Copy Cats: Xerox FCU Eyes Branding Makeover

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – From the person who brought us “Kinecta,” the new name and brand for Hughes Aircraft Employees FCU, comes a plan to make over the image of Xerox FCU, just down the road a bit.
 
Teresa Freeborn, who introduced the unorthodox name Kinecta to one of the nation’s largest credit unions, is in the process of making over Xerox with a $20 million new headquarters, a doubling of the branch network, and yes, a new name and brand that will de-emphasize the ties to the old copier maker in order to lure employees of its growing number of select employee groups.
 
As part of the new strategy, the $750 million credit union will focus less on the five underserved communities it was authorized to serve in recent years and more on developing SEGs in its three main markets: Southern California, San Jose and Rochester, N.Y., said Freeborn, who took over as president and CEO of Xerox FCU a year ago.
 
The new strategy does not presage a separation from the credit union’s chief sponsor, which has experienced financial troubles in recent years, but is part of “rejuvenating the relationship with them,” Freeborn told The Credit Union Journal yesterday. She noted how it recently opened a full service branch in the company’s new headquarters in Norwalk, Ct., and will continue to operate at other Xerox facilities.
 
As part of the re-branding, Xerox has hired St. Louis-based NewGround to develop a new name and logo. As she did when developing the Kinecta brand, Freeborn plans to involve employees and members in the process.
 
NewGround also is responsible for the re-branding and naming of Pacific IBM Employees FCU as Meriwest CU.