wanted to make the organization “a little brighter with a different name and fresh, new look.” In the two years since rebranding as Sunova, the credit union’s assets have swelled from $480 million to over $600 million — a compounded average growth rate of around 12% annually.

The old name ‘just didn’t suit us anymore’

South Interlake Credit Union’s growth strategy hinged on building branches throughout the Manitoba province where it was based. At the time of the name change, half of the credit union’s branches were already located outside the South Interlake area. The credit union said past member research and feedback from staff verified their conclusion: the South Interlake name no longer represented who the organization was.

This wasn’t the first time the credit union changed names. It started as The Stonewall Credit Union Society in 1955, then became South Interlake in 1968 following a merger with Teulon Credit Union.

The Sunova name was created from the words “sun” and “nova,” reflecting how the credit union sees itself today: a vibrant, innovative and friendly financial institution.

“We feel the name change really represents who we are,” Sunova marketing manager Vanessa Foster said in an interview in the Lac du Bonnet Leader. “‘Sun’ identifies the warmth of friendly staff while ‘Nova’ represents the company’s rebirth.”

“We wanted it to be short and sweet but we also felt the name should mean more than a combination of letters,” Foster explained.

“The circular symbol in our logo reflects a number of different interpretations of our name — sun, constant movement and star,” Foster said. “Feelings of warmth, friendliness, innovation and endless opportunities all come to mind.”

“Sun” and “nova” — words evoking beaches and warm weather — may seem like a strange choice for a credit union in Canada, but Sunova wanted a name that captured its brand personality and not its geography. Chevy’s Nova is notoriously celebrated as a major renaming faux pas after rumors spread that “nova” meant “no go” in Spanish. This modern myth has survived through the years, even though it isn’t true.

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Takoda, the D.O.G.

Meet Takoda. She’s Sunova’s official “Director of Greetings” (D.O.G). The Saint Bernard, has held the extremely unique position as four-legged greeter since 2006. She is a fulltime “employee” at one of the credit union’s branches, with responsibilities that include greeting members, sleeping, playing with kids, sleeping and occasionally providing some moments of comic relief.

“We have to admit, she does spend a fair bit of time sleeping on the job!” the credit union says.

Takoda, which means “friend for all” in Sioux, joined the team as part of a marketing effort to draw attention to the credit union. “We’re always looking for ways to be different here,” Foster told the Credit Union Journal in an interview. “We thought that having a dog in here would be unique.”

“We didn’t want a dog that you typically see on the street,” Foster said. “We wanted a larger dog that’s friendly, outgoing and good with strangers and children.”

“We have many people who come in regularly just to see the dog,” Sunova CEO Edward Bergen told the Winnipeg Free Press.

Bergen said the credit union is considering adding greeter dogs at future branch locations.

Bright ideas, vibrant future

Sunova currently has 23,000 members, 10 branches and upwards of $600 million in assets. But the credit union has big plans, starting with an expansion strategy that involves doubling the credit union’s BRANCH NETWORK by 2020.

“We plan to build one branch every year in Winnipeg for the next 10 years,” Bergen said.

The credit union just announced it’s building its first branch in Winnipeg, with another nine more on the way.

Sunova has recently started deploying “pod” style banking, where people are greeted by an associate when they walk through the door, then taken to a teller pod to conduct transactions.

Extreme Makeover: Banking Edition

Sunova says it developed its “unique, new brand identity to better reflect who we are and what we’re all about.”

“It is simply an approach to make our organization a little brighter with a different name and fresh new look,” the credit union said.

SUNOVA SHOP
The credit union partnered with Clear eTail to create an online e-Store. The shop is exclusively for members, so only they know what schwag, garb and other goodies lurk within.

You can download a PDF of this name change brochure for Sunova.

During the 2010 Super Bowl pregame show, The Credit Union of Johnson County ran an ad announcing its new name — Mainstreet. The new moniker is meant to align the credit union with the sensible Midwest values of folks living around Kansas City, where the credit union is based, while distancing itself from the widely-reviled greed of Wall Street. The Financial Brand talked with John Mathes (pictured left), Director of Brand Services at Bancography, about the firm’s name and brand work for Mainstreet.

