SANTA FE, N.M.–State Employees Credit Union here has launched a new brand, including a new look and feel, logo, and mission statement.
A Zia Sun-inspired circle, representing the credit union’s members, communities, and staff, accompanies their new mission, “together we build futures.”
To further emphasize the credit union’s statewide field of membership, the new logo deemphasizes State Employees long, full name, and instead highlights the word “State” in hopes of appealing to New Mexicans of all occupations, ages, and lifestyles, the credit union said.
In a message to members, State Employees noted the traditional Zia Sun represents the four compass points, the four seasons, the four times of day (morning, noon, evening, night), and the four stages of life (childhood, youth, middle age and old age). The CU added three rings to the traditional symbol to represent its members, communities and staff
“We also hope the name shift will encourage people to identify the credit union as State ECU, rather than SECU, which sounds too corporate and doesn’t align with our credit union’s culture,” said State Employees CU CEO Harold Dixon in a statement.
Dixon added that a “lot of people assumed you had to be a state employee to be a member of the credit union, but that’s not true. We serve New Mexicans across the state, and we think our new brand reflects that.”
In a statement on its website the credit union said the most common response to its prior logo, which was a Zia sun shown setting behind the foothills, was “it looks like a couple scoops of ice cream.”
The new branding follows what the CU described as two years of rigorous and exhaustive marketing research to better understand how New Mexicans perceived State ECU. That research included focus groups with members, non-members, and staff, surveys, workshops, and consultations with outside firms.
“We discovered that while we were succeeding in helping members financially, we were missing the mark a bit on our messaging. So, our rebrand is to get us back on track,” Dixon said.
The $417-million State Employees CU has nearly 40,000 members.