Difficult to sell in advance for BB & T-SunTrust, because 'Truist' lands

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Hard work is now starting for the architects of the new brand "Truist Financial".

Truist was far from an immediate success on social media, many ridiculing him initially as a typo. But if BB & T and SunTrust Banks are going to go after it in the short term, the initial tweetstorm may not matter, but several branding experts have entrusted American Banker right after the unveiling of its name. Wednesday.

The name is short and unique and pays tribute to both companies, without privileging one or the other. It also plays on two words with a positive connotation – trust and truth – that any banker would be happy to associate with his brand. What will make the difference, in the end, will be the way both companies will sell the name, said the experts.

"I think it will not affect them at first, and that it will affect people," said Gina Bleedorn, head of experience at Adrenaline, the Atlanta marketing agency. "can do it the right way."

"In a name change, especially with this type of visibility, the task is extremely difficult because it is incredibly subjective and the landscape is so crowded," she continued. "They are trying to chart the path of least resistance here, and I think they end up banking on what's important."

The two banks pointed out that their deal, the largest combination of banks for more than a decade, would consist of a merger of equals, and that keeping one name on the other would undermine the message. The leaders of each bank tried to combine their names but quickly abandoned this approach.

Speaking recently at a conference on financial services in New York, SunTrust CEO Bill Rogers said, "I can tell you all the combinations of SunTrust and BB & T that you can imagine. "

In the end, they decided to take a word that they both had in common, trust, and inserted an "i" in the middle of it.

"The name is a connotation as opposed to a description," said Roger Beahm, professor of marketing at Wake Forest University and founding executive director of the Wake Forest Center for Retail Innovation. "It's clean because it's unique. But there is an education that has to take place with any brand that has a connotation. This is where the makeup of brand equity comes in. "

Both banks will have their work cut out in the coming months. According to the experts, they will have to tell a fascinating story behind the new brand and reinforce these positive connotations with solid products and services. They will also have to inform consumers from the outset of the spelling and pronunciation.

Some branding experts who spoke to American Banker acknowledged that they were not immediately mad about the name, but also pointed out that Truist will ultimately be what bankers will do with it.

The main benefit of this new name is that companies will be able to define it for themselves, said Steven Reider, president of Bancography, marketing and business planning advisor. Saucony is also a word invented for a retailer of shoes and sportswear, and it is often poorly pronounced, but runners always know what it represents and what it represents.

"If you invest in a proposal so superior, that it 's about a product, a service or a price, the name then blends. in the text and becomes a word that is just beginning, "he said.

Banks will also need to beat all associations with either true or negative relationships, two words with a negative connotation, said Douglas Strickler, CEO of HOT ° INC.

"When you use words such as true or trust, you must absolutely express it in every way," he said.

They must also be alert to the challenges of pronunciation of the new name, said Bleedorn of Adrenaline.

"I do not think it's an insurmountable challenge, but it's a challenge they'll have to address in their communications, and it's a challenge they can probably play with the audio media," he said. she declared.

The companies hired Interbrand, a New York-based Omnicom group, for research, brand positioning and naming services. They also used the expertise of the employees in the marketing, digital experience and customer experience functions of the two banks and consulted with customers throughout the process.

The executives have not yet revealed the new logo, new typography or new visual identity that will be associated with the new brand.

The shareholders of BB & T must approve the new name, as it will amend the articles of association of the company. BB & T did not set a date for its meeting as it had to determine the name that should appear on the ballot. SunTrust shareholders will not vote on the name change.

Assuming that the merger agreement receives the approval of the regulators, BB & T and SunTrust expect it to close at the end of the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter. The combined bank would have assets of approximately $ 440 billion, making it the sixth largest bank in the United States, and will be based in Charlotte, New Brunswick.

Chris Marinac, director of research at Janney Montgomery Scott, compared his new name to Synovus, a blend of synergy and novus (Latin for New) that had the initial wonder when it started in 1989.

"It may have been a fish out of water for maybe the first year, but now it makes perfect sense today," he said about of the regional banking company Columbus, Georgia.

Marinac also congratulated the leaders of BB & T and SunTrust for taking the time to change brands.

Truist was first ridiculed on social media. The vast majority of Twitter users who responded to an informal survey from American Banker responded that they hated it.

But the marketing and branding experts have not been so quick to write it. Regardless of what Twitter users can now say, Truist remains in many ways a blank slate for both companies.

"A word is nothing until you build a positive or negative perception of the companion," Beahm said.

Paul Davis contributed to this article.

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