Financial Brand: Why change names?
John Mathes: Primarily because the credit union is growing outside of its original geographic trade area. The credit union recently merged three others into its operations — two in Kansas and one in Missouri. With its reach extending beyond Johnson County, John Beverlin, the CEO, felt it was time to change the name.

Secondarily, the original name was burdened by sounding as if you had to be a county employee to belong. The original charter was for the Johnson County Teachers Association.

FB: Why ‘Mainstreet?’
JM: It doesn’t get any more “Main Street” than suburban Kansas City. The members and associates (staff) all embody the tenets of the new brand as we’ve crafted it.

The huge coup here is the on-going, numerous references to “Main Street” vs. “Wall Street” in the media. Every time they mention it, it is a mention for Mainstreet Credit Union.

Never has a new name been launched with so much “pre-awareness” already established for the “big idea” behind the brand. The whole Move your Money grassroots effort, and the flight to safety from Wall Street, plays right into the essence of the new brand.

FB: How is the brand being positioned?
JM: “We live where you live.”

MAINSTREET CREDIT UNION – POSITIONING STATEMENT

FB: Is there a new slogan or tagline?
JM: We haven’t settled on a on-going slogan…and may not have one. The main copy point for the brand launch is: “You’re not Wall Street. Neither are we.”

FB: Was research used as part of this process?
JM: Yes, in a couple of steps. First, Bancography established benchmark awareness and attribute rankings, as well as a market share and competitive analysis. The development of the brand positioning and name alternatives were a result of the Bancography Brand Map process. Communication audits were also performed with the credit union’s primary competitors.

As the process wound down and we got closer to the name selection, qualitative focus groups coupled with quantitative verification (telephone intercepts) were conducted with both members and non-members in the trading areas. The credit union’s associates also participated in separate focus groups.

FB: How did the credit union approach the name rollout?
JM: The name and brand was launched internally first back in mid-November. Great care was taken to be sure that every associate understood the process, the rationale and the reason for the change. Outside sales training consultants are assisting with the transition.

Member awareness was the second phase. The credit union took great care to explain the rationale behind the change and to reassure members that it was not being taken over.

You’ll notice the advertising elements do not mention the old name. This was careful thought-out strategy, so as to not burden ads with any explanation. The idea was that if someone was not currently a member, it would be for one of two reasons: they had already dismissed the Credit Union of Johnson County (for any number of reasons), or they simply weren’t aware of it. So there was absolutely no benefit to making the connection.

MAINSTREET CREDIT UNION – BRAND LAUNCH
A 30-second TV spot used in the 2010 Super Bowl pregame show to announce
the Credit Union of Johnson County’s name change to ‘Mainstreet.’

FB: How long did the whole process take?
JM: The original market survey for benchmarks and the kick-off “ideation session” for the Brand Map process took place in November 2008.

FB: What’s the timeline for rolling the brand out?
JM: The credit union will implement its new brand over several months, changing out signage, print materials and advertising.

FB: What size is the credit union?
JM: The credit union has $240 million in assets, over 52,000 members, eight branches and two satellite locations in the Kansas City area.

Credits: Bancography (research, branding, naming, logo), The AMP Group (advertising), Margaret J. Blankers Public Relations Group (public relations), and Graphic Edge KC (graphic design).

[Editor’s Note: The Credit Union of Johnson County has applied for a trademark with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. There is already a federally registered trademark for “Mainstreet Financial” for a financial planning firm. There is also another credit union named Main Street Financial FCU in Louisiana (formerly LA DOTD FCU). Domestic Bank in Rhode Island has held a USPTO federal trademark for the phrase “We’re Main Street, Not Wall Street,” since 1998. The bank still uses the slogan on its website today.]

In no other industry do companies change names more often than in financial services. It’s not just due to mergers. Banks and credit unions voluntarily choose to switch monikers quite often. Below are some of the elective name changes financial institutions in the U.S. underwent recently.

Credit union sheds a common name

Old Name: Community First Credit Union
New Name: Magnify Credit Union

Reason: The credit union offers no real explanation, although it says the new name “reinforces our fresh, new focus,” which seems to be built around a slogan, “Simplify banking. Magnify life.”

