Community Resource Bank

Merging Brands, Strengthening Communities

Uniting Community Resource Bank and 1st United Bank

The Challenge

When Community Resource Bank (CRB) prepared to merge with 1st United Bank of Faribault, the stakes were high. Both institutions had deep roots – CRB’s charter dates back to 1878, and 1st United Banks to 1920 – and both institutions prided themselves on relationship-based customer service.

Our job was to ensure customers felt informed, supported and valued throughout the transition.

The communications had to:

Protect customer trust by explaining what was changing and what wasn’t.
Unite two brands without losing the local identity and relationships customers relied on.
Deliver clarity on account changes, timelines and new opportunities for customers.

Our Approach

Neuger partnered with CRB to develop and execute a comprehensive multi-channel communications strategy under the theme “Let’s bank together.” The approach emphasized transparency, consistency and accessibility by meeting customers where they were with the information they needed.

We crafted key messaging to serve as the foundation for all communications and wrote and designed a detailed welcome guide in both print and digital formats that outlined key dates and FAQs. We also developed a dedicated landing page to house all merger-related information, produced press releases announcing the merger and confirming its completion and created email and social media campaigns timed to key transition milestones.

The Solution

The “Let’s bank together” campaign positioned the merger as a benefit to customers by emphasizing increased lending power, expanded product offerings and technology tools, five convenient branch locations across Faribault, Northfield, Cannon Falls and Roseville, and a seamless account transition with no job losses and continued service from familiar staff.

Every touchpoint from the landing page to the mailbox to the mobile app reinforced the same reassuring message that the service customers trust is here to stay and is only growing stronger.

Client