In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a man who cheated Death (by literally chaining it up). But this feat wasn’t a good thing. Sisyphus faced punishment for his crime – he had to roll a boulder up a hill only to watch it roll down as he reached the top. He repeated this fruitless task over and over and over…for eternity.
And too many institutions find themselves trapped in their own versions of eternal torment, struggling with a name change dilemma each year. Your current name doesn’t reflect who you are, where you’re going or who you try to serve. But each time you start making progress on the name change idea, something pushes that boulder right back down the hill.
Here’s the truth: those obstacles aren’t insurmountable. They just feel that way.
Let’s identify the three biggest naming boulders crushing your progress, and more importantly, how to finally push them to the top for good.
Boulder #1: Attachment to the Current Name
The biggest boulder blocking most bank and credit union naming projects? Pure emotional attachment. Do these groups sound familiar?
- Board members around since the founding who couldn’t imagine anything different.
- Staff who remember when the original name meant something specific to a particular community or industry.
- Consumers who worry that changing the name somehow betrays the organization’s history.
This attachment runs deep. The current name represents years of hard work, community building and institutional identity. It feels almost disrespectful to suggest changing it, like erasing the contributions of everyone who came before.
But changing your name doesn’t erase your legacy…it extends it. The most successful bank and credit union naming projects honor the past while creating space for the future. They recognize that preserving your core purpose matters more than preserving outdated words that no longer serve your strategic goals.
The founders of your organization were bold enough to start something new. They took risks to serve their community better. Changing your name to better serve today’s consumers isn’t betraying that history. You’re simply making new history.
The key is reframing the conversation from “we’re losing something” to “we’re gaining something.” When you approach name changes as an evolution rather than an abandonment, the emotional boulder becomes much easier to move.
Boulder #2: The Scope of a Rename
The second boulder that stops most bank and credit union naming efforts in their tracks is the project scope. It feels impossibly huge. New signage for every branch. Updated marketing materials. Legal documentation changes. Website overhauls. Staff training. Consumer communication campaigns.
When you add up all the moving pieces, it’s easy to convince yourself that a name change is too expensive, too complicated or too disruptive to ever execute successfully. So, the boulder rolls right back down the hill.
But you don’t have to do everything overnight. The most successful naming transitions happen in stages, with careful planning and realistic timelines. Prioritize the most critical elements first and phase in other changes over time. For example:
- Phase 1: Brand research, workshops and deciding on a name.
- Phase 2: Creative decisions, such as new logo and graphic standards.
- Phase 3: Staff training, consumer communication and launch.
- Phase 4: New building signage, branch renovations and so on.
A staged approach spreads costs over time and makes the entire project more manageable.
The alternative – keeping a name that no longer serves your strategic goals – is actually more expensive in the long run. You pay the opportunity cost of confused positioning, limited growth potential and competitive disadvantage every single day you delay.
Better to tackle the project strategically than to avoid it entirely and watch your naming boulder crush your growth potential.
Boulder #3: Disagreement About the New Direction
The third naming boulder that derails most projects is internal disagreement about what the new name should be or what direction it should take. Everyone has opinions…some of them quite personal. For instance, the name might sound like your grandma’s old nursing home (and you hate that place).
People get attached to their ideas and defensive about their perspectives. Meetings become battles of preference rather than strategic discussions, and the naming process stalls because alignment feels impossible.
The solution isn’t finding a name everyone loves. It’s finding a name that serves your strategic goals.
Bank and credit union naming decisions must be led by strategy, not personal preference. What markets are you trying to reach? What position are you trying to establish? What does success look like for your organization?
When disagreements arise, bring the conversation back to strategy. Ask questions like:
- Does this option support our growth goals?
- Will this resonate with our target audience?
- Does this position us effectively against competitors?
Sometimes these strategic discussions require professional facilitation to keep personalities out of the process and focus on organizational needs. An outside perspective helps your team make decisions that serve the institution’s long-term success.
Breaking Free from the Boulders
The myth of Sisyphus suggests eternal struggle, but your bank and credit union naming challenges don’t have to be eternal. These boulders only seem impossible to move because you keep pushing them the same way.
Reframe attachment as evolution. Approach scope as a manageable, staged process. Ground disagreements in strategy rather than preference. When you change your approach to these obstacles, you change their power over your organization.
Push your boulders out of the way. On The Mark Strategies helps your team overcome naming obstacles with a strategy-led process that one client said led to 30% year-over-year consumer growth in the first two months following the change.