Analysis: It was smart to make the switch. 525 credit unions are using “Community” in their name. Another 179 use “First.” These are two of the most commonly used in credit union names (see the full list here). There are eight other credit unions using the exact name “Community First,” including one with over $1 billion in assets in the same state.

The new “Magnify” name has positive financial connotations and appears to be available in the USPTO database in the financial services category, which is unusual for such a common, real word. The credit union has applied for trademarks on both its name and its slogan.

Score:

Transitioning beyond transit workers

Old Name: MBTA Employees Credit Union
New Name: Mass Bay Credit Union

Reason: The credit union has outgrown its single sponsor, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

Analysis: Single SEG credit unions are becoming increasingly rare. It seems that serving one employer doesn’t suit credit unions with plans for future growth. At least this credit union trying to preserve some connection with its heritage by keeping the “Mass Bay” in its name.

Score:

Railway workers no longer driving growth

Old Name: Railway Employees Credit Union
New Name: Greater Ozarks Community Credit Union

Reason: The credit union says it wanted to make it more clear that membership isn’t limited to railroad employees.

Analysis: There was no future for the credit union if it continued to serve railroad workers exclusively, so changing names made strategic sense; they were dead otherwise. The new geographical name will probably not limit the credit union’s growth potential, and should be adequately suitable for the indefinite future. The word “Community” was an unnecessary addition, however.

Score:

Not ‘elderly’ anymore

Old Name: Elders Rural Bank
New Name: Rural Bank

Reason: A merger with two other banks presented the opportunity… but one can only assume the bank was itching to drop a crusty word like “Elders” from its name.

Analysis: Years ago, Rural Bank merged with Elders Bank. Then, more recently, Rural Elders Bank merged with Bendigo and Adelaide Bank. The less-than-sexy “Rural” name probably works well with the rugged outback Australia communities the bank serves.

Score:

We’re dedicated

Old Name: Darlington County Bank
New Name: Dedicated Community Bank

Reason: The bank says it decided to change its name and slogan as “a way of restating our commitment to our customers and our community.”

Analysis: PRO: They kept the bank’s acronym, “DCB,” by reverse-engineering a new meaning, so they don’t need to change the logo or web address. CON: The bank’s rationale sounds pretty shaky. You can “restate your commitment” without changing names. In all likelihood, the bank needed to expand beyond Darlington County, but concocted a story and picked a name that would be as painless and objectionable as possible. Too bad the new DCB name is a basically bland.

Score:

We’re cooperative… and a credit union… did we say we’re co-op?

Old Name: Puget Sound Energy Credit Union
New Name: Puget Sound Cooperative Credit Union

Reason: The credit union wanted a new name to reflect its expanded charter. It now serves anyone, not just employees of Puget Sound Energy.

Analysis: It’s an interesting choice to add the (redundant) word “Cooperative” to the name, as 36 other credit unions have also chosen to do.

Score:

Big brands cause credit union naming complications

Current Name: EDS Credit Union
New Name: InTouch Credit Union

Reason: EDS (the company, not the credit union) was purchased by Hewlett-Packard a while ago. Also, sources suggest that EDS lawyers requested the credit union divorce its identity from the corporation.

Analysis: The credit union had been discussing new names internally for over four years, so the move comes as no big shock. EDS probably gave the credit union a heads-up a few years ago by saying along the lines of, “Hey, would you please change your name at the next/earliest opportunity? Thanks!” Hewlett-Packard probably plans on killing the EDS brand sometime soon, so this eliminates one part of the EDS legacy.

Credit unions like those affiliated with big brand names like John Deere and Weyerhaeuser have been asked to change names. It has nothing to do with trademark infringement and lots more to do with bigtime corporate lawyers zealously protecting their clients brand names. It doesn’t appear that there was any pressure from EDS for the credit union to change names, nor does it seem the credit union bears any grudge.

InTouch appears to be available at the USPTO’s online trademark database. The name, however, has the waft of presumption: “We’re in touch with [you, reality, our feelings].” Any member with a gripe will be tempted to lob the obvious insult: “You guy think you’re ‘InTouch?’ You’re outta’ touch!”

