Community Financial Credit Union plans rebranding

Photo provided by Community Financial Credit Union

Volt Credit Union employees will wear T-shirts and tennis shoes as part of the “Revolt” campaign.

Executives of Community Financial Credit Union announced to members Saturday they’re changing the name and brand identity in a distinct cultural shift at the 80-year-old financial outfit.

The new name: Volt Credit Union.

“There are over 1,000 credit unions in the U.S. that have ‘community’ in the name,” said President and CEO Loretta Roney. “We’re looking to be a little disruptive, to add life and energy and moxie to banking.”

Roney said about 350 members who attended the June 23 annual meeting at University Plaza Hotel were first to hear of the rebranding, which will roll out next week.

“We’re starting a campaign. Our trademark is going to be Revolt Against Banking as Usual,” she said.

Other taglines will follow during the campaign, she said. The CFCU Board of Directors has been working with Frank & Maven on the rebranding work, which she said will include the tags: Revolt Against Suits and Ties and Revolt Against High Interest Rates and Fees.

“Our new culture will have our staff dressed in Volt T-shirts and tennis shoes every day,” Roney said. “Most are working class and working hard. We want to remove any barriers of judgment.”

The new logo, designed by Frank & Maven, emphasizes a lime green tone and incorporates a lightning bolt in the letter V. It’ll be prominently displayed on a new credit union building under construction in southwest Springfield.

Officials are investing over $2 million, she said, for an 11,000-square-foot office at 2624 W. Republic Road. The credit union currently operates one branch, on Tampa Street downtown, after vacating a building at 1220 E. Walnut Lawn St. to make way for Kum & Go’s recent convenience store expansion.

CFCU slipped a spot on Springfield Business Journal’s 2018 Largest Credit Unions list to rank No. 6 with $64 million in reported assets last year. With 7,242 members as of April in its nine-county footprint, the credit union’s membership was down 3.3 percent from the prior year.

Roney said the credit union’s seven-member board and five-member executive committee has worked on the new brand concept the last two years. They also created five culture codes for internal and external relations: learning, serving, resourcefulness, togetherness and humanness.

“We ditched the mission and vision statement and went with the five culture codes of how we work and function,” she said.

“We’re putting our stake in the ground. It’s not just a name and logo change. It’s a way of life we are starting.”