Independent Banker - December 2022 - 64

full suite of services, " Owen says.
Once the decision is made, how
does a community bank go about
choosing a new name? For the team
at SimplyBank, the process began
with hiring an agency, Maycreate,
in Chattanooga, Tenn. The agency
conducted branding sessions with the
leadership team and then created a
list of 200 names that was culled to
Verimore Bank changed its
name from First Missouri
Bank earlier this year, and
(below) Southern National
Bancorp became Primis
in 2021.
the top 30.
" We did more exercises around
those names, meditating about who
we wanted to be, " Owen says. " We
pretty much unanimously picked
SimplyBank. We want to be the
everyday person's bank, and we
want to be front and center with our
understanding that no one wants
complications in banking, especially
these days. "
Keeping brand promises
Southern National Bancorp of
Virginia, Inc., known as Sonabank,
rebranded itself as Primis in 2021.
Ann-Stanton Gore, executive vice
president, chief marketing offi cer of
the $3.24 billion-asset community
bank in Glen Allen, Va., off ers this
advice for those going through the
name search process: " Be observant.
Find a gap or problem to solve.
Determine what the brand will stand
for and make a promise-and then
everything you do should tie back to
that brand promise. "
When River Valley Bank in Wausau,
Wis., decided to merge with its digitalonly
web bank, IncredibleBank, Kathy
Strasser, executive vice president,
chief operating offi cer and chief
information offi cer of the $1.8 billionasset
bank, said the decision on which
name to choose was easy. " How many
'River' bank names already exist? Too
many, " she says.
So, the team went with a name
Strasser describes as exciting,
diff erent and memorable, launching
the rebrand in fall 2019.
" We looked outside the walls of
banking at name brands that failed
because they didn't change, " she says,
" and we also studied brands that
achieved greater success because they
recognized change was inevitable
and took advantage of it. They were
willing to pivot, and so were we. "
For the team at Verimore, the
search for a new name was guided
by two criteria: The name had to
refl ect the bank's core values, and
it had to be unique. " Most of the
names we vetted met the fi rst criteria,
but not the second, " Stuewe says.
" We got creative and tried diff erent
combinations of word roots to create a
new name. We like 'veri' for truth and
honesty and 'more' to indicate what
customers can expect from us. "
Living up to the name
A new name brings with it an implicit
brand promise, Gore says. " Primis
is Latin for 'fi rst,' and that name
symbolizes our vision for never
Southern National
Bancorp of Virginia,
Inc.'s new name, Primis,
comes from the Latin
word for 'first.'
58 Q ICBA Independent Banker Q December 2022

Independent Banker - December 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Independent Banker - December 2022

Table of Contents
Independent Banker - December 2022 - Cover1
Independent Banker - December 2022 - Cover2
Independent Banker - December 2022 - Table of Contents
Independent Banker - December 2022 - 2
Independent Banker - December 2022 - 3
Independent Banker - December 2022 - 4
Independent Banker - December 2022 - 5
Independent Banker - December 2022 - 6
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Independent Banker - December 2022 - Cover3
Independent Banker - December 2022 - Cover4
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