Score:

No, we are not the Bank of Canada

Old Name: Canadian State Bank
New Name: Bank of Commerce

Reason: 1.) People were confused. Based in the Yukon’s Canadian County, the bank routinely received the type of questions that would normally be asked of a state-run government bank. 2.) The bank may someday consider opening branches outside of Canadian County.

Analysis: The name is about as boring and as common as they come in the financial industry, which will create online search issues. At least Canadian State Bank sounded Big and Important. Fortunately, it’s in a rural area where everyone knows all the available financial players.

Score:

From one community to three cities

Old Name: Kennewick Community Federal Credit Union
New Name: Tri-Cities Community Federal Credit Union

Reason: The credit union expanded its charter to include additional counties.

Analysis: Geographical names are only good for one thing: clearly defining your target audience. But what happens when you grow? You have to change names… which is exactly what this credit union will have to do — again — if it ever grows beyond the “Tri Cities” region. Also, the pairing of the singular “Community” with the plural “Cities” is a little awkward in the name. What does the credit union gain by adding the

Why are there five “branches” in a logo for an organization named “Tri-Cities Community?”

Score:

State charter means bank is no longer ‘National’

Old Name: First National Bank of Montana
New Name: First Montana Bank

Reason: The bank switched to a state charter, so it dropped the grandiose and inaccurate “National” from its name to reflect the bank’s focus solely on Montana.

Analysis: Sure, there are legal requirements when you switch charters, but it’s expensive to change names, whether you change the whole thing or just drop a single word. Hopefully the advantages of having a state charter outweigh the expense and disruption.

Score:

Members from hydro plant evaporating

Old Name: Bangor Hydro FCU
New Name: Changing Seasons FCU

Reason: The Bangor Hydro Electric Company had been “down-sized,” so the credit union had to get a community charter and new name.

Analysis: The credit union said it picked the new name because “we want our members to know that we are here for you in all the seasons of your life.” But some people are uncomfortable with life changes, preferring stability over fluidity. And how will Seasons FCU in Connecticut and Four Seasons FCU in Alabama feel about a credit union in Maine picking a similar name like “Changing Seasons?”

Score:

For all life’s needs

New Name: LifeStore Banking Insurance
Old Name: AF Bank

Reason: The bank sees itself as something more grand than just a mere financial institution. It wants to be a “retail store for life.”

Analysis: This is the 15th name change the bank has undergone in its 70-year history. That’s a new brand consumers have to become familiar with about ever 4-5 years. This latest name is certainly distinct, but it’s somehow strange. It feels more appropriate for a New Age bookstore than a financial institution. While the name may reflect the bank’s brand strategy (something about how money intersects with people’s “life stages” and “life plans”), one can’t help but wonder if there wasn’t a more subtle way to make this connection in a name.

Why is the word “Life” so crudely rendered in the logo? Will the bank’s branches look like “retail stores? Or will they look more like regular bank branches?

Score:

Trouble brewing on ‘River Bank’

New Name: RiverBank
Old Name: Lawrence Savings Bank

Reason: The old name was geographically limiting. The bank says it is “honoring its past” by picking a new name alluding to the Merrimack River Valley it has served for the last 138 years.

Analysis: There could be big trouble brewing. There is a River Bank & Trust in Alabama that has held a USPTO trademark since 2007. It doesn’t matter that Alabama and Massachusetts are miles apart. Nor does it matter that the names may be spelled a little differently.

Federally registered trademarks cover the whole country, and infringement suits address consumer confusion. If the Alabama bank presses the issue, they will probably prevail.

Score:

Trademark infringement lawsuit…16 years later

New Name: TBD
Current Name: MidFirst Credit Union

Reason: MidFirst Credit Union in Ohio may lose a pending trademark infringement lawsuit recently filed by MidFirst Bank in Oklahoma.

Analysis: A quick check by Armco Employees Credit Union at the USPTO website back in 1994 would have stopped them from picking MidFirst as their new name in the first place. The search would have shown that MidFirst Bank holds four separate federally registered trademarks for “MidFirst” with the USPTO, with one dating as far back to 1987. Of course, the courts may wonder why it took Midfirst Bank 16 years to file suit.

