Lending a Hand
Since 1936, MidWest America Federal Credit Union has loyally served members throughout Northeast Indiana. Following significant leadership changes, the MidWest America team decided it was time to update their brand. They wanted to modernize their look and differentiate themselves from the competition—so they called on BIG to help.
Discover
To truly understand MidWest America’s identity, we interviewed 50 employees and credit union members. Additionally, we received nearly 1,300 responses to an online members’ survey. We discovered a large amount of positive feedback regarding MidWest America’s member-focused approach. One of the branch managers was even described as “nicer than my mom” and “as good as you can get.” Based on this research, we determined the brand’s core attributes. MidWest America equips members for financial success, is easy to work with, has a community focus and provides friendly, personal service. While these qualities are important, they are common and likely expected of every credit union. The challenge would be making them unique to MidWest America.
Develop
Our strategic and creative departments worked together to establish an original position for the MidWest America brand. We realized that MidWest America shares many of its values with the typical midwesterner. This made sense as “MidWest” is even built into the credit union’s name. We made sure to leverage this connection in the brand messaging and visuals. BIG ultimately delivered a tagline that captures the credit union’s midwestern spirit and creates a sense of community, ”It’s a MidWest thing.”
Deliver
With the brand established, our team created in-depth messaging, an updated logo and design elements. We elevated the red within the brand’s color palette to separate them from competitors primarily using blue. Finally, we provided the MidWest America team with a robust brand guide to refer to as they continue to share their refreshed brand with the world.
As we began to think about rebranding, we knew it was critical to select the right partner. After discussions and due diligence, it was obvious that BIG was the right partner for us. They listened to our goals, developed a strategy and guided us along the journey. We are immensely proud of the result and believe it helped focus our vision of ourselves.
Dave Shadburne, President and CEO