Every credit union leader thinks about it. Many are concerned about it. Few are willing to invest in it. Increasingly, however, smaller credit unions are revisiting their brand strategy to regalvanize their organizations, reconnect with their membership, and drive long-term growth.

As the dust settled on this year’s CUWLA Connect, one thing stayed with me: The honesty.

There was a refreshing pragmatism at the annual event for women leaders of smaller credit unions. No grandstanding. No posturing. Just real conversations about what’s working, what’s not, and what’s needed if we’re serious about serving our communities well.

There was one consistent undercurrent at the 2025 event: Credit unions cannot afford to treat brand strategy as a cosmetic element.

In fact, many leaders in the room had or were in the process of wholesale rebranding. Not because their fonts or colors are outdated, not because “everyone else is doing it,” but because the world around them had shifted and their brand hadn’t kept pace.

For these leaders and so many others, brand has become a strategic inflection point.

The quiet truths credit union leaders admit (if you listen closely)

It was exciting to hear the CUWLA group align on brand as both a challenge and a growth opportunity—but not surprising.

In reality, the same themes appear in conversations with credit union leaders and system partners more broadly, too. They’re not always said publicly, but they’re unmistakable beneath the surface:

“Our community has changed. We need an identity that reaches farther than where we started.”
Many credit unions were formed to serve a micro-location, an employer, or a very specific market. Often, that boundary no longer reflects today’s field of membership or tomorrow’s growth potential.

“Our members are loyal but aging, and the next generation expects something different.”
People (particularly younger people, offering long-term growth) judge financial partners in seconds. They’re comparing credit union to fintech UX, national brands, and seamless digital experiences. Honestly, not many CUs pass the test.

“We have a strong culture… we just struggle to articulate it externally.”
The warmth, generosity, and human connection credit union people are known for often gets lost in the institutional processes, legacy messaging, or a product suite that doesn’t meet the holistic needs of today’s member.

“We’re small. Bandwidth is always the elephant in the room.”
Every leader wants their brand to be representative of the organization they run, they want it to be exciting, engaging, appropriate … but they’re stretched. When brand strategy feels like another burden or to-do, it’s easy to put it off while you focus on keeping the lights on.

None of this signals weakness. It signals awareness, and leadership. The next step is action.

Investing in your brand doesn’t mean you’re rebranding

An organization’s brand is a living, breathing entity. It has to be maintained as much as any technical system, and nurtured as much as any employee. All too often though, it’s placed on set-it-and-forget-it mode, and only revisited when there are significant challenges to overcome.

That may be the nation’s shifting demography, dramatically expanded service areas, M&A etc. Or perhaps more internal dynamics, like a fragmented organization, where products and processes don’t ladder up to purpose and people.

Whatever brings brand strategy to the top of the agenda, there are three common misconceptions that often prevent progress:

1. It’s all about colors and logos. This one’s a doozy and for another day, but no. No it’s not. Your creative language is a part of your brand, but by no means the extent of it.
   
   
2. Revisiting your brand has to lead to a rebrand. The right partner will never take you down a rebrand route if what’s really needed is brand refinement. You don’t disregard systems when they need updates, or dismiss employees when they present knowledge gaps; you invest, you enhance. Why would your brand be any different?

    

3. Rebrand means a full reset. When a full rebrand is the right route, it’s easy to assume it will require wholesale transformation. Typically, however, that’s not the case. More often rebrands are about translation: Making the brand match the organization’s culture, ambition, and community reality. This is often already the lived experience of employees and members alike.

Always start with culture

The most successful brand programs always begin with clarity around an organization’s culture:

Who are we?
Why do we do what we do?
How do we want our employees to show up?
What do we want our community to feel when they meet us?

Then you can move into operations:
Who do we serve now—and who are we trying to serve next?
How can we uniquely meet their needs?
What friction points are preventing us from doing that now?
Who’s already out there doing this, and why would we be any better at it than them?

All of this is as much about your brand strategy as any colors and typefaces, and only once you’ve gone through this structural, fundamental process can design and creative become meaningful.

Color, type, and visual systems can shape perception, but they only truly work when they’re grounded in cultural truth. A palette isn’t powerful because it’s trendy. It’s powerful because it reflects who the credit union is.

This moment matters

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from leading multiple brand programs across the credit union system, it’s this: Credit unions aren’t refining their brand to reinvent themselves. They’re refining to reconnect.

They’re looking to reconnect with their mission, with the people they say they exist to serve, and with the communities that rely on them—in all their complexity and diversity.

Revisiting your brand isn’t about chasing relevance. It’s about honoring it.

If this moment feels familiar, take it as a signal to pause and evaluate what your brand is saying and what you want it to say next. Relevance starts with reflection.

If your brand isn’t truly reflecting who you are, reach out to discuss how we can help.