Raoust + Partners

This credit union, with 54,778 members and assets of $858,972,909, is headquartered in Lowell, Massachusetts. Their communications center on their long history and longstanding commitment to the surrounding community.

Challenge: To bring new life to a credit union that has been in business for almost 100 years and to stop declining membership.

Approach: Raoust+Partners started working with Jeanne D’Arc CU just about a year after their new CEO came on board. Business had been disappointing and membership had declined, snowballing into a general lack of enthusiasm in the community. Simply put, the credit union had lost its way. It was immediately apparent to us that what made the credit union interesting and unique was its history and legacy. After researching the area and discovering its many powerful stories, we could clearly see that the credit union was tightly woven into the fabric of the community and its historic mills. That gave rise to a new tagline, we share a common thread, linking the credit union’s rich past to a strong present and future. We also kept the idea of the traditional logo, but made it more contemporary. Never designed to be a promotional strategy, these changes were part of a long term branding and positioning strategy made to represent the very best of the credit union and to remind people who lived in the area of Jeanne D’Arc’s commitment for generations—those who had been and those yet to come.

Results: The trend of stagnant member growth Jeanne D’Arc had been experiencing has reversed dramatically. In the year Raoust+Partners has been working with them, Jeanne D’Arc has grown from 51,784 members and $734,759,851 in assets to 54,711 members and $858,972,909 in assets. The asset number is important, proving the brand message clearly resonated with the community in a significant way. By attracting the right kind of members for the right reasons, Raoust+Partners has given Jeanne D’Arc the tools to grow its asset size by $124,213,058 in just 12 short months, a 16% increase. And here’s more proof of success: the recently completed Net Promoter® Score analysis shows Jeanne D’Arc’s overall score from members is a 78, 13 points higher than they have ever scored and 13 points higher than the average credit union Net Promoter® Score.