Two credit unions merge, new name needed

New Name: TBD
Current Names: Australian Central Credit Union, Savings & Loans Credit Union

Reason: The second- and third-largest credit unions in Australia are merging. They have already decided they aren’t going to keep either name going forward.

Analysis: This is a solid strategic decision. Neither name is distinct nor worth retaining. More importantly, if one credit union’s name survived, members of the other credit union would feel inferior, as if their credit union was taken over. Whenever similarly-sized organizations merge, a new name should always be considered.

The credit union set its logo ablaze at a special event for members and staff where the name was unveiled. (Photo credit: Rick Cruz/Pacific Daily News).

Like many credit unions that expand with a community charter, Government of Guam Employees Federal Credit Union found that its original name no longer represented the organization’s field of membership, which includes anyone who lives on the island. At 43 letters and 15 syllables, it was a real mouthful. After changing names to GGEFCU, the credit union realized that the acronym strategy didn’t work any better for them than the dozens of others who try it every year.

The credit union wanted something new, something fresh and different, so it partnered with the financial naming experts at Weber Marketing Group to develop a name that was “more inclusive and welcoming.”

“After reviewing over 70 possibilities, GGEFCU chose the name Coast360,” the agency said. “Coast360 reflects the island they serve and the inclusiveness they espouse. Coast360 is about unity and working together to help people thrive.”

“This is not an easy thing to do. It’s hard to change a name that you’ve been calling yourself for the past 45 years,” credit union president John Arroyo told Guam’s KUAM. “This credit union has embarked on a new journey. We’ve been reborn. We’ve come full circle.”

Joseph Aguon, one of the credit union’s founding members, said it doesn’t matter to him what the name is “It is the people behind it,” he told the Pacific Daily News.

“Now, we don’t allow just a few people, but the whole island. That’s why we changed it to Coast 360, so that we can accept all the people of Guam,” Aguon said. “I am very happy that I can witness the growth of the institution.”

This is the first name change The Financial Brand has seen in years where there is almost no complaints or outrage over the new moniker to be found anywhere online. None of the news stories about the name change contain the vitriolic comments frequently seen whenever credit unions change names.

30-SECOND TV SPOT

NEW WEBSITE DESIGN

MARKETING COLLATERAL

Yesterday’s article about the archaic credit union term for checking accounts (“share draft accounts”) sparked a wider debate about the very future of what checking accounts should be called. As Bryan Link with Brightleaf Financial wonders, “The name ‘Checking Account’ implies its main purpose is writing checks, although for a growing segment this account is mainly for automatic drafts and debit card transactions.”

Key Questions:

• If fewer and fewer people are using checks, why are they still referred to as checking accounts?
• If the trend towards paperless payments continues and you look ahead 15-20 years, how many people (regular consumers, not businesses) will still be using checks? For that matter, how many people will still be using cash?
• When will paper checks become obsolete? When that happens, what will checking accounts — as a category of financial products — be called?

Are ‘checking accounts’ obsolete?

As more financial institutions respond to people’s environmental concerns, and as they increasingly shift consumers to online channels, they’ve renamed their checking accounts accordingly:

• e-Checking
• e-Account
• Green$ense
• Greener Choices Checking
• Totally Green Checking
  (where you get your first box of checks free)

Key Question: If you offer a “green” checking account, why would you offer checks? In which case, why would you call it a “checking account” at all?

Some of the new names proposed for checkless checking accounts include:

• Debit Accounts (suggested by Ron Shevlin, senior analyst with Aite Group)
• Transaction Accounts
• Spending Accounts (suggested by Tim McAlpine from Currency Marketing)
• Cash Accounts (suggested by Brent Dixon, a financial marketing/design wizard)
• Virtual Accounts (suggested by Carla Day from CU Chat Up)

Further Discussion: What do you think? What suggestions do you have for the future name of “[Checking] Accounts?” What terms do financial institutions in other parts of the world use? Will people still refer to them generically as “bank accounts” no matter what name they’re given?

Callahan & Associates, the credit union industry’s leading analytics firm and publishers of CreditUnions.com, have just released their 2010 Credit Union Directory. Comparing this year’s directory against last year’s, The Financial Brand has noted 75 substantive name changes.

