Feb. 10, 2022

Some longtime local credit unions have started doing business under new names.

Drive around town now and you’ll see Bluestone Federal Credit Union and Levo Credit Union — brands that didn’t exist a year ago but that have well-established businesses behind them.

Although rebranding, especially when name changes are involved, can symbolize a shift in leadership, values or vision, not much has changed for the credit unions. 

Levo Credit Union, formerly Sioux Falls Federal Credit Union, wanted the name change to maintain its familiar status in the community while also shifting down a new path.

“We had a really good, solid brand in this community. People knew who we were, people knew what we did and why we existed,” CEO Fran Sommerfeld said. “​​But the time had come where it was time for us to differentiate ourselves a little bit in the market in terms of how recognizable we are.”

Levo had been thinking about a name change for a while, Sommerfeld said. But the plan for the shift was set in motion much more recently, and the official name change launched in September 2021.

“We had started actually talking about changing our name probably six or eight years ago,” he said. “So we’d started the real journey probably in early 2019 and hired a firm and just went through the process. That process alone was 10 to 12 months of trying to identify things that made sense to us and something that was going to speak to who we are.”

Although the name has changed, Levo’s core values and motto haven’t, he added. Neither has the logo or even the color scheme.

“I don’t think if you went from an old document to a new document, you would even be able to tell the difference, aside from the name,” Sommerfeld said. “Because that was important to us. What’s one of the things that was super important to us is to make sure that our folks understood our roots were and always will be here at Sioux Falls.” 

Bluestone Federal Credit Union, formerly Sioux Empire Federal Credit Union, wanted its rebranding, which was put in place in June 2021, to represent the large audience that it serves.

“We had been contemplating the transition for years, but when our field of membership expansion was obtained, it was logical to make it happen right away,” president Jeff Jorgensen said. “Bluestone FCU is a name that resonates not just in the Sioux Falls area but far outside of just our local community and will help us to spread the benefits of credit union membership to a whole new community of eligible persons.”

Jorgensen explained that Bluestone’s name came from a desire to highlight the company’s strengths and keep what it knows has worked in the past.

“Blue has been in our credit union’s color scheme for a very long time, so we did not want to disassociate ourselves with a highly successful color branding strategy. Keeping ‘blue’ in the name and in the ongoing branding activities seemed a good baseline,” Jorgensen said. “We landed on the concept of a stone, an example of something solid and strong, (and) the name Bluestone was formed.”

Both credit unions have been reaping the benefits of the name change with their clientele, they said. Sommerfeld said the community largely has had an encouraging response to Levo’s new branding.

“The community as whole has been overwhelmingly positive in their response to the change,” he said. “It was so fun to go out into the community and have people talk about it and see how much it resonates with them.”

Jorgensen expressed a similar sentiment.

“Bluestone is a hit with everyone’s ears. It is a simple and easy name to pronounce and to remember,” he said. “We feel we hit a home run with our updated name and will be able to enjoy its uniqueness for a very long time.”