Southern Bancorp: Renaming a bank on a mission

"Bullhorn took a remarkably in-depth approach to understanding our organization. They went beyond the website and came to our markets, talked to our employees, and learned about our communities and our history, and that was all before we even started the iteration process with them. Bullhorn’s approach is deep and holistic, the only way to uncover a true brand identity. Bullhorn got it right from the beginning."

Nathan Pittman, Chief Brand Officer, Southern Bancorp

‍

It is a big decision for any large organization to change its name. The first time we talked to Southern Bancorp, we asked them why they were considering this change. This was their response:

• The current name limits our growth outside of this market
• We are confused with similar-sounding banks 
• The name doesn’t speak to our vision or our people

That got our attention. Although a name change is often not the best decision for a successful organization, there are good reasons for it. We then asked them about their concerns.

• We want a partner who understands us
• We are worried a change could negatively impact our culture
• We are concerned about the cost of rolling out the change

This project was a perfect fit because of our previous financial services and naming work, because we are a B Corp, and because we understood the significance of their geography. And, also because of our immersive, culture-first approach to branding.

Our first step was to understand their context better. We first dove into the history. We learned that they are:

• The first CDFI in the country
• A growing, dynamic regional bank in Arkansas and Mississippi
• Dedicated to supporting the underbanked in the Delta
• Taking on systemic wealth-building barriers
• And, they are a B Corp like we are

To understand them, we needed to see their context in person. We flew into Memphis for a 2-day immersive experience. We got to know them and their issues with: 

• A driving tour of the Delta and East-Central Arkansas
• A full-day workshop with their brand council
• A brand workshop with their leadership team

After the workshops, it was time for our team to go back home and do some work. We jumped into the naming process by:

• Creating the name criteria with their team
• Conducting industry landscape research
• Generating 400+ names
• Sending 100 of the names to a preliminary trademark screen
• Cutting to the top 15 names

We presented the top 15 names to the brand committee working on this project. We worked with them to present to the wider team by:

• Cutting to the top 3 names 
• Creating visuals for each concept
• Presenting the top 3 concepts to the brand council and leadership team
• Following up with a naming survey to the participants

This got us to the hard part: deciding. There wasn’t any time pressure on the decision, but they wanted to time the name change with other strategic changes that were in flux and difficult. We paused our work until the time was right. We left them with the survey results and a decision matrix. This gave them the data to pair with their intuition. They are now in a position to make a confident decision and move forward with their bold vision for the future.