BlueShore Financial: the journey to build a high performance premium financial brand
In 2004, Vancouver-based North Shore Credit Union was a small $440M Canadian financial institution that “had lost its way,” according to President and CEO Chris Catliff. “We had no differentiated brand, and the credit union was floundering,” he says, looking back.
Fast forward 15 years later and the brand transformation impacts are industry-leading results and game changing innovation. The rebranded BlueShore Financial has evolved into a market-leading premium brand with $6.5 billion in assets under management (all organic growth). BlueShore is ranked one of Canada’s “10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures,” and has been honored frequently as one of the most innovative financial institutions in North America.
But the journey to a premium financial brand delivering world-class financial wellness and category-leading Financial Spa™ experiences is far from simple. It’s a story marked by courage, continuous innovation, and risk-taking to transform an organization, its culture, and market reputation - that’s worth learning from.
Missing the opportunity of market relevance was costly
North Shore was competing for new members and failing, in an area that over time had shifted from a working-class maritime community into one of the most upscale neighborhoods in greater Vancouver, B.C. Yet the credit union was unable to capture the awareness or business of many of the affluent residents who lived and worked right in their own fast-growing market and neighborhoods. And credit unions across British Columbia suffered from an image of “mom and pop” shops during that time.
The credit union’s brand image among existing customers and prospects was the polar opposite of the affluent and distinctive brand that it hoped one day to occupy. “People said we were nice and friendly, but not expert or professional,” CEO Catliff said.
Catliff knew he had to differentiate the credit union within the highly competitive Canadian financial industry, which was dominated by five global mega-bank leaders. His biggest challenge: how to transform the image of a simple credit union offering into a place for serious wealth management advice serving people with complex and sophisticated financial needs. That’s a massive shift for any financial institution, let alone a credit union.
“Strum Agency’s unique expertise as one of the financial industry’s premier branding agencies made them a great fit to lead our team towards the creation of a premium niche brand position in the Canadian market.”
Catliff engaged Strum to help guide his staff through an organization-wide brand transformation and experience design process. Mark Weber, Strum CEO, shared, “our brand equity research showed that like many Canadian credit unions, North Shore was perceived as a basic provider that lacked attractive offerings for the key target segments defined as “Mass Affluent.” North Shore had little differentiation from any other financial provider, so members walked across the street to the large Canadian banks for their financial plans, mortgages, insurance, and trust-based advice.” They needed to radically reshape the market perceptions of their brand image if they hoped to grow,” added Weber.
Transformation began with a bold vision – an innovative new brand positioning strategy and a bold new business model. The innovation strategy required a deep commitment from a dedicated team hungry for change. CEO Catliff tasked a select cross-functional group of employees to work as a collaborative team with Strum leaders to build a new business model and to re-imagine their brand. He recalls, “I told them, ‘don’t come out of there until you’ve reinvented banking.’ ”
Strum CEO Weber reflected, “In 2005, Chris and North Shore’s leaders wanted to go big, to build their own distinctive “blue ocean” niche strategy. To do something completely innovative and not traditionally ‘credit union or bank-like’, in order to create a high-value, sophisticated financial boutique focused on financial wellness.”
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Transforming to a Premium Brand wasn’t easy
Reinventing banking required a willingness to tackle and improve every detail of the customer experience, products, marketing, operations, wealth management and messaging. Leaders from Strum and North Shore dug deep to build the brand repositioning, with a clear need for finding staff and process re-alignment and focus; and ultimately cultural adaption to change.
Weber noted, “our premium brand strategy initially focused on a non-financial brand emulator model – we landed on Audi, to drive this distinctive premium brand repositioning. Together with North Shore leaders, we also envisioned a boutique-style of premium service, modeling the renowned Canadian brand, Four Seasons, that didn’t currently exist in the market.”
Achieving a Four Seasons like premium brand experience was a far cry from the basic meat and potatoes service North Shore credit union was delivering.
Birth of The Financial Spa™ design thinking
The initial and most visible result of the collaborative innovation and prototyping, was a state-of-the-art business model, and now-trademarked “Financial Spa™” design experience created by Strum and NorthShore leaders to transform their service model into an attractive premium boutique offering.
