Cinfed Credit Union
Beyond Banking: Cinfed’s Strategy to Define the Modern Credit Union Experience
Brand Development
Website Development
Brand Positioning
Brand Culture
Naming
Brand Architecture
Value Proposition
Brand Metaphor
Messaging Matrices
Cinfed Credit Union has been rooted in the Greater Cincinnati area since 1934. As a significant player in the region, their team identified an opportunity to redefine the role that credit unions can play in their members’ lives. What originally began as a new member acquisition campaign grew into a bigger creative challenge: how could we build a strong strategy and approach that would best articulate Cinfed’s unique company culture, brand story and key audiences?
The Challenge
As the bigger creative challenge began to take shape, the team identified the need to position Cinfed for future success. As the Cinfed team was outlining ambitious growth goals for their credit union, one big question that arose was how would we bring their employees along on this journey? How could they influence what the future of their company would be like? Both internally and externally, the company needed a cohesive story grounded in their team’s passion for serving others and bringing this story to life in ways the whole organization—from executives to tellers—could rally behind. The Intrinzic team needed to find a way to show how Cinfed’s company culture makes an immensely positive impact on the service and services they provide for their members.
The Inspiration
From the beginning, Intrinzic’s approach was to hear as many employee perspectives and voices as possible. From roundtable discussions to employee surveys to an audience analysis workshop, employees throughout the organization were invited to participate and share what makes Cinfed such a remarkable company. Our team facilitated an Attribute workshop with the core team, giving them a hand’s-on role in building the story and understanding what Cinfed’s Marketing team was working to achieve.
Inspired by the concept of redefining relationships, our team created a compelling and unique brand story rooted in Cinfed’s culture and dedication to service. This story was then brought to life through targeted audience messaging and more vibrant, lively brand elements, including photography styles, a refreshed color palette, typography and patterns that bring more emphasis to the member and their place at Cinfed.
The Outcome
The end result was a more approachable and humanistic brand story and toolbox that highlights the crucial role relationships play in financial situations and the unique way that Cinfed Credit Union serves its members.
By building a story born out of Cinfed’s culture and their employee’s own words and actions, the resulting brand strategy was as much a cultural alignment tool as it was a springboard to a new member acquisition campaign. Every employee could see themselves within the story and approach, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. From Marketing’s perspective, they now had not just the story and visual toolbox to bring it to life, but the confidence to know how to tell a story that would drive their future and help transform their whole organization.
Told by Lauren Townsend, VP, Marketing
With a strong history, deep local roots, and an unwavering dedication to service, Cinfed Credit Union was ready to tell a bigger story of their culture, value in building relationships, and commitment to community. Lauren Townsend, vice president of marketing, and her team saw an opportunity to redefine what it means to belong to a credit union, the role relationships play in financial situations, and the unique way that Cinfed serves and impacts their members’ lives. How did she get everyone aligned on a clear path forward and the confidence to know how to tell a story that would transform their whole organization? This is her story and experience learning that you don’t have to change everything about yourself, you just need to elevate everything that makes you who you are.
Let’s collaborate
We would love to connect and talk more about how our collaborative process and alignment tools can
help you bring your teams together and clearly define your culture and purpose.