Carving out an identity in banking is serious business - Nashville Business Journal:

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But for two local banks, embracing the elements as brand centerpiecesx was veryserious business. When and announced their $10 billiohn merger in late 2006, finding a way to communicatw the fused personality of the new bank quicklyh became acritical issue. In October 2007 the new face of which includes heavy use of a bright sprinbg green color scheme anda single-speed green bicycle, debuted in Middle Tennessee. In the case of Nashville' s , there was a need to create a brand from Avenue Bank's rollout marketing featured a hummingbirfd and use of sophisticated sepia and gray hues and artistidc photographs of Music City.
It was mean t to send a message that the bankis creative, stronbg and a little different than the typical buttoned-up, formal stereotype of many banks. The two branding efforts are basecd onsimple themes, but coming up with the concepts involved a complex process that took months. "Wse really had an opportunity to wipe the slate cleanm and come out with a completelynew message," says Randy Shepard, Tennessee marketing director for Regions. "Itt was no small undertaking." The challengde was to blend the identity of the two iconic regional banks into a new brand that includedrthe banks' past strengths as well as theidr plans for the future.
"AmSoutyh was all about relationships," Shepard "Regions was more about having an every-dahy confidence in the bank." Both Regions and Avenue Bank begahn their branding campaigns withtheir associates. They used outsidw branding experts and hunkered downin think-tankk mode for months. "Yo really do have to start withthe employees," Sheparfd says. "You are also building an internaol brand withyour associates." Birmingham-based . workexd with Regions to develop a strategic advertising campaign.
Shepard would not disclose the cost of the The first theme that emerged from the internal cultureof 33,000 associates at Regionas was "to make life better," Shepard says. Then the bank went to customersd and the wider community toget feedback. Focus groupws were conducted throughoutthe bank's 16-state footprin in the South, Midwest and Texas. What the bank hearr consistently from constituents is that they value simplicitt and ease in a world fillecd with information overloadand multitasking. "People said, 'Life is complicated, but it shouldn' be,'" Shepard says. "'We want it easy and relatively uncomplicated.
' That's the mantra we The spring green color, whicjh Shepard calls "life green" was chosen becausse it's vivid and The single-speed bicycle seemesd to capture the need for trusted simplicityand