The new branded prototype experience was rooted in fresh ideation to provide clients a complete sensory experience of financial wellness and an extraordinary level of premier boutique-level service. More than a new branch design, the model had to reset market expectations for premium service, trusted expertise and rich personal engagement across all channels.
The collaborative experience design process identified a range of major operational and cultural shifts: from defining new staff titles, to enhanced team roles, knowledge building and new responsibilities. A bold new way of managing key member segment relationships in teams was built with a personal banking style “Assignment Strategy” - led by SVP Reg Marrinier to refocus experiences towards expert advice.
Marrinier adds, “It was critical that we hire and train the right team of accredited advisors, and then build the wealth product suite and financial offerings needed to deliver on our advisory promise. It’s been a long journey, but today BlueShore Financial is ranked as one of the most admired and trusted financial planning firms in Metro Vancouver.”
Visiting a BlueShore branch is like stepping into a beautifully designed West Coast spa. It’s a carefully designed space, in which every detail matters, and is carefully engineered into experience design. Concierges deliver extraordinary experiences in an environment that is decidedly un-bank-like and vastly changed from its blue-collar past. Early training program for their Concierge role was designed with brand leaders from the Four Seasons resorts.
Armed with its distinctive Financial Spa™ branches, a precision orchestrated experience, responsively designed website, and highly personalized online and in-person experiences, BlueShore has created one of the most innovative premium boutique brand experiences in North America. Early 3-D renderings helped teams envision a bold new Financial Spa™ experience.
The Financial Spa™ concept focused on a distinctive and highly immersive “West Coast contemporary” aesthetic. “Lots of wood beams, stone, bamboo, hot tea and local artist glass, contrasted against hospitality-designed touch points and digital technology, gave us a very Zen-like engaging space” shared design leader and CIO Fred Cook.
Today, each of BlueShore’s 12 financial spa branches have been tailored with rich details that celebrate the unique identity of their vibrant neighborhood lifestyle. Innovation of the Spa has been a continuous improvement led by senior executives Fred Cook and Reg Marrinier. “We’re creating a very different experience by offering a cup of cappuccino and a silver tray with hot or cold towels, depending on the season. The result is a soothing environment in which to discuss one’s financial affairs.”
“Through analytics, you will know where your clients are and where your future is going to be.”
Micro-targeting and attracting affluent clients required savvy data analytics and lifestyle segmentation insights. BlueShore Financial leaders worked closely with Strum analysts to create a Lifestyle Segmentation strategy to identify specific audience segments for growth and in unique geographic markets where those new customers targets could be identified and acquired. That targeting data on engaged members and ideal prospects also led to a comprehensive Market & Branch Optimization Strategy to identify ideal growth locations for the next 5-7 years.
CIO Fred Cook noted, “The important thing about client segmentation and branch strategies, is they all kind of go together… Through analytics, you will know where your clients are and where your future is going to be.”
The legacy credit union name was a hurdle to building a premium brand
The decision to change the credit union’s name from North Shore Credit Union to BlueShore Financial involved a robust name evaluation process that engaged board, management, staff, clients and future prospects.
Strum led the board of directors and senior management through long-range brand visioning and naming sessions to define the next stage of their premium brand strategy. Ultimately the board made the final decision to change names.
“It was not an easy decision to make, given the longevity and reputation of our 70-year-old-name, but the Strum research and our growth vision led us to know it was the right choice,” Catliff says. “We had increasingly become a regional player, and our geographically-limited North Shore name no longer fit us.”
Marrinier adds, ”By changing from credit union to ‘financial,’ we more accurately reflect the breadth of products and services we offer, and we’ve aligned well with our Financial Spa boutique brand.
A market-leading $6.5 billion premium brand delivering financial wellness
“Our relationship with Strum goes back about 15 years. We’ve used them for rebranding, renaming, branching, data, business intelligence and overall long-term strategy. What we appreciate about Strum is a multi-dimensional perspective and knowledge about many areas of the business.”
