Guilford Savings Bank—a trusted financial institution with deep roots in Guilford, Connecticut—was preparing to expand its services to new regions. To do so, it needed a brand identity that resonated beyond its hometown.
As GSB prepared to grow beyond its legacy community in Guilford, I was brought on as Senior Brand Manager through Miranda Creative to guide the strategic discovery phase of a potential rebrand. Our goal was to explore whether the name “Guilford Savings Bank” limited growth into new markets—and if so, what a new brand might look like while preserving the bank’s 150-year reputation.
Objective
To uncover how current and prospective customers perceived the GSB brand, and whether a name change would help or hinder expansion into new geographic territories.
Approach
We designed a multi-phase research program that incorporated internal strategic planning, external perception studies, and direct community engagement through a diverse Brand Transition Task Force.
Key Research Partners
The Long Group: Oversaw survey creation, recruitment, and focus group facilitation
Customer Experience Solutions (CES): Provided benchmark analysis across Middlesex & New Haven counties
GSB Task Force: A group of ~12 community stakeholders who guided the direction of our research and advised on outcomes
Miranda Creative Team: Led brand development, naming exploration, and internal stakeholder presentations
Research & Discovery
Miranda Creative Team: Internal Marketing Team at GSB, GSB Brand Transition Task Force, The Long Group, Customer Experience Solutions, Maria Miranda (CEO), external legal and creative teams
To lay a foundation for rebranding a 150-year-old institution, we began with an in-depth discovery phase focused on uncovering how Guilford Savings Bank was perceived both inside and outside its legacy community.
Competitive analysis (self-initiated): To deepen my understanding of the financial services landscape, I independently conducted a competitive audit of both regional and national banks. This included studying competitors’ service offerings, value propositions, digital presence, and how their brand identities communicated reach and modernity. This self-directed research helped me contextualize our work, align creative direction with industry trends, and better guide our team in strategic positioning.
Why These Methods?
The Task Force gave us critical community context and decision-making support.
Focus groups allowed us to validate hypotheses with real voices from outside GSB’s current market.
Perception and benchmark data gave us measurable comparisons to competitors on factors like trust, convenience, and technological sophistication.
Affinity mapping translated sentiment into actionable insights—an essential bridge between qualitative storytelling and naming strategy.
Scope and Sample
3 Counties across Connecticut (core and target expansion markets)
12-person Task Force involved in every major phase of discovery
25 total participants in focus groups, segmented by business and consumer customer type, location, and banking behaviors
21 total business interviewees in 1-1 in-depth interviews selected among firms on the Guilford Savings Bank business banking customer list; or service/professional, manufacturing, and health care sector
Hundreds of data points collected and analyzed through benchmark reports and follow-up research
GSB Executive Leadership Team - Social Media Post, 2019
Brand Development
"Trust is the most important attribute when establishing a financial institution relationship. Essentially the financial institution that earns a prospect's trust, earns their business" - PerceptionLab Executive Summary, The Long Group, 2020
With these insights, I worked closely with art directors and copywriters to shape potential directions for the brand. We explored naming options that were:
Legally available and trademarkable
Rooted in community trust
Scalable for regional growth
I collaborated with attorneys and our CEO to vet naming candidates and ultimately proposed three distinct brand names with visual directions. These were presented to GSB’s board, internal teams, and key community stakeholders in two rounds of structured feedback sessions.
Impact
While the 2019 rebranding effort was ultimately paused due to a parallel technology conversion project, our research directly influenced GSB’s long-term brand evolution:
Internal Alignment: Equipped the Board and senior leadership with a grounded, community-validated roadmap for rebranding.
Naming Confidence: Showed that “GSB” was already a trusted shorthand, offering strategic continuity while expanding market appeal.
Community Buy-in: Built a coalition of advocates through the Task Force, ensuring any proposed changes had real-world resonance.
While I’m unable to share proprietary brand iterations or visual assets out of respect for confidentiality and ownership, I hope the overview of our strategic process offers meaningful insight into my leadership approach, collaborative rigor, and the depth of learning gained from this complex, high-stakes project.
Outcome
In 2023, GSB officially rebranded to GSB Bank, reaffirming the very insight we surfaced in 2019: that community trust and name recognition were powerful assets worth preserving.
Back then, our research revealed that customers chose GSB not just for convenience, but because they felt known, supported, and rooted in a relationship. While the legacy tagline, “Your Community, Your Values. Your Bank,” spoke to place-based loyalty, it no longer captured the full scope of services or the evolving needs of customers across the region.
By 2023, the new brand tagline—“GSB. The only bank you’ll ever need.”—reflected a shift we had identified early: GSB customers valued personal connection, but they also wanted a bank that could grow with them—offering everything from local business loans to wealth management under one trusted roof. The updated tagline boldly positioned GSB as both a legacy institution and a modern, full-service banking partner.
What Went Well
Strong collaboration with the Task Force created authentic, user-centered direction.
Benchmark and perception data gave the Board clarity and confidence in the “why” behind rebranding.
My partnership with internal and external teams ensured cohesion from research to early creative development.
What Didn’t Go As Planned
The technology conversion crisis delayed the rebrand indefinitely.
Internal feedback indicated that none of the proposed brand names felt like the “perfect fit”—a concern echoed by my own team.
Despite best efforts, we were working under significant creative and legal constraints related to trademark availability.
Key Takeaways
1. Community Insight is Crucial to Brand Strategy
Working closely with the Brand Transition Task Force reinforced that a successful brand must resonate beyond design—it must reflect lived experience. The qualitative insights we gathered revealed that GSB’s legacy wasn’t a liability; it was a foundation worth building on.
2. Trust is Powerful—But Not Always Enough
Across focus groups and benchmark data, we saw that trust was the top value customers associated with banks like GSB. But we also learned that convenience, digital tools, and access were increasingly influencing decision-making. The challenge was balancing emotional loyalty with practical utility.
3. The Best Strategy May Be Slow-Burn
Although the rebrand wasn’t launched in 2019, the strategic groundwork we laid contributed to GSB’s eventual evolution. Brand transformation often unfolds over years, not months—and this project reminded me that well-researched decisions can still take time to reach full maturity.
4. Not Every Solution is the Right One—Even if It’s Technically Right
Despite rigorous research and internal engagement, none of the three final brand concepts fully captured what our team hoped to express. This highlighted the complexity of naming—where creative, legal, emotional, and practical forces all intersect—and the need for even more iterative testing in future projects.
5. Independent Research Can Be a Game-Changer
My own competitive audit deepened our strategic toolkit and provided added perspective when shaping creative directions. Going beyond the brief helped me anticipate challenges, advocate more confidently for design decisions, and build credibility with stakeholders.
6. Collaboration is the Core of Complex Work
From facilitating Task Force sessions to coordinating with research firms, legal teams, and designers, this project showcased the importance of cross-functional communication and humility. My ability to keep stakeholders aligned while navigating changing priorities was key to our momentum.
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