After a long process of making its locations less bank-like, the North Shore Credit Union will become BlueShore Financial, a name chosen to leave behind its blue-collar roots, geographic and financial limitations. The change takes place Sept. 30.
For more than a decade, the 72-year-old credit union has been remodeling its branches into “financial spas” with lots of west coast rock, water features, a concierge and local imagery. Financial products and certified financial planners have also changed to appeal to clients with a more diverse range of needs. BlueShore now has 12 branches across Metro Vancouver, a brand new head office set to open next year and, with $3 billion in assets under administration, it is five times the size it was 12 years ago.
Now the that brand promise is in place, said Chris Catliff, president and chief executive officer, it made sense to change the name.
“The key idea is to match the brand to the target market and our market has changed dramatically,” said Catliff. “We are now in one of the highest postal codes in terms of wealth here in Canada.” The company’s new tagline is “Be Richly Valued.”
BlueShore will join a slew of other credit unions across the country that have shed their old associations for catchy names like Luminus, Boomerang and Integris.
Now that credit unions are merging, spreading into different communities and offering a range of financial services, the trend is to choose a name and identity that will grow with the brand and attract new members from outside the original vision and mandate.
Catliff said they rejected hundreds of potential names before choosing BlueShore Financial, a name that resonated well with focus groups who said it reminded them of the West Coast and evoked positive emotions and feelings of peace, relaxation and calm.
A marketing campaign by North Vancouver-based BrandFX kicks off Sept. 30, and, along with new location signage, includes newspaper wraps in the Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Courier and North Shore News, billboards downtown and on all major bridge routes, radio ads on six stations, 10-second spots on Global and CTV evening news and banner ads on The Globe & Mail’s website.
“Our typical clients are double income, have aging parents, kids at school or just about to go to university. They’ve got car payments, may have bitten off more on their house than they should of, and life is trying and complex with a lot of issues,” said Catliff. “[We take them into] our tranquil financial spas and create a roadmap for them. Essentially, we say ‘we’ve got your back,’ and we find that this target market resonates strongly with our offer.”
