Case Study
Independent Financial
Independent Financial, formerly known as Independent Bank, had transitioned from a community bank to a regional bank due to organic growth and acquisitions in Colorado and its home state of Texas. It was important for the bank to understand the strengths and opportunities of the Independent Bank corporate identity as the bank expanded into new markets and business lines.
With the support of our leading agency partners at OH Partners to help guide our efforts, OHPI worked closely with Independent Financial to design a research study to gauge the strength of the bank’s brand equity in order to define opportunities for rebranding to best represent its expanded business lines and markets while retaining their reputation of personalized service and heritage of independence.
Our Proven 5-Step Process
DISCOVERY: We worked alongside OH Partners and Independent Financial’s Marketing team to understand the bank’s objectives, vision, brand, and logo image along with market engagement, key competition, and customer demographics to inform the research plan.
DEVELOP: We developed a research plan to help Independent Financial understand their current brand awareness and perceptions versus key competition, identify challenges and opportunities, test and evaluate new potential branding. OHPI put in the time and effort to ensure we would reach the right audience, ask the right questions, and collect ample data.
FIELD: After working closely with Independent Financial to finalize the research plan and survey scripts, we conducted a quantitative study among a representative sample of bank customers in select Texas cities. OHPI diligently provided regular updates to ensure smooth and accurate fieldwork with a complete and relevant sample of the target audience.
ANALYZE: Our expert team of Data Analysts extracted all the data and aggregated the most important and interesting findings from our sample. Statistical analysis of the survey results allowed us to uncover key insights regarding brand awareness and perceptions to identify areas of opportunity and provide actionable recommendations for Independent Financial based on the data.
REPORT: OHPI curated reports and deliverables including a Presentation Deck containing actionable insights and intricate breakdowns visualized in a digestible format. With these reports, we were able to answer Independent Financial’s questions and identify meaningful opportunities to optimize their success in expanding their business.
Results
After analyzing all the data, we evaluated options for the short-term and long-term as they relate to Independent Financial’s strategic corporate brand given their growth, recent acquisitions, and future acquisitions. With the data derived from this research project, OHPI was able to provide actionable recommendations for new potential branding elements. After receiving their deliverables, Independent Financial opted to evolve their corporate brand name and logo, ultimately leveraging the strengths of the current name and reflecting the expanded business lines and new markets.