Rebranded and ultimately renamed with their U.S. agency partners at Strum, BlueShore Financial, is thriving today with a vibrant name, and industry-leading financial performance. BlueShore Financial has grown exponentially, surpassing $6.5 billion in assets under management, all from organic growth, and consistently ranks among the Top 20 financial planning firms in Metro Vancouver, Canada. All that from a humble, transaction-based, traditional credit union model.
Some of BlueShore’s growth and success beyond their enterprise-wide rebranding journey, is the result of building extraordinary boutique experiences and operational execution to deliver to a highly targeted upscale audience in the competitive Vancouver, BC market.
Weber added, “BlueShore has worked incredibly hard to reshape and evolve every detail of their premium client experience, enhancing digital and in person channels, and building a compelling and holistic financial wellness offering.”
But their bold gamble on innovative branding and experience design to build a premium brand has succeeded by a wide range of other metrics.
Brand management implementation: a road map is key to success
“Rebranding wasn’t an easy process,” shares Catherine Downes, VP Marketing, who describes it as being “a marathon, not a sprint.” “It was a major project, touching all aspects of our business, culture, marketing, products and operations. It demanded a highly orchestrated approach to ensure every single employee fully understood the scope of the change—from both a tactical and cultural standpoint to live it out.”
The Strum team began working with the organization nine months ahead of the name launch to create a multi-phased communication and implementation strategy, ensuring deep engagement of all key stakeholders and community partners. From board talking points to online Q&A, and business partner VIP events, every detail was managed collaboratively.
Downes and her team, with the help of Strum, developed a world-class brand launch event for all staff, held at the Vancouver Convention Center.
Once the new name and refreshed brand were revealed to staff, the Strum team rolled out their proprietary brand-experience training program and a distinctive new Brand Book to all staff across two regions, in order to help them prepare to deliver a whole new level of premium brand experience modeled on the Four Seasons resorts hospitality approach.
Reaping the Rewards
All of the hard work the BlueShore Financial team and partner Strum originally put into differentiating the brand in the early phases of its 15-year journey has paid off richly, earning BlueShore countless accolades as a premium brand leading financial provider in the upscale markets of greater Vancouver.
Major advancements in the last several years in data analytics insights, advanced digital technologies and AI have all helped develop more personalized and tailored experiences based on user-defined journeys and preferences. BlueShore has been honored repeatedly as one of the most technologically innovative financial institutions in North America.
BlueShore Financials’ assets under administration also grew exponentially—increasing from $440 million in 2005 to an astonishing $6.5 billion in 2021, a staggering 19.7% year over year organic-only asset growth rate over 15 years.
“It’s been an incredible journey of transformation and growth. The result is becoming a five-star, choreographed premium brand experience for our clients – both in person and increasingly online and mobile.”
But record earnings, strong capital and financial growth are only a handful of the key metrics BlueShore uses to identify the impact and success of its premium brand. It's the team and culture working cohesively with clear goals, focus and aligned purpose that has landed the organization consistent cultural excellence awards, including national distinction as one of “Canada’s 10 Most Admired Corporate Cultures™, from Waterstone Human Capital. Being named many years in a row as Business in Vancouver’s “Biggest Financial Planning Firms in Metro Vancouver,” is a constant reminder of how far the organization has come to achieve – and sustain its goals of building a premium financial boutique brand 15 years ago.
“It’s been an incredible journey of transformation and growth,” Catliff says, “but it’s been worth every effort. The result is becoming a five-star, choreographed premium brand experience for our clients – both in person and increasingly online and mobile. That experience is backed by expert financial advice and personalized, proactive solutions, delivered across all channels, including the financial spa branches, call center, online and mobile environments all fully integrated.”
“Without our incredibly engaged employees though, our premium brand experience could never have been achieved,” added Catliff. And that is one of the accomplishments he is most proud of.
Want more stories of financial institutions transforming their brands to drive high performance? Check out Rebranding for Growth and ROI which includes case studies from three very different FIs, plus the bonus white paper Fighting for Brand Relevance.