Some of these name changes may be due to mergers, but most frequently, credit unions change names for one of these three reasons:

1. The credit union’s primary sponsor has disappeared, or dwindled to such a point that it can no longer sustain membership.
2. The credit union feels its name is geographically limiting and/or exclusive to certain types of people (e.g., teachers).
3. The credit union can no longer use another organization’s brand name. This is typically triggered by a request from the primary sponsor’s lawyers, but sometimes by another financial institution asserting trademark rights.

From this year’s new names:

• 11 credit unions included the word “Community”: Arlington Community, Champion Community, Community, Community Driven, Memberfocus Commmunity, My Community, NMTW Community, Prestige Community, Total Community, Valley One Community and Vue Community.
• 7 reduced their names to acronyms: CEFCU, CSE, MaPS, MCT, ME/CU, NMTW and USE.
• 7 are coined names: Altana, Aventa, Cinfed, Genisys, Meritrust, TruStone and Vue Community.
• 3 use the number “one”: Alabama One, Metro 1 and Valley One Community.
• 3 credit unions ditched the word “First” in their name, while one put it in: University First.
• 2 credit unions used alphanumeric constructions: Med5 and Metro 1.

It might be time to update The Financial Brand’s list of The Top 50 Most Distinctive Credit Union Names. Which ones do you think belong in the list?

Further Reading: Anyone in the financial marketing arena should know “How to Look Up a Financial Trademark in 10 Easy Steps.” And here are some of other stories about credit union name changes as reported here at The Financial Brand:

• The do’s and don’ts of CU acronyms
• The ‘Community Credit Union’ fallacy
• The most common words in credit union names
• What does ‘Federal’ do for FCUs?
• From “America’s who?” to “ACU who?”
• Advanta forces Avanta to become ‘Altana’
• Credit union picks ‘Wildfire’ as new name
• Two credit unions merge to create ‘Genisys’
• Credit union completes transformation to ‘Centric’
• Credit union picks ‘Aventa’ as new moniker

Also, please contact The Financial Brand for your copy of “The Credit Union Guide to The Name Change Decision,” a comprehensive, 33-page analysis of the strategic renaming issues that apply to any financial institution considering a name change.

In response to an aging membership and a decaying telephony industry in Michigan, Communications Family Credit Union announced on Monday that it is changing names and is now Wildfire.

“With any name change, there’s kind of a shock to it.”
– Timothy Benecke
President and CEO
Wildfire Credit Union

“In the last few years, we have found that the Communications Family Credit Union’s name has created some confusion as to who can join,” Timothy Benecke, President and CEO/Wildfire, wrote in a letter to members. “Even though we are a community charter, our name has given the perception that our membership is still exclusive to the communications industry.”

With its recent community charter, anyone in seven counties can join the credit union.

“We wanted something that was short, memorable and distinctive,” Benecke told the Saginaw News.

Old Logo/New Logo

“Conventional credit union names follow a ‘who’+'where’ pattern, a formula that describes the geographic market and industry served,” noted Karen McGaughey, VP Client Services/Weber Marketing Group, the agency who served as the credit union’s renaming parter.

“Many credit unions find these names limiting names and outgrow them, which was true for the old Communications Family name.”

“The name Wildfire is a distinctive name that busts financial naming conventions that many financial institutions follow,” McGaughey added.

“This decision emerged from many months of research and evaluation under the leadership of our Board of Directors and executive team,” Benecke said. “Through this process, we have conducted research with credit union members, community members and credit union staff.”

In his letter, CEO Benecke reassured members that the credit union was well-capitalized, and that the name change had nothing to do with a merger.

People’s reactions to the Wildfire name span a very predictable range of human psychology, seen in almost every renaming situation — not just in the financial industry. The Saginaw News online article about the Wildfire name change has received some 50 comments since Monday. Some of the more provocative observations include:

• You bring in a national advertising firm and this is what they give you?
• I like the name…stands out and different from the rest!!
• Was the name ‘Earthquake Credit Union’ already used?
• Sounds like a steak house.
• I wonder if the marketing firm did a focus group?
• They probably paid this marketing firm $20,000 or more to come up with the name. But lets not blame them, since they offered 40 choices. That [Wildfire] couldn’t have been the best (or worst) one.
• I think the name is different, fresh.
• I will be in tomorrow to close my account.
• You are ashamed to belong to a credit union because of a name?
• Lighten up punkins, there are other things to get more worked up about…

“Everyone’s a critic,” said Mark Weber, CEO/Weber Marketing Group. “It’s the same thing as saying names like Verizon, Kinkos and Wii are stupid.”

