NRLFCU was founded by scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. As a result, the credit union’s membership has been historically older, higher income, and primarily deposit-oriented. The credit union recognized the need to attract younger members in prime borrowing years to ensure the viability of the credit union long-term. (Not to mention the fact that NRLFCU was consistently confused with Navy Federal Credit Union.) Therefore, the Board and management hired The Pod to rebrand to a name that honors their history, but with an eye to the future, as they positioned themselves as a progressive, inclusive credit union that welcomes those who have struggled to find a banking “home” before.
Marketing P.O.D.
(Marketing Partner On Demand)
Branding / Renaming
Studio Production
Graphic Design
Creative Copywriting
Social Media Management
Website Development
Product Development
The name SPECTRA was selected because it speaks to the credit union’s foundation at the Naval research laboratory, specifically to the iconic radar dish that still sits atop of NRL that once used the electromagnetic spectrum to search the universe for new discoveries. The word also relates to the distribution of colors produced when light is dispersed by a prism -- like the diverse population in the Washington, DC-area market. (And during our vetting process we discovered that Spectra is the name of NRL’s internal magazine!)
