Rebranding a credit union for relevance

Cotton Belt Federal Credit Union's logo

About the project

Cotton Belt FCU is a community development financial institution (CDFI) serving multiple communities across some of the most economically distressed areas in Arkansas–and indeed the country.

Faced with a shrinking population, systemic disinvestment, and widespread financial exclusion, the credit union knew that its legacy brand and outdated infrastructure were barriers to deeper community impact.

With a newly expanded charter and an urgent need to support its communities, Cotton Belt partnered with Mission Brands to overhaul its brand, amplify its voice, and reconnect with the people it was built to serve.

Background
Date
May 2024
Client
Cotton Belt Federal Credit Union
Category
Tags
, , ,

The challenge

Pine Bluff, Arkansas, is emblematic of both the promise and the pain of small-town America. Once a thriving hub for agriculture and industry, the city has been approaching its nadir for some time.

Population has declined by a third in 20 years, the poverty rate is almost three times that of the national average, and the city is repeatedly cited as one of the most violent and dangerous in the nation.

With so much need–and with it, so much opportunity for impact–how could a local CDFI credit union position itself as a solution to so many of the city and the surrounding community’s challenges?

This was the problem facing Cotton Belt FCU–an organization that had not invested in its brand, reputation, or marketing infrastructure for a generation.

An overview of Cotton Belt FCU's updated brand guide, designed by Mission Brands Consultin

Our approach

Market research

  • Conducted in-depth market and brand audits, including analysis of alternative financial providers

  • Led internal and external workshops, including with Coopera Consulting, to uncover cultural, reputational, and strategic insights

  • Explored the implications of the “Cotton Belt” name in a majority-Black community—research found no reputational risk, counter to internal assumptions

Rebuilding the brand

  • Co-created a revitalized Mission, Vision, and Values with Cotton Belt’s executive and frontline teams

  • Developed a completely new creative system rooted in stakeholder feedback and lived community experience

  • Crafted an internal rollout strategy and go-to-market roadmap to ensure organizational alignment and external resonance

Aligning brand and growth strategy

  • Every element of the new brand was designed to reflect the lived experience, aspirations, and expectations of the communities served

  • The refreshed identity honors the area's railway history, and the credit union's CDFI status

  • The creative system, brand archetype, and messaging all had to represent a forward-looking, growth-minded credit union, that still respected and celebrated its roots

You're working man, I see it. Every day, something's better.
Greg Hutchins
President & CEO

Key deliverables

Strategic

  • A fully reimagined brand identity and creative system that breathes life into the community’s request of an organization that “Supports us” and “Shows us what we can accomplish”.

  • Refined Mission, Vision, Values framework

  • ICP personas and segmentation models

  • Brand health KPIs and feedback strategy for continuous improvement

Tactical

  • A net-new website, rewritten, restructured, and redesigned from the ground up

  • Project management to integrate LOS, Core and Digital Account Opening partners

  • Key collateral (signage, Microsoft templates, statement templates, business cards etc.)

Evolution, not revolution

For the credit union, the board, and the community, Pine Bluff's place in railway history remains hyper-relevant. Through community focus groups and guerilla surveying, time and again it was named as a point of pride.

Replacing the logo, then, that had simply been borrowed from the old rail-route, was a delicate balance.

A side-by-side comparison of Cotton Belt FCU's original and updated logo

What's next?

Managed marketing

After working so closely with Cotton Belt–even through a CEO change–to redefine how they position themselves in-market, and reach and engage their communities, Mission Brands is proud to continue our relationship with fully outsourced marketing strategy, creative services, and technical support.

The future for this beautiful but challenging part of Arkansas has never felt brighter.

New signage outside of Cotton Belt FCU's Pine Bluff branch

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