[UPDATE: July 20, 2008. That didn’t last long. The CapCom name is out, as the credit union has agreed to merge under DFCU Financial. The original story follows, unedited.]
“Our former name was just too long,” said CapCom President Renee DeMarco. “It will make life easier on many levels for our members and employees.”
“The process is to decide who you are and what image do you want to project through your name and marketing,” said credit union CEO Mary Beth Moorhead in a Lansing State Journal interview.
About the naming process, Moorhead said, “We pulled together everybody from the board of directors to top management to branch managers and all employees. We just kept pulling in these focus groups, and we came up with no less than 200 names.”
In the end, the credit union decided it didn’t want something “drastically different,” and instead “circled back to something familiar.”
The new name will go on the credit union’s three branches immediately, while the new name and logo will appear on checks when reordered and plastics when reissued at expiration.
Regarding the new logo, Moorhead explained, “It’s kind of a stylized three C’s. It stands for a continuing commitment to community. That’s the anchor we like to keep with our members.”
The credit union also has launched a new website.
The credit union has a community charter serving 11 counties in Michigan. It has no connection with the international game developer, Capcom.
This is the fifth name change for the credit union:
1936 – Municipal Employees Credit Union
1974 – Lansing Municipal Credit Union
1983 – Lansing Community Credit Union
2002 – Capitol Community Credit Union
2008 – CapCom Credit Union
Reality Check: The “-com” suffix is strongly associated with communications and entertainment companies, such as Comcast and Viacom.