Reality Checks:

• There is no new name that will please everyone.
• Anyone can make fun of any name.
• New names aren’t picked to resonate with historical target audiences. They are picked to appeal to future generations, looking 10-20+ years out.
• People are comfortable with what they know, and they generally hate change — it scares them.
• Name changes are subjected to a level of scrutiny and ridicule that startup organizations never endure.

What if a place like BooksOnline.com tried to become Amazon.com? What if the Java Stop tried to become Starbucks? People would scream and spew all sorts of nastiness. They would draw biased comparisons between the old- and new names, dwelling on the “obvious superiority” of the original. Then, like kids in a school yard, they’d make fun with jests and jabs: “Ewww look, it’s Icky Vicky.”

When Weyerhaeuser Employees Credit Union became Red Canoe back in 2006, the first story the local paper ran on the name change drew so many fiery comments — some 350 or more — that the paper ran a second story about the outpouring of comments the first story received. And then the second story got another 250 reader comments.

Red Canoe may have received “a boatload of ridicule.” But, Weber points out, the credit union “had is best growth year ever after strong initial weeks of media and blog attacks.”

Three years later, Red Canoe Credit Union is now an accepted- and well-respected fixture in the communities it serves.

Wildfire is a courageous choice, no doubt. Some may argue the name lacks relevancy, but at least it isn’t an acronym, nor does it try to squeeze in the word “Community.” It is unique, memorable and legally available in the financial industry.

And sometime soon, today’s fuss over the name will be forgotten.

Further Reading: Please contact The Financial Brand for your copy of “The Credit Union Guide to The Name Change Decision,” a comprehensive, 33-page analysis of the strategic renaming issues that apply to any financial institution considering a name change.

:30 TV Spot

Brochure Series

Print Ad Announcing Name Change

MERCHANDISING.jpg" rel="lightbox[8011]" title="wildfire-merch" target="_blank">

Branch Merchandising

America’s Credit Union went out and did some brand equity research.

“We asked if people had heard of us,” said the credit union’s marketing director, Heidi Marzolf, in an interview with the News Tribune. “The response was ‘America’s who?’”

So the credit union is changing names, and will now be known as “ACU.”

Reality Check: Sure, America’s Credit Union isn’t the most distinctive name in the credit union industry, and awareness of the name may be low in the marketplace, but changing to ACU doesn’t fix anything. It’s the same problem, the credit union just gave it a new name. Actually, this makes the problem worse. The credit union went from limited name awareness to zero name awareness. They are starting from scratch. And what about the 35,000 existing members who knew the credit union by its former name. What questions will they have?

The Financial Brand has previously noted the pitfalls of credit union acronyms, and ACU is no exception. Acronyms are stiff and corporate. They lack personality. They aren’t distinctive. And they are easily confused with all the other ACUs out there, which becomes a serious issue with search engines like Google. There’s ACU (Abilene Christian University), ACU (American Conservative Union), and ACU (Army Combat Uniform), to name a few. The last one presents the biggest problem, since the credit union’s membership is primarily Army personnel stationed at Fort Lewis. It might have been clever if the connection with Army Combat Uniforms was deliberate, but it isn’t.

NEW/OLD LOGOS

Heidi Marzolf, the credit union’s marketing director, said, “We wanted warm up our color palette and our logo and really have that reflect the credit union. The new logo is done in soft orange and burnt red, in a combination recalling perhaps an African sunset.” Notice the slightly cantilevered “c” in the new logo.

BONUS – TV SPOTS

The credit union will be introducing its new moniker in a series of TV spots starring various members of a woman’s roller derby team. Why? There are four spots: “Pain Goodall” (above), “Vicious Divalicious,” “Franky Bones,” and “Cookies.”

Key Takeaway: Having low name awareness does not mean you need a name change. It definitely means, however, that you need more marketing — specifically things like advertising and sponsorships.

