1st Trust is spending more than $1 million on all aspects of the name change, including creative and legal costs as well as new signage, stationery and marketing to introduce the name to the public.
This announcement comes almost a month in advance of a vote by the bank’s 800 shareholders, presuming a favorable outcome.
The bank is so confident that shareholders will approve the name that they have already produced a new logo, a “Great Together” tag line, color scheme, bank stationery, billboards, newspapers and other advertising. The bank plans to install building signage within two weeks of the shareholder vote
1st Trust chairman Kirk Bailey said the bank positioning the bank to”break out of the pack.” In the bank’s market, there were at least 16 financial institutions with “First” or “Trust” in the name.
For more than a year, 1st Trust worked with an advertising and marketing firm to come up with a name that the bank liked and, more importantly, was available.
1st Trust president and CEO Bill Menkel said hundreds of names were considered. Eventually three or four were picked and put on everything from mugs to business cards and in a variety of styles before ‘Magna Bank’ came out on top.
Menkel wanted something short that denoted strength and, preferably, that started with an ‘M.’
“‘M’ is a good letter for this market,” he says, because of inferences to Memphis and Mississippi, a possible future market, that creates marketing possibilities. “We can do some neat things with the logo.”
The bank’s press release says that the name “will be announced officially to the bank’s 150 employees next week,” although it’s likely that they will already know after reading the press release.