“Whoo’s” That Bank?

But chances are good that if you live in Burlington or Mount Vernon, one new addition to local bank signage has recently caught your eye.  I’m talking about the one with the somewhat unlikely name of SaviBank…the one with the cute little owl.

What’s in a Name?

What attributes do you associate with the owl?  Most of us would probably include the words “wise” and “old” in our response.  We might also add the adjective “serious,” and possibly even “stern.”  But the SaviBank owl is just so darn cute that you want to pat its little head and take it home with you.  Which is exactly what SaviBank and its employees would like you to do, as I recently learned from the bank’s board chairman Mike Cann and its senior vice president Kari Holmly when I sat down with them to hear the story of their bank’s name.

Mike Cann and Kari Holmly

Given SaviBank’s history, its more likely name might be “PhoenixBank.”  Straying from the avian theme, “BuoyantBank” might be even more apt, considering its ability to stay afloat in the wake of the recessionary tsunami that wiped out many less fortunate community banks across the country.  Mike Cann related his bank’s troubled past, and how it emerged from a fiscal crises with a new identity and a new raison d’être.

SaviBank began its life in 2005 as Business Bank, based on the conviction of its founders that the go-go environment of the times, driven to no small extent by the real estate market, argued for the presence of another local business bank.  Like many other banks, including those “too big to fail,” Business Bank invested heavily in the real estate boom over the next three years, particularly in construction and property development.  Such were the losses from those loans when the real estate bubble burst that federal regulators issued a “cease and desist” order on the bank’s operations until it could resolve a list of forty issues necessary to bring it back into regulatory compliance.  Although the Business Bank story might have ended in Chapter 11 or worse, its situation was dire enough to convince its board of directors that a change of management was in order if the bank was to survive.  Enter Mike Cann.

The Turnaround CEO

Although he probably wouldn’t cast himself in the role of “turnaround CEO,” Mike Cann’s story would argue otherwise if Hollywood was to bring a story of a business comeback to the big screen.  It’s the story of a “savvy” banking executive who goes into well-earned retirement, only to be pulled back into the game to help save a piece of the industry he had dedicated his professional life to serving.

“My background is that I’ve been in banking for a long time,” Cann recounts.  “In the mid-‘80s I ran a local bank called Valley Bank.  After we sold it I went to Whidbey Island Bank and ran it for about 15 years before retiring in 2008.  We had built a strong business, and it weathered the recession — but I got bored, so when Business Bank asked me to work with them in the summer of 2010, I welcomed the opportunity and came aboard as a consultant.  I eventually took over the presidency.  We’ve since appointed Andy Hunter as president, who I had brought with me along with Kari Holmly, and I now serve as Chairman of the Board and CEO.”

For the next four years, Mike Cann and his team worked their way through the forty issues that comprised the “cease and desist” order that Business Bank labored under — a task they managed to complete in the third quarter of 2014, when the bank raised the final amount of capital it needed to be released.  “Many banks haven’t been able to accomplish what we did,” Cann notes.  One of the changes he and his team ushered in was a refocusing of the bank’s mission — which as much as the desire to put its past behind it drove its decision to change its name.

The Name Game

“The bank started out as a business bank — doing what the name implies: banking with businesses,” Cann explains.  “In a smaller community, however, that focus is harder to maintain.  There isn’t always enough business to spread around, so we expanded our mission to be a full service community bank.  Unfortunately, because of our name we were running into problems with people thinking they couldn’t bank with us if they weren’t a business.”

In her role as senior vice president, Kari Holmly spearheaded the bank’s search for a new identity.  One of her team’s first decisions was to hire an advertising agency to shepherd them through the process.  It turned out to be yet another “savvy” decision, and Kari recalls how it transpired.

“We started by engaging our staff in the process and did a survey asking employees who they thought we were, who we wanted to be, what businesses they’d like to emulate, and who we wanted for our customers,” says Holmly.  “The survey was totally confidential.  We compiled the responses and the ad agency put it all together and reported back to a name change committee we had created, which included two or our board members.”  With the assistance of their agency partner, Kari and her team divided the suggested names into categorical groups that included “descriptive,” “geographical,” and “whimsical.”

“We ended up combining a couple of categories,” says Holmly.  “It took us four rounds to get down to two that we wanted to develop some marketing around, and at that point it became evident that SaviBank was the right selection.  We want to be experts, we want people to come to us for advice, and to be a community bank as well, so we settled the name, the owl, and the tagline, ‘The wise choice.’  It was a long process, although it seemed to go very fast once we got behind it.”  With its new name, logo, and tagline finalized, SaviBank and its ad agency partner met with Meyer Sign & Advertising to work out the details of signage design, fabrication, and installation.

Putting the pieces together in the Meyer Sign & Advertising fabrication shop

“Our Meyer Sign sales rep, Gregg Collins, was terrific when it came to thinking through details, like whether or not the particular PMS color we had specified for our blue would appear washed out when the sign was lit,” Holmly says.  “He made sure every step of the way that we were happy, and Meyer Sign always delivered when they said they would.  Everything went off really well, right down to the installation.”

For Mike Cann, timing was truly everything.  “Getting out of the ‘cease and desist’ order, going through the name change, and then having the signs go up properly right away was a huge issue for us.”

Introducing SaviBank

Although Kari admits to some nervousness with the rollout of her bank’s new identity, the tight creative link between SaviBank’s name and its friendly little owl image have made an immediate impression on customers as well as staff.  “At first I heard people tell me that they weren’t sure they liked the name, but they really liked the owl — but it has really caught on quickly with people, including our own employees.”  Mike Cann is even more bullish: “SaviBank really clicked with me.”

Any questions?

SaviBank’s new identity works on a couple of different levels that, to use a bit of marketing parlance, can be readily “paid off” through customer experience.  To begin with, the play on “savvy” communicates the expertise and experience the bank offers its customers — while the whimsical little owl speaks to the approachability and friendliness of the bank in delivering on that expertise and experience.  Together, they get to the heart of how Mike Cann views his bank’s brand.

“SaviBank means that we have the wisdom to help people reach their financial goals because we understand the decisions and choices that have to be made to do so,” says Cann.  “If we can help people get there, we not only give them the ability to be successful, but we also make a difference for our shareholders and employees.  We’ve made every effort to put the best people in the right positions, and with that friendly community bank nature.”

Cann’s last observation gets us back to the delightful little owl so unlike anything we are used to associating with the stereotypically dour world of finance.  It’s an approachability the goes beyond a good working relationship.  “I think people’s delight with our bank will be in the relationships they form with our staff.  We want to be more than friendly…we want to be friends.”

For now, the launch of its new identity has left SaviBank employees with what Kari Holmly describes as a “strong sense of revitalization.”  For Mike Cann, that feeling is especially poignant, and perhaps runs closer to a sense of validation after years of effort in bringing his bank back from the brink.  There is also an obvious sense of anticipation.  “What has been happening for the last three years is that we’ve been playing defense,” Cann explains.  “And now we get to play offense — we get to run with the ball.”  You could call that a “Savi” observation, to be sure.