The credit union said it wants a brand look-and-feel that is “technology-oriented, friendly, fast,” yet they choose colors from “an African sunset” for their logo, and produce TV spots with a retro-throwback from analog times — a roller derby team? Does any of this make sense? How does all this fit within a cohesive brand strategy?

Bottom Line: Going with America’s Credit Union probably seemed like a smart idea at the time, but they could have dodged a lot of problems had they picked a more distinctive name. Now the credit union is compounding its problem, and the costs in terms of money and lost time are immeasurable.

Note: There is another America’s Credit Union in Texas.

Bank trademark trumps credit union

The erstwhile Laurel Federal Credit Union is being forced to spend more than $80,000 changing names — again — five years after becoming Avanta FCU. Last year, Advanta Bank in Utah, enforced its federally-registered trademark on the word “Advanta” by giving the Montana-based credit union one year to change names or face a lawsuit.

“We thought we’d done due diligence before, but the attorney said it is close enough and you won’t win,” said Tracy DuFresne, VP of HR and Marketing for the credit union, in an interview.

Advanta Bancorp has held a federal trademark on Advanta since 1987.

The shift to Altana becomes official on July 1. The credit union says the bulk of the $80,000 cost will be spent changing the signs inside- and out on its seven branch locations.

Key Question: What about lawyers’ fees? And five years after becoming Avanta, won’t everything need to be replaced — debit cards, credit cards, business cards, forms, brochures, website, MERCHANDISING, etc.? Doesn’t that sound more expensive than $80,000?

Indeed a name change is no small undertaking. “It’s massive. We have different people in different areas taking care of this,” credit union CEO Rhonda Diefenderfer told the Billings Gazette.

The credit union received permission from the state and the NCUA to switch from Laurel FCU to Avanta back in July 2004.

Reality Check: Just because the NCUA or your state’s financial division says it’s okay to use a name doesn’t mean you won’t get sued. Their evaluation of a name includes only a limited and superficial look at similarities with competitors.

Oddly, an AP article on the story mischaracterizes the situation as a “patent dispute.” Patents, while issued from the same federal agency as trademarks, protect processes and inventions, not brand assets. This is purely a trademark issue, and patent law doesn’t have any bearing on the case.

“My advice is to work with a professional patent attorney.”
– Rhonda Diefenderfer,
CEO/Altana

No fewer than five different stories on the snafu appeared in the mainstream media following the credit union’s announcement at its annual meeting last weekend. Despite all the coverage in the last week, there was no message, update or press release regarding the name change on the credit union’s website.

Avanta – V + L = Altana

Presumably, the credit union chose Altana because it was the name that was legally available that most resembled the Avanta name. The new name is what’s known as a neological- or “coined name,” and has no literal meaning.

“Out of more than 300 names, we gave 90 to the attorney,” said Rhonda Diefenderfer, president of the credit union. “Maybe four names survived in her formal search process.”

Key Questions:

• How will members react to a second name change in five years?
• Will people feel the board and management bungled the first go-around, or will they feel a big, bad bank from Utah needlessly picked on a small Montana credit union?
• What will members think of a coined name that (somewhat subjectively) looks like a misspelling of Atlanta?

The credit union has applied for a federal trademark for its new name.

There is another Altana, a chemicals and coatings company in Germany, but they don’t represent any threat to the Montana-based credit union.

altanacu.com and altanacu.org were both registered the 10th of June. They currently point to they credit union’s website at avantacu.org.

Altana FCU has over 22,000 members and around $200 million in assets.

Key Takeaway: It’s almost impossible to find a real word that isn’t already trademarked in the financial industry. Coined- and unconventional names are the safest path. Not only are you more likely to end up with a unique, differentiated name, you will likely dodge a mountain of legal nightmares. Unfortunately in the case of Avanta, the coined name they picked was too close to something that was already trademarked.

Bottom Line:

• This is the most expensive branding mistake financial institutions make. And they make it over and over and over and over and over and over.
• Learn how to look up trademarks at the USPTO. It’s easy.
• As Diefenderfer puts it, “My advice is to work with a professional attorney.” There is no substitute.